Wednesday, February 12

Day: January 12, 2020

The moral hazard of dealing with China
Asia, Featured

The moral hazard of dealing with China

    Shortly before its first-ever applications period was due to close, the Schwarzman Scholars program held an admissions seminar at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. The elite China-based graduate program, funded by American businessman Stephen Schwarzman’s personal wealth and fundraising efforts and modeled after Oxford University’s Rhodes Scholarship, had recruited heavily from the world’s top academic institutions, including Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge. It would kick off its inaugural academic year in fall 2016, and was aiming for a cohort comprising the best students from China and around the world. To guarantee a “scientific and fair” admissions process, the program invited a group of experts to participate in the seminar. The meeting, held on Sept...
Time to abolish House of Lords
Featured, United Kingdom

Time to abolish House of Lords

    Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey has said she would abolish the House of Lords if she won power. The favoured candidate of the Labour left in the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn also indicated that she would be ready to authorise a second independence referendum in Scotland. Ms Long-Bailey is one of four contenders, alongside Keir Starmer, Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy, to have secured the necessary 22 nominations from MPs and MEPs to join the race ahead of Monday’s deadline. Launching her campaign last week, she vowed to go to war on the establishment, and she today confirmed that this would mean an end to the unelected Upper House of Parliament. She declined to say what replacement she envisages for the second chamber, but indicated she wants a democ...
Jess Phillips suspends aide over tweets
Featured, United Kingdom

Jess Phillips suspends aide over tweets

    Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips has suspended one of her key aides over completely unacceptable messages posted on social media. The decision came after the The Mail on Sunday uncovered tweets from the team member, in which they described Israel as the murderer that was inflicting Holocaust conditions on Palestinians. Despite admitting she was really sad to have taken action against a valued member of staff, Ms Phillips said the suspension was necessary and the only was to start building a bridge again with the Jewish community. The tweets were posted between 2014 and 2016, before the staff member joined the Birmingham Yardley MP's team. Israel compared to Isis One message, addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly, appeared to liken...