Will 2012 be a good year for Barack Obama? His job approval ratings reached a six-month high this week on the back of news that had he had secured a payroll tax cut for American workers. He's also benefitting from the conclusion of the Iraq war and the fact that, with next week's Iowa caucuses fast approaching, his Republican opponents look hopeless. Obama's populist re-election mes...

As 2011 comes to a close, these are some of the Top 10 lists for the year that was! The approaching end to 2011 brings many things to mind such as was it or wasn't it a good year for ourselves and for our family's. But what the end of the year also brings out are the Top 10 lists for just about any category that you can think of. These are three of the lists I thought would be interestin...

“An avoidable disaster”: that is the verdict of the Financial Times’s Philip Stephens in a must-read article examining what went on behind the scenes of the Coalition’s strategy for approaching last week’s failed European summit. And his verdict on the Prime Minister and his advisers could scarcely be more scathing: There was no great plan

David Cameron’s usual insouciance gave way to something approaching panic as Europe dominated exchanges at PMQs. 8 Conservative MPs, all of them hostile to varying degrees, asked questions about Cameron’s intentions at the Brussels summit on Friday. This may not have surprised him, but the word around the Commons tearooms is that Cameroons are blaming Speaker Bercow for calling so many...

'Palestinian' unelected Prime Minister Selim Fayyad is claiming that the 'Palestinian' Authority is in desperate financial straits: The Palestinian Authority is "fast approaching the point of being completely incapacitated" by Israel's refusal to hand over tax revenues belonging to the authority, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Thursday. Israel's freeze on the taxes ...

I'm going to slow down my posting as we approach the holiday season. The reason is actually two fold. First, my wife is due to have our third child at the end of December, and I still have many things to get done before then. Second, Christmas is approaching and I am absolutely committed to finish reading all the books I have purchased and not yet read this year so I can restock via a deliver...

We have grown used to politicians approaching the issue of ‘race’ in the context of immigration, crime, or the aftermath of a tragedy. So it was enormously refreshing to hear Nick Clegg offer up a well-informed speech on the quest for true race equality, without a negative backdrop. Delivering a Scarman Lecture on the 30th

Some political leaders might be a bit hesitant when it comes to approaching lottery winners in the hope of securing some of their dosh for the party cause – but not Alex Salmond. Back in July this year, when it emerged that a couple in Ayrshire – Colin and Chris Weir – had scooped a record £161 million on the EuroMillions, Scotland's First Minister reacted with astonish...

In the sick joke known as governing "Inside the Beltway," it is we the people who consistently get hit by the punch line! With the Wednesday night deadline fast approaching, on Saturday the six Republicans held a conference call while the Democrats didn't formally meet. Both sides are also actively participating in the Washington business as usual blame game, setting themselves up for when th...

Last week’s announcement that the management of Hinchingbrooke Hospital would be transferred to Circle Healthcare was always going to be controversial – a hospital with debts approaching £40million, whose situation had become so perilous that it had to be rescued by an external provider. Both Labour and Unison quickly exclaimed against this as ‘privatisation,’ despite