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Showing posts from May, 2015

Labour need the Gillard edge

Julia Gillard (Image: Waltzing more than Matilda) It's difficult being closely associated with Labour party at the moment. After a heavy defeat on May 7th, they've lost some key politicians from the front bench, their leader resigns and media scrutiny has hit the sixth gear with reports of an internal war going on - who's to blame, Labour weren't 'pro-business' and basically, the party is in a mess. But these aren't my views, and not to the more than nine million who turned up on general election day and placed an X next to one of the 600+ candidates Labour put out there. They gained some crucial seats in London, but ultimately, the rest of the South East of England and Scotland was where they lost heavy ground. The Conservatives only had to gain 20 seats from the previous general election, and they gained that through the fall of the Liberal Democrats. It seemed like an easy victory in the end for David Cameron and he's likely to remain Prime

Eurozone in need of TLC

Barcelona's view towards Harbour (Image: Daily Telegraph) I've recently returned from a five-day stay in Barcelona, Spain. It was my first visit to one of the larger European Union economies since Italy in 2009 (ignoring my annual trips to Denmark in this as their economy is considerably smaller). Barcelona was a delight and I'm sure to return there at some point in the future. However sadly, I'm not going to write purely about my travel tips but about the politics and the current situation in Spain regarding this. For those not in the loop, Spain's economic situation since the global financial crisis in 2008 has been dire. This has been somewhat overshadowed by Greece at present but it's important to highlight that the Spanish government have had headaches of their own. The past seven years has seen their unemployment rate rocket, young people in particular suffering hardship, harvesting is at breaking point with produce at all-time low. This unrest h