Rishi Sunak’s Tory nightmare
The United Kingdom is doing its best to show itself coming apart at the seams. Are things really so bad? They could well be, writes Murray Ritchie. Consider: inflation, the frightening cost…
Chief-Exec.com Originals
It’s all Brexit’s fault!
With Liz Truss gone, Britain’s chaotic Conservative government is looking for its third prime minister this year and the sixth since Brexit, writes Murray Ritchie. Opposition parties scream for a general election…
Why is no-one talking about the high cost of Brexit?
Leaving the single market and customs union is believed to have reduced UK trade in goods to the EU by £14 billion a month, writes Murray Ritchie. While the United Kingdom slithers…
New Australian PM promises to end climate wars
Anthony Albanese, Australia’s 31st prime minister, is offering a different kind of politics, starting with inclusion not division, writes Geoff Kitney in Canberra The elephant in the room that Australia’s political leaders…
Putin’s Russia: dreams of a normal country dashed
When Russians went to the polls in March 2000, they had high hopes for democracy and stability, writes Geoff Kitney. They had chosen a new course under a new young leader. Twenty-one…
Political will is in short supply
Brexit is causing a curious stasis in UK politics in the four constituent nations. It is as though no-one really knows what to do next, writes Murray Ritchie. 2022 looks like being…
Australia: the politics of border control
When Novak Djokovic took up residence at Melbourne’s Park Hotel for a few days, the world noticed the desperate refugees locked in with him. But he has left the building and the…
Covid: adapting is the new normal
For better or worse, further variants must be anticipated, writes John Egan. Governments around the world will be holding their breath. Many have taken a big bet that the latest coronavirus variant…
Securing borders is neither easy nor cheap
The UK should beware when it looks to Australia for a solution to ‘stop the boats’. The cost to the Australian taxpayer of detaining asylum seekers has been estimated at A$4 million…
King coal is coming to an end – eventually
The Glasgow COP26 outcome was the best we could have expected – those wanting more and branding it a failure were never going to be satisfied, writes Murray Ritchie. So the enemy…