Dec 2011: Same again next year?

The swan song of Britain in Europe

Andrew Gamble 07 Dec 2011

The Eurozone problem 'is not in the technical detail of what needs to be done, but in the political will to do it'

Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics and Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge.

Not making good

Simon Lee 07 Dec 2011

The challenge of deindustrialisation and the need for rebalancing is decades old. In 1992, UK manufacturing output was less than one per cent above its 1973 peak.

Dr Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in Politics and a Director of the Centre for Political Economy, University of Hull.

Northern is the largest train operator in the country, connecting people with jobs, education and leisure facilities across the north of England. We provide 2,500 local and regional train services … » more

Ian Bevan is Managing Director of Northern Rail.

Foreign affairs

Life-saving lessons from the Horn of Africa

Debbie Hillier 07 Dec 2011

There were strong and clear warnings for the food security crisis in the Horn of Africa as early as November 2010 yet not nearly enough was done till after the … » more

Debbie Hillier is Humanitarian Policy Adviser to Oxfam

Afghanistan: what is needed now is a political surge

Anthony King 07 Dec 2011

The surge is over in Afghanistan. The quest-ion now is what to do next? In November 2009, after weeks of deliberation, Barack Obama and his administration decided to commit 30,000 … » more

Anthony King, University of Exeter, worked in PRISM Cell, Regional Command South, Afghanistan, 2009-10.

Once again, war comes to southern Sudan

Douglas H. Johnson 07 Dec 2011

With both Washington and London having no idea what to do about it ...

Douglas H. Johnson is the author of The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars: Peace or Truce, revised edition, James Currey, 2011.

Islamism beyond the bogeymen

Anders Strindberg, Mats Wärn 07 Dec 2011

For decades, scores of Western pundits have described Islamist movements as irrational bogeymen, inherently violent, bent on mayhem and destruction. They have been said to glorify values that sharply contradict … » more

Anders Strindberg teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, in Monterey, California. Mats Wärn is Research Associate in the Politics of Development Group at Stockholm University

We are living in interesting times

John Hughes-Wilson 07 Dec 2011

The great 'Arab Spring' has gone sour. We could be seeing the start of a dangerous regional nuclear arms race. The Turkish military is openly preparing for a border clash with Syria.

John Hughes-Wilson is ...

Scotland

Salmond's Scotland gives the Coalition an almighty headache

James Mitchell 07 Dec 2011

The SNP's victory in May ensures that a referendum on Scotland’s constitutional status will be held during this session of the Scottish parliament. There is all-party agreement on this basic … » more

James Mitchell is Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University

Party political

British gloom has yet to lighten Labour's hopes

John Curtice 07 Dec 2011

The British public probably did not need to be told. They were already deeply pessimistic about the prospects for the country’s economy. But now in his autumn statement the Chancellor … » more

John Curtice is Professor of Politics, Strathclyde University

The growth package Lib Dems need for their own well-being

Tim Oliver 07 Dec 2011

In his 1963 budget, the beginning of the ‘dash for growth’, Reginald Maudling said ‘of the need for economic expansion, there can be little question.’ These words ring painfully true … » more

Tim Oliver is a researcher into modern British politics and foreign policy.

Energy and climate

Gas? Britain's in good shape

Patrick Heren 07 Dec 2011

An amusing irony of the emerging Coalition energy policy is that ministers and civil servants like to claim that they are not in the business of picking winners. Indeed not: … » more

Patrick Heren is an energy market journalist and commentator.

Why the government must rethink its energy policy

Michael Pollitt 07 Dec 2011

Meeting the government's energy policy objectives was always going to be expensive relative to business as usual. It was only a matter of time before a combination of high commodity … » more

Dr Michael Pollitt is a Reader in Business Economics at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Dec 2011: Same again next year?

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December 2011 edition