Politics and International Relations

Academics Stand Against Poverty UK argues that the Budget offers inadequate, short-term poverty relief instead of lasting action on social security, housing and inequality, urging the government to tax wealth fairly and establish a stronger financial safety net for households. In September, ASAP UK Trustees urged Andy Burnham to treat tackling poverty as the foundation Read More

The 2026 midterms show that economic concerns have overtaken anti-CRT, DEI and “woke” culture-war politics, though the divisions they created remain deeply embedded in American society.…Read more

In this policy briefing, Heather Buckingham, author of 'A Taste for Change' examines how more than 2.5 million people in the UK lived in households that used a food bank in 2024–25. This highlights the urgent need to tackle poverty, improve access to secure, fairly paid work and strengthen social security so that everyone can afford the essentials…Read more

Uisce Jordan explores how Andy Burnham’s government can tackle the cost-of-living crisis by listening directly to low-income families and using their experiences to shape policies that meaningfully reduce hardship and child poverty.…Read more

Markus Holdo, author of 'The Responsibility to Disrupt', argues that AI’s threat to democracy is its intolerance of thinking and questioning.…Read more

Reed Van Schenck, author of 'The Reactionary Web', argues that Truth Social’s paid Truth API gives wealthy traders advance access to Trump’s market-moving announcements, highlighting how the commodification of information can undermine economic fairness and democracy.…Read more

Luke Moffett, author of 'Algorithms of War', discusses how the growing use of AI on the battlefield is reshaping the way life-and-death decisions are made, risking dehumanising civilians by reducing them to data points.…Read more

ASAP UK urges Andy Burnham to make tackling poverty a central priority through stronger social security, child-poverty action, decent wages, social housing and treating poverty as a health issue.…Read more

Nick Bisley, author of 'Asian Crucible', examines how geopolitical tensions, particularly between the US and China, are reshaping globalisation by redirecting trade, supply chains and investment, while increasing economic friction and risk across Asia.…Read more

Helen Keane, David Moore and Mats Ekendahl argue that Andy Burnham’s celebration of pubs and moderate drinking highlights a tension between alcohol’s genuine social benefits and the increasingly dominant public-health focus on its harms, which can overlook class and gender inequalities and the value of community and pleasure.…Read more