770,000 people living in England speak hardly any or no English. The British communities secretary Sajid Javid, is promising to expand teaching of English for immigrants. Up to 70% of those needing it are women, mostly Pakistani or Bangladeshi. Javid said that when his mother learned English 15 years after arriving from Pakistan it “transformed …
A BBC headline today asks, “Has Trump broken the “special relationship?” Answer: No. The “special relationship” is between the US and Israel and is growing into an uncritical lovematch daily as far as the US government is concerned. The relationship with the UK is confined to cooperation between the intelligence services, and hasn’t been alive …
British Labour MP Jess Phillips says she has been bombarded with more than 600 rape threats in a single night. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks should be made to record people’s real identities, said Phillips. The security minister, Ben Wallace, has called for digital IDs to end online anonymity; while Theresa May has used …
…we are all born from the same celestial seed; all of us have the same father, from which the earth, the mother who feeds us, receives clear drops of rain, producing from them bright wheat and lush trees, and the human race, and the species of beasts, offering up the foods with which all bodies …
The Institute for Fiscal Studies in Britain has predicted that by the middle of the next decade, public finances will be in the red. It forecasts that GDP per person would be smaller in 2021 than forecast in 2016, that the loss of growth would mean that the economy would be 65 billion pounds smaller …
Continue reading ‘A dismal prospect for Britain post- Brexit’ »
The US attorney general has decreed that victims of domestic and gang violence should not usually qualify for asylum. Jeff Sessions’s ruling overturns a 2016 decision by an appeals court to grant asylum to a Salvadorean woman who said she had been repeatedly beaten and raped by her husband. Sessions said abused wives did not …
“By the year 2030,Africa will represent about one quarter of the world’s workforce. By 2050 the African population is expected to double to more than 2.5 billion people, with 70% of them under the age of 30”. ( Rex Tillerson, American Secretary of State, quoted in the Washington Post, March 8, 2018). The above statistics …
California is a wonderful state. It enjoys the world’s best tech companies, bountiful and increasingly eco-friendly energy resources, a entertainment industry unparalleled in global clout, a vast array of productive and innovative businesses, and almost perfect weather. But in recent years, and particularly since Trump became president, Californians feel increasingly dissatisfied with Washington. On every …
Continue reading ‘Should California declare independence?’ »
Climate change – An apology What will they say of us when we are gone, When it dawns on them all that their grandparents knew (As they wrestle with flooding, starvation and storms) Of the turmoil their world would be struggling through? What will they think of us selfishly set Upon motors and holidays, easily …
The United States’ fertility levels have been below replacement level — the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself, usually 2,100 births per 1,000 women — since 1971. Immigration has has kept population statistics on the level. Recently the National Center for Health Statistics reported that U.S. fertility had fallen to a …
David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham in North London, has recently acquired data on admissions to Oxford and Cambridge universities. It shows that the vast majority of those who get in to the UK’s two best universities are from relatively wealthy families. A disproportionate number are from London and the South East. And while ethnic …
Republicans, unbelievably, are once again forcing trickle-down economics on the United States, despite the idea being almost unanimously derided by reputable economists and financiers. It’s almost as if Republicans are unaware that the latest experiment in trickle-down has practically bankrupted the state of Kansas and has done little or nothing for North Carolina. But they …
On 25 May, Ireland will vote on whether to repeal the 8th Amendment to its constitution, which prohibits abortion unless a mother’s life is threatened. Based on opinion polling, the Repeal campaign should win. But polls have tightened in recent weeks. About a fifth of Irishmen are undecided. The result will almost certainly not be …
Continue reading ‘Abortion in Ireland: the weaknesses of the Repeal campaign.’ »
Many areas of the UK that voted for Brexit will suffer the most from the economic consequences of leaving the EU. Researchers at the University of Birmingham studied regional variations in the share of labour income and GDP reliant on the EU, and found that areas in the Midlands and north of England, many of …
Continue reading ‘Who will suffer economically the worst from Brexit?’ »
It’s fair to say I think the Trump presidency has been an unmitigated disaster. His casual bigotry, dishonesty and regressive economic policies are terrible for America, and have made the world a less stable and safe place. The most recent example of Trump’s destructiveness is his withdrawal from the Iran deal, which will only hasten …
Continue reading ‘How the Trump presidency has improved American politics.’ »
