Author: Tom Wooldridge
After the Arab Spring: How the Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts, by John R Bradley
| February 16, 2012 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under culture, reviews |
John R Bradley, the author, has lived in, and reported on, the Middle East for many years. He published a book in 2008 called Inside Egypt that accurately predicted a revolution in Egypt and spent most of early 2011 travelling between the countries affected by the Arab spring; in this book he uses his knowledge and experiences to explain, as the name suggests, how the Islamists hijacked the Arab spring. He has previously published several other books on the Arab world (click here to get to the author page on Amazon), and contributes to broadsheet newspapers in both the UK and US. He also writes for magazines such as The Spectator and is commonly interviewed on news channels. I am writing… more
Occupy London – a popular movement?
| December 14, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under national |
The Occupy London protest began in October, and despite an ongoing legal challenge by the City of London Corporation (possibly the least democratic council in the UK) it has not yet been evicted. This legal challenge will be heard in the High Court on Monday 19th December, and if successful will lead to eviction. This can happen as part of the land that is being “occupied” is what is known as ‘public-private’: the land is owned by a private company, in this case the London Stock Exchange. The private company maintains it and lets the public use it on its terms, for example how some shopping centres ban the wearing of hoods or items of clothing which cover the face.… more
This week in politics
| November 4, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The growth figure for the UK in the third quarter, from July to September, was released by the Office of National Statistics this week. Growth was an unexpected 0.5%, but despite this the Chancellor, George Osborne, is going to have to revise down his growth forecasts whilst increasing the debt forecasts for the fourth time this year. Although many economists and financial experts welcomed the news, they proceeded to repeat warnings about how close Britain is to a double-dip recession. This is even more likely when the effects of the European crises are taken into account, particularly as the UK’s main trading partner is the EU. A double-dip recession will increase the UK’s debt as benefits claimants rise and tax… more
This week in politics
| October 28, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The first elections following the Arab Spring took place on Sunday 23rd October in Tunisia. This was the first free election in the country since 1956 when a revolution removed the French from power. The results of the elections will dictate the 217 assembly members who will write a new constitution and form a caretaker government; there will be further elections in the future when the structure of the government has been created. The winner is expected to be the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, which claims to have won 40% of the seats – the party was banned under the leadership of former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The results were expected on Wednesday 26th October, however due to unexpectedly large… more
This week in politics
| October 14, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
Liam Fox, the defence secretary, has had a tough week this week after the Guardian released information about his relationship with Adam Werrity. It began with the business card Werrity had been handing out which claimed he was Fox’s adviser; the Guardian followed this story up with information that Werrity had run a health consultancy and worked with a private health company while Liam Fox was Shadow Health Secretary. When Fox became Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2005 and subsequently Shadow Defence Secretary, Werrity set up the Atlantic Bridge Charity (ABC) based in Fox’s parliamentary office until the last election. The financial information ABC recorded with the Charity Commission had some anomalies considering the lifestyle that Werrity was living, and was shut… more
This week in politics
| October 7, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The Tory Party Conference this week came from Manchester, a strange choice considering the city’s traditional and current support for Labour. Theresa May made headlines over “cat gate”, her false claim that the courts barred one man from being deported because he had a cat. In actual fact the decision was made due to the Home Office not following the correct deportation procedure. This was May’s attempt to disown the Human Rights Act and Article 8, which has a “right to private family life” clause, and was quickly denounced by Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, although No. 10 still supported May. David Cameron’s speech on Wednesday 5th October was full of rhetoric and vague policy. Cameron mentioned ending the vetting and… more
This week in politics
| September 30, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
This week saw the grand event that was the Labour party conference; it was the usual situation of media management that all three parties are exceedingly good at. It seemed to succeed – even the word ‘strike’ didn’t make big headlines despite some quite harsh words by some from the Labour ranks. The unions seemed quite pleased with Miliband, feeling he listened to them more than Brown and Blair ever did, and this is important when they make up most of the party donations. Ed Miliband seemed to have more substance in his speech than Clegg did and even more than past conferences. The policy ideas included a bonus tax to build an (unrealistic) 25,000 homes a year and cutting… more
This week in politics
| September 23, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
This week saw the enticing events of the Lib Dem Conference, held in Birmingham. It was largely the same as last year with lots of rhetoric that will be forgotten by next week. Chris Huhne (Energy and Climate Change), Vince Cable (Business) and Danny Alexander (Chief Secretary to the Treasury) all talked about the government taking action to tackle the declining economic growth. This was in stark contrast to Clegg yesterday who said that the government can do something but aren’t. This was the same week Osborne (the Chancellor) said Britain was likely to miss its borrowing target this month, with estimates suggesting we borrowed £15.9bn last month (excl. the cost of the bank bailout) compared to £14bn in August 2010,… more
This week in politics
| September 16, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The independent commission, dispatched by George Osborne in June last year, which was looking into reforming the banking system reported this week. This was led by Sir John Vickers, a professor at Oxford University, who led the Office of Fair Trading from 2000-2005 and before that was Chief Economist and member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. He is returning to academia following this report. The report was commissioned to look into “structural and non-structural reforms” to “promote financial stability and competition”. Basically, avoiding another economic crisis similar to that of 2008-2009. He has suggested splitting the banks into two: retail and investment banking. Retail banking is your personal bank accounts, small and medium size business… more
Syria – an update on the revolution
| September 15, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under international |
There is one country in the Middle East that has endured civil unrest for the past 6 months, but, due to its government’s suppression of the media, has not received the same amount of attention as the Egyptian and Libyan revolutions. Syria has been ruled by the Assads since 1966, when the current leader’s father, Hafez Al-Assad, took over running the country from a Baathist government of army officers. Hafez died in 2000 and his son, Bashar Al-Assad, succeeded him. Bashar was more liberal and instigated an economic plan that has transformed the nation’s economy from one based on central planning to a “social market economy”, which has produced growth rates of 4-5% in the past three years, despite the financial downturn. Unfortunately, this growth has not benefitted the bulk… more
