Creative Commons licensed photograph courtesy of Flickr user jgraham.
Even after eleven years, there’s still something a bit shocking about tuition fees. If the vice-chancellors get their way, fees will rise to at least £5000 per student per year. It’s a policy that flaunts its pragmatism on its sleeve. I still think fees defy any principled [...]

Filed under: barackobama, education, jonathanbirch, labour, religion, ukpolitics on March 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.’
— Martin Luther King 28th August 1963
‘We must recognise that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical [...]

Filed under: barackobama, education, poverty, racism on March 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Muhammad Mahdi Karim.
When it comes to Israel and Gaza, I find it very hard to judge. Maybe this is because my judgment isn’t very good, or maybe it’s because judging well really is hard, and not enough people realize this.

Filed under: barackobama, hillaryclinton, jonathanbirch, middle east, middleeast, taliban, terrorism on January 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

The polls were right all along — America has elected Barack Obama, and proved itself not to be a hateful, bigoted nation. I hope anyone who secretly expected a racist “Bradley effect” to propel John McCain to the White House is now hanging their head in shame: McCain won an honest 47% and bowed out [...]

Filed under: barackobama, democracy, election2008, johnmccain, jonathanbirch, republican, uspolitics on November 5th, 2008 | No Comments »

Photograph courtesy of Jim Mone/Associated Press.
Monday 27th October, 8.45pm
On the back of Tuesday’s successful talk from Salim Tamari, Clare Politics brings you another must-see event, as Jodi Williams addresses the society.
As one of the first member’s of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign - a campaign which by now has reached the home straight - she helped [...]

Filed under: barackobama, clarepoliticsnews, election2008, jodiwilliams, uspolitics on October 24th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Photograph courtesy of Flickr user shazam791.
Of all the bizarre and interesting features of the 2008 US presidential election, here’s one you may not have noticed: it’s the first time both tickets have been topped by a serving senator. It guarantees that America’s 44th president will be the third to assume the job from a Senate [...]

Filed under: barackobama, democracy, election2008, johnmccain, jonathanbirch, uspolitics on October 8th, 2008 | No Comments »

Photograph courtesy of Army.mil
The 44th President of the United States will be a crisis president. But he won’t just have an economic disaster to deal with. He’ll also inherit twin military deployments in the region between Israel and India — an area we should perhaps think of as one massive region, one massive problem, but [...]

Filed under: afghanistan, barackobama, election2008, iraq, jonathanbirch, uspolitics on October 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

Photograph courtesy of Flickr user jmtimages
Funny how often you hear talk of the “Great American Novel”, as though the only national identity worth having is one that can be embodied in a book. In the latest much-publicised G.A.N. contender, Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland (a terrific piece of work notwithstanding the hype), America is not so much [...]

Filed under: barackobama, election2008, johnmccain, jonathanbirch, uspolitics on September 8th, 2008 | No Comments »

The debate in Myrtle Beach, SC, broke records as over 5 million Americans tuned in for a good old-fashioned mudslinging contest. But unlike the GOP candidates, there really is very little difference between the positions of Clinton, Obama and Edwards on the important issues. All want a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq, all support [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized, barackobama, election2008, hillaryclinton, jameschettle, uspolitics on January 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »

More interesting exit polls over the weekend. I’m a little rushed today, so a detailed look will have to wait until later but three potentially very important points:
1. Obama won 83% of the black vote in Nevada. That’s really huge: African-Americans used to be some of the Clinton’s most loyal supports. Indeed, Bill has been [...]

Filed under: barackobama, election2008, hillaryclinton, mattclifford, uspolitics on January 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment »