The JSPrice Perception

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...

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer (Image: The Telegraph) The UK general election on Thursday 4th July has come at a time where the country is at a sticky crossroads. Never has its citizens felt so out of touch with politics, not helped by a government who had asked millions of undecided voters, with just six weeks' notice, to head to their local polling station and make a huge, collective decision. Even Conservative ministers were reportedly surprised when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a summer election when it was widely anticipated we'd see one in the autumn. But we should have seen this swift call coming. Sunak spoke to the nation from a very damp Downing Street on the day inflation went down to 2.3% (his target was to get it to 2% by election day ). He also wanted planes with 'illegal' migrants headed to Rwanda, and he got that approved by Parliament  in April 2024. With key 'pledges' through the door, you sense he felt buoyant enough to say let the peop...

Left to right: John Swinney, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf (Image: BBC News) Scottish politics has seen considerable turbulence in recent weeks. This has delighted commentators and politicians who oppose the idea of devolution or the Scottish National Party (SNP) more generally. I mean, after all, the UK general election is just weeks away, any excuse to try and deter the progress of Scotland's largest party. And any excuse to highlight the nation's problems and say that it shouldn't have more independent powers. Personally, I am more pro-devolution than against. I see its merits but I equally appreciate the need for the concept to reform. The problem has been for years, devolved nations and cities are largely led by parties who aren't the ruling party in Westminster so, naturally, relationships between the Conservatives and leaders in Wales, Manchester, Liverpool, London, and elsewhere, including now Birmingham (which has recently welcomed a Labour Mayor for the fi...

Katharine Birbalsingh at her Michaela Community School (Image: Byline Times) At the moment, in Britain, there are really contentious and concerning debates being had about what's 'right' and 'wrong' for children. It has made me feel that I am from a fortunate generation, sandwiched between the kids raised in the 1970s and 80s who at school were very restricted and severely punished for minor reasons, and those in education today where there's too much overprotection and faux outrage. By comparison, my era - in the late 90s and 2000s, felt rather straightforward and dull. The faux outrage right now circles around religion and identity, which I'll address the latter later.  For quite a while I have been following the developments of Michaela Community School in north west London. In recent years, it has raised the eyebrows of education experts and political figures, many of whom in two minds as to whether the school's seemingly unorthodox approach is a go...

Vladimir Putin and Benyamin Netanyahu (Image: The Times of Israel) If you know of any young and ambitious political enthusiasts, who are living in countries where their leaders in their 70s and 80s are currently hellbent on choosing drones and bombs over diplomacy and handshaking to handle disagreements of ideology and power, please advise them watch and learn from their mindlessness. Right now, we have 74-year-old Benyamin Netanyahu of Israel and an Iranian regime led by 84-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei doing all they can to give the rest of the world one big panic attack just to prove who is wearing the trousers in the Middle East (spoiler alert: neither are). Elsewhere, we have Russia's 71-year-old President Vladimir Putin continuing to impose fear and bombs over Ukraine. Calling all the shots here is 81-year-old US President Joe Biden who feels the need to get involved in everything - whether it is giving (un)limited ammunition to Israel  and Ukraine , or providing aid to Gaza w...

Sadiq Khan bids for a third term as Mayor of London (Image: The Guardian) You can tell that a general election is around the corner when the Conservative Party is escalating its attacks on the Labour Party. These recent weeks have two particular Labour figures targeted; one being its Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, who is under increased scrutiny over the nature of the selling of an ex-council house in Stockport. I won't delve into this story as it is an active case with the local council and police involved, and Rayner strongly denies any wrongdoing. The other who is on the backend of constant criticism by his political rivals is Sadiq Khan, currently running for a third term as Mayor of London. No one has ever won the London mayoral election on more than two occasions. Since it was established in 2000, Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson each won twice, as has Khan. At every election, we have seen the outcome finalised after the second round of counting. This time around, if the pol...

A lot is riding on Joe Biden - and Iran - to end the Middle East crises (Image: POLITICO.eu) There have been threats, in recent weeks, of the conflicts taking place in dotted parts of the Middle East 'expanding' to across the region . Whether it is the situation in Gaza, which the current horrors there have been going on for more than 100 days , or what is happening in Yemen and the Red Sea, where the Houthi military group is at loggerheads with ships belonging to the UK, United States and others.  At the heart of these troubles are innocent lives being lost or displaced, and there is little sign, hope or willingness of resolution by those who should be negotiating peaceful solutions. But also at the heart of these are the United States and Iran. For decades, their governments have exchanged countless war of words, and for years, they've ruffled each other's feathers by using proxies and existing forces to needlessly flex their military muscles. These have often been ...