By Professor John Fender, Professor of Macroeconomics Department of Economics, University of Birmingham With six months to go before the UK’s Brexit departure from the European Union, we still do not know what arrangement will follow. But we can anticipate some of the consequences. No Deal The UK will find its trade relations deteriorating immediately … Continue reading “Brexit: The Prospect of Deal or No Deal”
Category: Politics
Presidential Precedents
By Anoushka Raval, Department of Political Science and International Studies School of Government, University of Birmingham With terms like impeachment, collusion, and hush money on everyone’s lips it’s hard not to look to the past for guidance on where current developments in ‘Trumpland’ are heading. While there is not a simple equation to predict what … Continue reading “Presidential Precedents”
HMP Birmingham – the challenge of privatisation within a struggling prison system
By Dr Anna Kotova, Lecturer in Criminology Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology The recent revelation of the issues in HMP Birmingham, which was run by G4S, and the consequent takeover of the prison by the government raise a range of questions about both privatisation of prisons, and deeper endemic problems faced by our … Continue reading “HMP Birmingham – the challenge of privatisation within a struggling prison system”
Saudi-Canadian Diplomatic Spat: An intersection of Twitter Diplomacy and Political Optics
By Umer Karim, Doctoral Researcher School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham The Saudi-Canadian tensions that started from a string of tweets from the Canadian foreign minister and subsequently by the Canadian Embassy in Saudi Arabia has now developed into a full fledged diplomatic spat. With Saudi Arabia declaring Canadian Ambassador to the Kingdom … Continue reading “Saudi-Canadian Diplomatic Spat: An intersection of Twitter Diplomacy and Political Optics”
Trumpian Diplomacy and UK-US Relations
By David Dunn, Professor of International Politics Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham For Trump, however, both at the NATO summit in Brussels and in his criticism of the May government in The Sun, the apparent intention was to challenge the value of continued partnership; to chastise allies for their alleged … Continue reading “Trumpian Diplomacy and UK-US Relations”
Raising taxes to fund the NHS: are we (and the NHS) ready to grasp the nettle?
By Judith Smith , Professor of Health Policy and Management Director of Health Services Management Centre School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham ‘Tax rises needed to prevent NHS misery’. This was the stark warning from the BBC recently, reacting to new analysis by the Health Foundation and Institute for Fiscal Studies that suggests that … Continue reading “Raising taxes to fund the NHS: are we (and the NHS) ready to grasp the nettle?”
What do World Hunger Day, immigration control and a former national airline have in common?
By Andrew Jolly, Doctoral Researcher School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham Food poverty is a pressing global issue, there are an estimated 815 million people in the world today who are chronically undernourished and eradicating the issue of world hunger is one of the UN sustainable development goals. The Food Standards Agency estimates that … Continue reading “What do World Hunger Day, immigration control and a former national airline have in common?”