Opinions

Obama’s first year in office was recently marked in the British media with a veritable array of news reports, specials and opinion pieces. Whilst this fascination with American politics is nothing new, these programmes and reports highlighted the fundamental differences between the glitzy American and drab British political scenes.

On Tuesday 1st December, I came across an article by one Jack Brinded entitled ‘Say NO to Nuclear’. Curious, I read the argument, but by the end of the first paragraph, I was at a loss for words. It seemed the author believed that the sole purpose of nuclear power plants is to poison the planet.

Prince William recently spent a night sleeping rough to highlight the issue of homelessness during the festive period. But does this kind of publicity help or hinder charities and the plight of the homeless? Ailsa Bristow looks at this complex issue.

Recently, potato-faced Ed Miliband said the UK cannot afford to “say no” to nuclear power as he prepared to announce plans to fast-track a new generation of reactors. Nuclear is a “proven and reliable” energy source, he said. If by proven and reliable, he means in the production of waste and the endangerment of lives, then yes, it is.

Ignorance is bliss. People across the globe are discovering that the issue of climate change conveniently disappears if they simply deny it is happening. The blogosphere is now awash with internet pages suggesting that climate change is a grandiose hoax, and books such as Global Warming and Other Bollocks are dominating Amazon’s stock piles. Climate change denial is spreading at an alarming rate.
 

The Chilcot Inquiry formally began its public hearings last week after being officially launched in July. So-called because it is being lead by Sir John Chilcot, a retired civil servant, this is the fourth inquiry into the Iraq conflict, following most notably the Butler Report of 2004 and the Hutton Report in 2003. The purpose of Chilcot is to “examine the United Kingdom’s involvement in Iraq, including the way decisions were made and actions taken, to establish as accurately and reliably as possible what happened, and to identify lessons that can be learned”.