Rich and Poor Gap Widens

In a recent Economist Article, "For he that hath" it was discovered that a study commission by Harriet Harman, the eqalities minister, division between rich in poor have grwon over the last decade. Infact a lot of rich nations have had a recent increase in the rich in poor divide including the US, Portugal and Italy. Despite the UK's Welfare states attempt at allowing social mobility, it has been shown taht children in poor households are outperformed by there wealthy counterparts by age 3. Fortunatley in Britain it does not seem that minority lines are particularly affected by this rich poor divide. Not surprisingly equality is one of the main campaign slogans for Gordon Browns upcoming election, although the polls shown he isn't doing well.

Northern Ireland Talks Near Collapse

In the NY Times article Northern Ireland Talks Near Collapse, Northern Ireland's two main parties, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, exceed their Friday deadline to come up with a proposal regarding the police and justice powers. Both the the British and Irish prime ministers attended the first three days of the talks, spending hours talking with the heads of the two parties. Wednesday, Cowan and Brown both left with an ultimatum, come up with a solution by Friday or they will impliment their own proposals and lay out an unilateral schedule for carrying them out. Catholic Sinn Fein and the Protestant DUP's cleavage ultimately lies with the disagreement on whether to join Ireland or remain part of Britain.

This article emphasizes the social cleavages present in Northern Ireland. Both party leaders have expressed little desire to give in to their rival party's agenda. In the past three decades, 3600 deaths can be attributed to violence between social cleavages in Northern Ireland.

Photo credit to the European Pressphoto Agency

Grade this post.

You can't fight in here, this is the war room

Defense-Spending Cuts
In a recent Economist article it acknowledged that, because of the UK's recent recession, it would have to make spending cuts. But now there is a conflict within the UK's military on what branch of the military should make the cuts. The navy and air force believe that it is in the countries best interest, over the long run, if the government did not cut their creation of more air craft carriers. Their argument is that Britain is a sea nation and national defence should start there. On the other hand, the army says that the war in Afghanistan demands resource allocation. More importantly the Conservative power is split over where these resources are going. And it seems the public is favoring the cut of aid to foreign nations over military spending cuts.

Jan. 21st, 2010
L. Belury
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15331325&fsrc=rss

grade this post

Brown Looks to Win Votes

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to "create more middle class jobs than ever before" if his party, the Labour Party, can overcome its lag in the polls and win a national vote that must be held by June. With these Obama-esque promises Brown hopes to win back the votes that have traditionally fueled the Labour Party to victory in past elections, the middle class. The Conservatives have blasted Browns messages and have accused him of sending mixed messages along the campiagn trail. With Brown sending messages that emphasize the importance of social mobility he hopes that the Labour Party can overcome a recent slide in support and maintain control come election time.

Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth Leaks Date of General Elections

British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth referred to May 6th as the date for the new polling. However, many Conservatives, the opposite party of today's Prime Minister, believe that this is only manipulation by the New Labour party to trick the conservatives into believing they have more time to prepare for elections. The Prime Minister has the authority to set the date of the election, leaving many to think that the election process is not transparent and undemocratic.

(1.24.10)

Photo credits to the Times. Grade this post.

Marriage and the State: A menege a trois

The article "Marriage and the State: A menege a trois," published January 21st, 2010 in the Economist, brings up a growing problem in many Western European countries. In England, the number of yearly divorces is almost equal to the number of new marriages. The tendency for young couples to avoid married is increasing. This has become such an issue that the candidates in Britain's upcoming election are sparring over how to confront it. The conservatives, led by David Cameron, are pushing for recognition of marriage and civil unions in the income-tax system. The labour party, on the other hand, wants special perks for married couples. Some more extreme groups are even calling for mandatory financial responsibility after a certain amount of time living together, whether or not the couple is married.

While this might not seem like an issue of political importance, it is actually deeply significant. The importance of "civil society" in connecting people to the state cannot be overstated. All across the western democracies, there is a growing trend of detachment from civil society. The less people feel like part of a community, the less active they are within that community. This manifests itself in lower voter turnout, and a greater apathy in general towards the political process. Democracies are built around civic duty. Anything that negatively affects civic duty can ultimately hurt the health of the democracy.