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Clear pathway to global stability is the key goal for 2025

2025 is an important year for both Justin Trudeau (L) and Olaf Scholz (R) (Image: South China Morning Post) It has been interesting reading all the tributes to former US President Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100. Many have highlighted his human rights track record and his campaign for peace, which led him to being a recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 . They also provide examples of foreign policy successes such as a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt which has been respected by both parties ever since, though recent years has seen diplomacy tested . But from a personal standpoint, as an Iranian, I have analysed his legacy somewhat differently. Towards the end of his presidency saw huge change in Iran. When he was inaugurated in 1977, Iran and the US were considered allies, though not completely rosy according to a 2016 BBC investigation . By the end, we'd seen an almost total 180-degree shift in relations: in 1979, the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, got ousted ...
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JSPrice Person of the Year 2024: Elon Musk

Elon Musk and Donald Trump (Image: AP News) When TIME Magazine picks its 'Person of the Year', it's never because the title's editors 'like' a certain individual or group of people. The 'accolade', if you ever want to call it that, is often chosen based on an influencer who has delivered the greatest impact or had a 'big' year, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the said person/people's agenda. So when the title picked Donald Trump this time around, it's not because the editors enjoyed how he defeated Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States. It was because he had one crazy 2024. There were times when we were led to believe he could be behind bars, having appeared in court for at least four different, serious cases. The Politico website has an excellent ' tracker ', so we know exactly what he's been accused of. Despite this, on Monday 20th January 2025, Trump will be sworn in for his second te...
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The race to be the UK opposition party is on

From L-R: Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer (Image: AOL.com) Unless it's completely unavoidable and therefore must be sooner, the next UK general election is scheduled to take place in 2029. While it sounds like a long way away, I for one am relieved. Certainly, I anticipate significant bumps over the next 4-5 years, however, I don't expect anything to result in a snap vote like we saw in 2017. To achieve this relative state of equilibrium, it's vital Britain has a resilient government that take the country to the next level. So far, we've seen some signs that this Labour administration has ambitions to be good for the country. Yes, at times, it feels as though Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is like a 1980s-style old-school headteacher and Chancellor Rachel Reeves as his deputy head, as they quietly and slowly walk past each governmental department, giving them death stares followed by a tut or two. That may come to little surprise, as we've often heard from...
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The ultimate Bond review

Bonds from left to right: Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Daniel Craig, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby (Image: Daily Express) Earlier this year, I set myself a challenge - an unserious one at that. yet it was something I took seriously. For years, I have been fascinated by the James Bond franchise but only based my interest on Daniel Craig's films, which were the only ones I had seen up to that point. April this year, I couldn't answer the important questions - what was my favourite Bond film? Who played the iconic character best? I could tell you which song I rated the highest because I knew and love each of them - I feel the 'Bond theme' is a genre of its own, they are that good. So over the last six months or so, I did it. I watched all 25 films, in order from Dr No to No Time To Die. Yes, there are two other 'unofficial' films - Never Say Never Again and the 1967 version of Casino Royale. While they included Bond as the protagonist, they aren...
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A divided world cannot afford another Trump term

Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin (Image: The Atlantic) This time next month, we get to find out whether it is Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to replace Joe Biden as President. For the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 , the chief in the White House is not seeking to fight on.  Biden didn't want to step back. Right up until his final decision, he stubbornly insisted he was the right person to take on former President Trump for a second time. However, questions were being asked about his wellbeing as the 81-year-old had been seen stumbling his words and steps , panicking key Democrat politicians and donors . Their warnings were stark and quite honestly, if he was to carry on by the party's convention, I doubt he'd have been endorsed by his peers. He, nor they, could afford any division when there is threat of another Trump administration looming. It's hard to define Biden's presidential legacy. I suppose he secured it in November 2020 when he defeated Trump w...
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Starmer: address the divisions to have an enjoyable winter

Time for bold action, Prime Minister (Image: The Week) Sir Keir Starmer has been Prime Minister for two months and already The Daily Telegraph sound as though he's governed a dystopian Britain for a decade. I suppose the government do need an opposition of some kind, as the Conservatives seek a new leader. Who better to fill those shoes than the paper dubbed the 'Torygraph', led by editor Chris Evans, associate editor Camilla Tominey and their disciples.  Some of the column pieces that have come out of the media title have been bold to say the least. On 7th September 2024 alone, writers have accused Labour of being ' the stupid party ', not understanding ' the most basic rules of economics ', and that Starmer is ' the prisoner of Labour's Leftist factions ' and ' plotting a tax raid on inheritance '. These are quite telling words aimed at a government which, of the nine weeks it's been around, six of them have been summer recess. Duri...
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How governments can shove extreme politics to irrelevance

Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron (Image: Bloomberg/Getty) Before we entered the New Year, we knew that 2024 was going to be a big year in politics, and oh boy, we have not been disappointed. The past month alone has seen the UK welcome a new Prime Minister, confirmation that Joe Biden will be replaced as US President and France's Parliament given a significant shake up after the country's President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in response to a bruising European election outcome for his party.  The European election aside, what we saw in the UK and France was that voters weren't being asked to vote for a party or an individual, but against others. The strategy worked, and we are likely to see a similar story in the US when the country heads to the polls in November. This is, largely, down to the resistance against the threat of history repeating itself. The apparent extremes of the traditional political spectrum have consistently done well in the polls of late an...
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