Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, came to power on the back of a single-word election slogan: ‘Change’. At its core, his Labour government committed itself to transforming Britain from an economically stagnant country with poor public services to a clean energy ‘superpower’ abundant with economic growth. And yet, he has […]
Tag: Brexit
A Tale of Two Slogans: Brexit Britain After Trump
During the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Prime Minister Theresa May ran on the slogan that she would provide ‘strong and stable leadership’. What followed was a weak electoral performance and two years of chaos as her government failed to pass a Brexit deal. Looking back at her premiership, one could hardly pick a more […]
A Deeper Shade of Blue: the Tories’ Leadership Woes
On the 5th of July 2024, members of the British Conservative Party, or Tory Party, woke up to their biggest-ever general election defeat. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the parliamentary party was reduced to a rump of 121 seats, merely a third of the 365 seats they earned in the 2019 election. […]
Return of The Troubles? Violence in Northern Ireland Threatens Peace Between Unionists and Republicans
On March 29, several hundred young people primarily identifying as Loyalist, or Irish people with close ties to Great Britain, took to the streets of Belfast, torching vehicles and throwing bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at riot police attempting to restore peace. The violence did not end there. Until April 9, the day of Prince […]
Brexit: An End to the Uncivil War
In July of 2019, Boris Johnson defeated numerous moderates within his own Conservative Party to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Political pundits immediately called him a lame duck. He had no mandate, no working majority and no realistic plan to pass Brexit, which loomed ominously over his premiership after destroying the careers […]
The Troubles With Brexit
When the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave to the European Union in the summer of 2016, few recognized the true consequences of their choice. Nowhere would that choice become more consequential than in the six counties of Northern Ireland. As the only place in Britain that shares a border with another EU […]
Anarchy in the UK: What is going wrong in the Labour party?
Theresa May has been forced into a last minute gamble to save her Brexit deal—talking to the opposition. The Prime Minister is meeting with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to try and find a deal that could pass a vote in the increasingly chaotic House of Commons. In response, she faced attacks from prominent members of her […]
Jeremy Corbyn: An Unsatisfactory Alternative
The following article was written for Berkeley Political Review as part of a collaboration with McGill International Review. Today, British politics are engulfed in one sole issue: Brexit. As Theresa May spent the past two years attempting to reach an agreement concerning Brexit, her approval ratings faltered to around 27 percent. The January 15th vote on her […]
Is Jean Claude Juncker Important Yet?
In 2010, Herman von Rompuy, President of the European Council, sat on the floor of the European Parliament as Nigel Farage accused him of being “the assassin of European democracy, and of the European nation-states,” and a laughable match for global leaders like President Obama. “We were told that when we had a president, we’d […]
Populism’s Rise, Humanity’s Fall
Overused is the famous question, ‘What’s in a name?’ Yet, when looking at the United Nations, the question seems most appropriate. The organization is supposed to be a collection of nation states that are united in common causes such as ending world hunger, stopping the proliferation of weapons that threaten humanity, and working to mitigate […]