Why we must end the detention of female asylum seekers in the UK
We must believe these women when they tell us they would never have left their home, their family, their country, if they had a choice, and we must demonstrate this belief by telling our government...
View ArticleWhat use is Gross Domestic Happiness to Bhutan's 106,000 global refugees?
In Aberdeen, outside a takeaway called The Gurkha Kitchen, I met a Bhutanese refugee called Landless. Landless was eager to talk.In Aberdeen, a takeaway called The Gurkha Kitchen sells plump dumplings,...
View ArticleA new law in Afghanistan means men can attack their wives and daughters with...
The problem isn't just in Afghanistan. 30 per cent of woman suffer violence from an intimate partner, but globally laws do little to protect women at home.According to the World Health Organisation, 35...
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The loneliness of Vladimir Putin
He crushed his opposition and has nothing to show for it but a country that's falling apart.Vladimir Putin arrives for a speech at the congress of Russia's ruling party in Moscow in 2011. Photo:...
View ArticleCalm, classless, striving for beauty: Yes, Scandinavia really is all it's...
British commentators have been dismissing Scandinavian culture and politics using selective statistics and un-contextualised observations. But from smart young people to art and happiness: the...
View ArticleWhy the US should apologise for deaths in Iraq
A US apology will not bring back the thousands of dead Iraqis, but at least it will amount to an acceptance of moral responsibility.After the invasion of Iraq, the US electorate sent a clear message to...
View ArticleHow the west was lost: Frank Furedi’s First World War
The Great War’s greatest legacy is uncertainty and a never-ending search for meaning.First World War: Still No End in Sight Frank FurediBloomsbury, 288pp, £18.99A century ago, the First World War tore...
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We cannot end FGM in the UK without ending it in Africa
We won’t stand aside as this violence is inflicted on girls in the UK and around the world. Britain is now the world’s biggest supporter of activity to end female genital mutilation.Around the world,...
View ArticleWhy is the Canadian rock band Skinny Puppy invoicing the Pentagon for $666,000?
How would you react if you discovered your music was being used to aid interrogations?How would you react if you discovered your music was being used as an instrument of torture? I like to think that...
View ArticleAs the US turns against new sanctions on Iran, has the Israel lobby lost its...
The Aipac lobby group is famed for its ability to move bills, spike nominations and keep legislators in line – but is its influence waning?In House of Cards, the award-winning US television show...
View ArticleThree years on from the Arab spring, Egyptians hope another strongman can...
Were millions in the region wrong to believe they deserved better?While hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in 2011 to protest against Hosni Mubarak’s thirty-year rule, I was...
View ArticleGender inequality is costing the global economy trillions of dollars a year
A UN report released today has found that progress made towards reducing poverty is at risk of being reversed because of widening inequality and a failure to strengthen women's rights.According to a...
View ArticleNegotiating a path to peace: from Geneva to Aleppo, via Moscow
Syrian peace talks are promising, but much will need to be agreed (and a few Gordian Knots sliced) before there can be a lasting peace.On the surface, little seems to have been achieved in talks on the...
View Article“Good” and “bad” war – and the struggle of memory against forgetting
The regime that Washington created in the South, the “good” Korea, was set up and run largely by those who had collaborated with Japan and America.Fifty years ago, E P Thompson’s The Making of the...
View ArticleBelgium extends its euthanasia laws to children
Belgium has lifted all age restrictions on euthanasia, despite concerns that the legislation has been rushed through.Yesterday, Belgian lawmakers voted 86-44 to extend the country’s euthanasia laws to...
View ArticleThe war on bread: how the Syrian regime is using starvation as a weapon
For Syrians, the war on bread began a long time ago. Long before the siege of Yarmouk, before last week’s abortive evacuation of Homs, before the war even began, the regime’s neoliberal economic...
View Article400 Nepalese construction workers have died since Qatar won the World Cup bid
Why are international sporting events so dangerous for construction workers?Around 400 Nepalese workers have died in construction sites across Qatar since the oil-rich Gulf state won the bid to host...
View ArticleUnderground epidemic: the tuberculosis crisis in South Africa's gold mines
Of the 2.3 million new cases of TB reported in Africa last year, almost a third were connected to mining in sub-Saharan Africa. According to research, one mine worker with active TB can spread the...
View ArticleTwo members of Pussy Riot arrested in Sochi
Nadia Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, who were released from prison less than two months ago, say they were arrested in Sochi with a group of activists and journalists.This article first appeared on...
View ArticleNo chickening out for activists subject to intimidation in Kiev
“I don’t hide behind the title ‘journalist’ any more,” says Tetiana Chornovol. “My investigative reporting is just one of the weapons I use in my battle against Yanukovych and his clan.”Tetiana...
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