Middle East Muddle

Neither America or Britain has a clue on how to bring peace to the Middle East. The Quartet led by Tony Blair has given new meaning to the word anaemic. There's no chance of a two state solution. President Obama's recent visit to Israel produced nothing more than warm words. William Hague has no leeway at all since the department he runs, irrespective of who is in government, has been distinctly pro-Israeli for the past twenty years or more. There are only two solutions to the Palestinian issue.The first is to ditch the two country scenario. Let there be a greater Palestine (but possibly not with that name) including both Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. This would necessitate two separate parliaments with an overriding Senate comprising members of both parliaments. Jerusalem would still be an issue though the Senate might be placed there. Before you come to ...

Ai Weiwei moves from contemporary art to heavy metal

International News

China’s most notorious dissident, contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, is continuing to push the restricting parameters of a Chinese citizen by releasing a heavy metal album. At first impression this recent announcement seems like nothing more than a mischievous new endeavour to further annoy the far from light-hearted Chinese authorities. Take his recent parody of Gangnam Style in which he comically writhes about à la South Korean pop sensation Psy, only this ...

New Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea is elected

International News

Following a week of elections, a deputy member of Youth Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea has been elected. Adrianna Franklin, a 14-year-old pupil at Chelsea Academy, was elected with 55 per cent of the votes. Voting was open to young people aged eleven to eighteen who either live, study or work in the Royal Borough. In her manifesto, Adrianna listed education and youth employment, housing for young people and youth pregnancy as ...

Royal Borough announces programme to help end human trafficking

International News

A two-year programme to help stamp out human trafficking both here in the capital and abroad, has been announced by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Council has successfully bid for a European Commission grant of £317,693 and is also contributing £52,000 from its Community Safety Partnership funds towards the scheme. The Royal Borough is the lead organisation for the initiative which will see the funding distributed to the Metropolitan ...