Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 10:46 am, May 19th, 2022 - 13 comments
It is clear that we will continue to face these economic challenges with tools that are ill-equipped to face the problems. Only a truly international response can create an economy that delivers for all.
Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 8:44 pm, May 3rd, 2022 - 140 comments
The invasion that began just over two months ago will have a profound impact on global politics for many years. The conflict is unlikely to end quickly and will take a toll on everyone involved.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:32 pm, March 20th, 2022 - 194 comments
New Zealand’s sanctions on Russia have not stopped the war in Ukraine. They may have made our parliamentarians feel better, and Tony Blinken was quick to congratulate us on falling into line with the US “high-impact sanctions.” The language is combative, but the evidence shows sanctions do not work. They can have significant blow-back effects, particularly if not combined with effective diplomacy.
Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 2:18 am, February 21st, 2022 - 10 comments
Boris Johnson, should not on balance still be Prime Minister and in the long term, the Conservatives risk being severely punished for not removing him. But despite everything, he remains in post and still, we cannot write him off.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:00 pm, February 16th, 2022 - 4 comments
Today February 15th is the 80th anniversary of the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by many as Britain’s worst military disaster. It was a massive strategic fail, and its effect is still powerful today, most notably with Australia’s lockstep with the US. Current British strategists don’t seem to have learnt a thing.
Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 2:53 am, November 27th, 2021 - 1 comment
With regards to Johnson’s own leadership to date, his government’s apparent support of herd immunity as the response to COVID-19 in early 2020 had much more in common with Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy in the 1930s than the Battle of Britain.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:00 am, September 26th, 2021 - 22 comments
Germany is up for Federal election tomorrow and it’s pretty important for the stability of the European Union.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 10:39 am, August 31st, 2021 - 76 comments
With the last flights coming out of Kabul, it’s time to review whether this US attitude to the world is a good idea.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:46 am, February 2nd, 2021 - 24 comments
2023-2024 for a global rollout 0f the Covid vaccine will put stark lines of demarcation between which populations can trade and travel easily, and those who can’t.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:58 am, February 1st, 2021 - 21 comments
One year on from the declaration by the WTO that Covid was a public health emergency and with the benefit of hindsight it is interesting to see who heeded the scientific advice and how it worked out.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:52 am, January 27th, 2021 - 96 comments
National and ACT are concerned that New Zealand is not at the front of the queue obtaining Covid vaccine supplies. Even though our Covid status is still outstanding with no community transmission having happened for months, and even though to realistically open our borders every country in the world will have had to achieve herd immunity.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:43 am, November 1st, 2020 - 51 comments
A surge in Covid infections in Europe and in the United States is raising the specter that the most pessimistic predictions about the disease and its effect on the health system may occur. And right wing governments appear to be spectacularly unable to deal with the crisis.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:51 am, June 4th, 2020 - 108 comments
The politics of Covid 19 present difficulties for the opposition. They cannot fault execution of the plan so far and have been reduced to complaining that the restrictions are not being loosened quickly enough.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:53 am, May 16th, 2020 - 108 comments
Just when we thought liberal democracies meant real freedom was an absolute written into human rights stone, by mid-March this year almost all OECD countries had implemented the most draconian reversal of lockdowns on every single human to combat Covid19. Except Sweden. How is it working out?
Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 5:16 am, April 10th, 2020 - 20 comments
Originally posted on Nick Kelly’s blog
For global governance organisations, this is an important moment. This is the chance for them to demonstrate their worth and coordinate the response. In many ways how these structures respond becomes more important than the response of nation-states. This also is where the deficiencies and shortcomings of such organisations become very apparent. The noise coming from the EU in the last 48 hours is far from reassuring.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 3:04 pm, January 1st, 2020 - 8 comments
Throughout the world 2019 was the worst year for the left since 1979. What will 2020 bring?
Written By: Bill - Date published: 11:18 am, December 12th, 2019 - 18 comments
Millions of people and an entire region of the UK left out of polling calculations….
Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 11:15 am, November 9th, 2019 - 6 comments
Nick Kelly gives a summary of each major United Kingdom political party.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:39 am, October 30th, 2019 - 55 comments
The UK will learn its political fate on Friday 13 December. MPs have voted in a one-line Bill to have an election on Thursday 12 November, in the middle of winter. BoJo’s got his way if not quite the way he wanted. All bets are off.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 1:03 am, September 25th, 2019 - 75 comments
Lady Hale and the UK Supreme Court have torpedoed Boris Johnson’s cunning plan to prorogue Parliament. His request to the Queen was “unlawful, void, and of no effect.” Her Maj will not be pleased. Johnson is now boxed in – ask for an extension to Brexit, or resign.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 2:09 am, September 19th, 2019 - 21 comments
France President Macron’s remarkable and wide-ranging speech to French ambassadors after France hosted the recent G7 conference in Biarritz is well worth a read. He lays it all out – so much better than Trump’s tweets or BoJo’s bluster.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 1:47 am, September 12th, 2019 - 57 comments
Phil Syrpis, Professor of EU Law at Bristol University, tweeted in July Johnson’s plan to force a general election as the defender of the people’s decision against the UK Parliament’s indecision and Brussels bureaucratic intransigence and be in power for the next five years. It was rumbled and it failed.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:14 pm, September 3rd, 2019 - 57 comments
Boris Johnson has threatened a general election if Parliament opposes his self imposed hard deadlines on Brexit.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 12:05 am, July 27th, 2019 - 29 comments
Boris Johnson’s ruthless purge of Cabinet and hard right shift looks like preparation for an early election. Reminds me of 1984 at home, as a right wing coup is on the way. He lied his way to Brexit – will it work again?
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 12:52 am, July 24th, 2019 - 99 comments
67% of the 160,000 UK Conservative Party members have voted for Boris Johnson as their leader. An attempt to block him as PM has been circumvented by the Speaker. The Queen has had to delay her trip to Balmoral to receive him as Prime Minister. I’d have more faith in the Ukraine’s comedian. At least he can command a majority in Parliament.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:15 am, June 6th, 2019 - 7 comments
London feels surreal. Joined the demo against Trump, in town to see the Queen, see off the Prime Minister, and plunder the NHS in the name of ‘free trade.’ Saw the play “The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson,” which might be prescient.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:30 am, May 25th, 2019 - 20 comments
The results of the European parliament elections are due. It’s the first election they’ve had since the refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. There’s a reasonably high chance that the far right are going to increase their share of this Parliament.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 8:32 pm, March 29th, 2019 - 73 comments
Jacinda Ardern will get a very warm welcome in Beijing based on immense respect for her and for New Zealand. Xi Jin-Ping has just returned from a very successful visit to Europe, joining Italy to the Belt and Road initiative and buying 300 jets from Airbus. Pepe Escobar outlines the implications for Eurasia. Much food for thought.
Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 8:57 am, February 26th, 2019 - 104 comments
Events in recent days have forced UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn into backing a second Brexit referendum. Labour are now aligned with the majority of British voters, but is it too little too late?
Written By: te reo putake - Date published: 9:06 am, February 21st, 2019 - 25 comments
In the UK, 3 Conservative MP’s have now aligned themselves with the 8 dissenting Labour MP’s in the ‘Independent Group’. What does this mean for both parties and how will it affect Brexit?
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:58 pm, February 18th, 2019 - 52 comments
Claims that New Zealand is at a crisis point in terms of its relationship with China appear to be somewhat overegged.
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