True Left

With tensions increasing between the UK and EU, it's looking increasingly likely that we're on the brink of some sort of trade war. So in this video we unpack the likely outcomes of such a war, who'd win and what the impact would be.

With Brexit now in the rear view mirror and trade war on the horizon, we wanted to check how things are going. So we spoke to Professor Jonathan Portes (UK in a Changing Europe) to test Brexit on 4 different metrics & see how things are going.

Johnson resigns, France nationalises EDF, the FBI and MI5 issue a joint warning over China, Latvia brings back military service and Apple announces a Lockdown Mode.

Boris Johnson officially announced his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and expressed regret at "giving up the best job in the world."

Following record numbers of resignations, Boris Johnson has submitted to political pressure and resigned as Prime Minister. But... What the hell happens now? In this video, we discuss Johnson's speech and the process of rebuilding a new government.

Two minutes later the video was already out of date...

'Deal with them!' raucous scenes as Boris Johnson appears at PMQs.

"The next Tory leader will make Genghis Khan look like a moderate."

Leader of the Scottish National Party Ian Blackford says during PMQs this afternoon that the Tory leadership race is a "quickly descending into a toxic race to the right".

'China threat' emerges in elections from UK to Australia

LONDON (AP) — It's not just the economy. While inflation and recession fears weigh heavily on the minds of voters, another issue is popping up in political campaigns from the U.K. and Australia to the U.S. and beyond: the “China threat."

The two finalists vying to become Britain's next prime minister, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, clashed in a televised debate last month over who would be toughest on China.
...
China loomed large in Australia's election in May in which the conservatives, who ultimately lost, tried to paint the opposition as being unwilling to stand up to Beijing.

America’s growing rival on the global stage is also expected to figure in this fall's U.S. congressional races, particularly in Midwest industrial states, long after former President Donald Trump embraced a fierce anti-China posture.
...
Andreas Fulda, a University of Nottingham political scientist specializing in China, said British politicians “are more clear-eyed about China” than their European neighbors.

“The U.K. has paid close attention to what’s happening in Australia, and in many ways the debate here is well ahead of mainland Europe,” he said.
...
“I had a sense of déjà vu having just moved over from Australia," said Ben Bland, director of the Asia-Pacific program at London's Chatham House think tank, who previously worked at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. "There’s a similar atmosphere with some politicians trying to deploy the China threat as a domestic political tool.”

Bland described a dramatic shift in how politicians talk about China in both the U.K. and Australia, from a focus on trade and business ties five years ago to viewing China “through the prism of a threat to national security and economic competitiveness.”

Rishi Sunak Wins Vote to Become U.K.’s Next Prime Minister

Then there is the Sunak-Truss agreement on immigration that is sending shockwaves around the world. The grandson of an immigrant from Punjab, via East Africa, Sunak has put forth one crazy idea after another – immigrants should be housed in cruise ships rather than hotels, is one. Both he and Truss believe that immigrants should be sent 6,500 km away to Rwanda.
...
Besides Rwanda, Sunak said, he would pursue “migration partnerships” with other countries too.

Sunak, the first person of color to become U.K. leader

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, DL, JP, FRS[1] (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire, and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the first British prime minister to have been of Jewish origin.