United Kingdom
Brexit barneys and three big questions
As the tick-tock of the Brexit clock moves toward a deadline of 29 March, the ramifications are fast unfolding. The UK parliament has now comprehensively rejected Prime Minister…
Aid mergers: no unscrambling the egg
Britain’s former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has called for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to be rolled into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO…
Brexit deal debate reveals dark side to EU diplomacy
The saving grace of a nasty divorce is durable insight into the true values of the parties involved. And so, with Brexit.
The Withdrawal Agreement – which has triggered rancorous…
Brexit: the Northern Ireland conundrum
Seamus Heaney, the late Irish poet and playwright, once (half-) joked that “anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can’t be too optimistic”.
Optimism in Northern Ireland is…
Directions to the Brexit? “I wouldn’t start from here.”
It’s an old joke: a couple from the city get lost in the countryside and ask a farmer for directions back to town. “Oh, I wouldn’t start from here,” the farmer replies with a grin…
Indo-Pacific: are the British coming back?
The British Royal Navy looks set to make a significant reappearance in the Indo-Pacific after the long distraction of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Australian decision to…
Boris Johnson exits. Pass the salt.
So it’s farewell Bonza Boris, for the moment at least. Boris Johnson, now former British foreign secretary, travelled to Sydney in July last year to deliver the Lowy…
Novichok poisoning and the test for Britain
When England struck their winning penalty against Colombia at the end of a tense night of football on Tuesday, old assumptions crumbled.
Had the team exorcised its fear of shoot…