Tigray insurgency: Neither Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders nor Tigrayans accept principles of compromise
The conflict in Ethiopia ‘s Tigray looks set to drag on for a long time with the international community and regional bodies seemingly out of their depth to work put peace between the actors in insurgency that has already claimed thousands of lives. The African Union attempts to bring the...
Lambourne: I’d like to sit here and say Arsenal will lose, but I can’t see it and Gunners are blazing to the top
Arsenal sit pretty at the top of the Premier League having enjoyed their best start to a season since the 2007-08 campaign. Mikel Arteta‘s side have picked up 24 points out of a possible 27 on offer having won eight of their opening nine games. Their only blip has been...
How on October 10 Russia rained bombs on Ukrainian capital Kyiv, but its stoic residents defied Judgement Day
In the past, when you found yourself being interviewed on a rooftop in some benighted, war-torn place, a news presenter in London would always ask you, “What’s the mood in the streets?” They seem to have given that up now, fortunately, although it’s a perfectly valid question. It’s just that,...
Given the great peril posed by Russia in Ukraine, it’s time the world pushed for nuclear abolition
As the world faces an unprecedented level of nuclear threat following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, all countries must heed the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and join the movement to ban their use. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons have only escalated over the course of the...
British PM 40 days on the Cross: Liz Truss sacked Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, then fell on her own sword
When Liz Truss accidentally tweeted that she would be ready to “hit the ground” on day one of her premiership, most people saw the funny side of the typo. In reality, it took 40 days for the new Prime Minister and her “Kami-Kwasi” mini-budget to disintegrate on impact. Having already...
Disaster beckons as Barcelona count themselves alive by a miracle after shock Champions League draw
Around Camp Nou, it was mostly an eerie silence on the final whistle of Barcelona’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan, as it dawned on fans that the Catalan side are almost certainly eliminated from the competition already. As Inter’s players, coaches and fans celebrated in their small pockets, most of...
Kylian Mbappe’s ego’s the epitome of how player brand is eclipsing club and football pre-eminence
It’s the short clip of Neymar being asked ‘What’s Mbappe like? which reveals most about the reality of working life with the footballer who never seems satisfied, even now he’s been crowned the little emperor of Paris. The Brazilian is a picture of contentment as he passes through the player-media...
Return of Talibans: Why 38 million people in Afghanistan are suffering because a few hundred are in power
When the Taliban returned to power 15 months ago, it presented a conundrum to the rest of the world. Although Washington had signed a peace agreement with the group in February 2020, the Islamic Emirate – as the Taliban calls its government – was being led by several men on...
Irony of hunger in Hon of Africa: Governments, relief agencies know what should be done, why don’t they do it?
The 20 million people struggling to survive a scorching drought in the Horn of Africa are victims not only of a climate crisis but of the failings of governments and humanitarians to heed the lessons from earlier disasters. Four consecutive seasons of failed rains have ruined people’s lives and livelihoods...
Revolution eats its children: The poor voted for Brexit to protest fuzzy authority, MPs wanted parliamentary sovereignty
Let me caricature a specifically Conservative Brexitism. Of course, there was the Brexit of the much angrier and poorer north and Midlands. This was a Brexit more about distant power, wage suppression, neglect and inequality. But the mild, mainstream Tory Brexiters talked a lot about parliamentary sovereignty, which the Whig...
