Politoblog

Animal culling is not a topic I find easy to discuss. Researching for this article has been very upsetting, but it’s for that reason that I need to write down my concerns. In England, it is legal to cull animals which have tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in order to curb the spread of the disease. Culling in England hit the news recently because of a controversy surrounding Geronimo the Alpaca. Born in New Zealand, Geronimo tested negative for bTB four times before being imported to the UK by Helen MacDonald. There, he tested positive twice. The British tests for bTB work differently to the tests used in New Zealand, and  according to Iain McGill, a vet and TB researcher, Geronimo tested positive only because he had been micro-vaccinated before his tests, causing a high level of antibodies and thus a false-positive result. In spite of this, the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sanctioned Geronimo’s destruction. Geronimo the Alpaca - PA Media...

I have really enjoyed these Olympics. We have been treated to new sports, surprise victories (naming no names, Italy), and the usual astonishment when humans achieve the impossible. However, there is always an extremely political side to the Olympics, and that's what I wish to analyse in this article. Superpowers wear gold The term “superpower” was first used in 1944 to describe the UK, US and the USSR. During the 20th century, Britain lost influence and, with the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the US became the only superpower. This led Samuel Huntington to write : “There is now only one superpower. But that does not mean that the world is unipolar [rather] a uni-multipolar system with one superpower and several major powers.” So what we can learn about the current world order from this year’s Olympics? It's no secret that sport isn't the only thing in play during the Olympic Games. Many will remember the US boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, and medal races between Ru...

I was in France on January 31 2020. At a bar, my friends all hugged me as the clock struck midnight and I lost my EU citizenship. Thus commenced the one-year Brexit Transition Period as the UK prepared to lose its privileged position in Europe for good. Little changed in the way I lived in the EU that year. I was allowed to remain in France without a visa, and even moved to Sweden in September by just flashing my (burgundy) passport at border control. The only real frustration was that I was regularly met with confusion as to how to deal with a British national in the EU. Even at the post office in Dijon, I had to wait ten minutes for the woman serving me to decide whether to put my letter in the EU or the international post box. At that point, Brexit was simply an inconvenience in my day-to-day life. Then, as the year drew to a close, I had to prepare for the transition period to come to an end. I applied for Swedish residency, which was a simple enough process. The only real hassle w...

If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. There is a paradox facing the twenty-first century consumer. For those of us wishing to make responsible, ethical and sustainable choices, every decision we make is a land mine of contradictions. I wish to reduce my plastic consumption, so I buy a tote bag to take to the supermarket. Then my friend tells me that producing a tote bag uses more energy than a plastic bag – I’d have to use my cotton tote 393 times before it had the same environmental impact as using a plastic bag three times. But then... my carbon footprint might be higher, but at least my bag won’t end up in landfill or the ocean. At the supermarket, I wish to buy “eco” vegetables. But these are packed in plastic, unlike the non-organic loose veg. And the organic peas I buy here in Sweden have 50% higher emissions than the normal peas. I also want to protect my fellow customers from COVID-19, so I wear my handmade facemask. I can re-use my fabric mask, unlik...

My social media has been spammed lately with fans of the programme Bridgerton lamenting the departure of the much-loved Duke of Hastings (Simon) played by Regé-Jean Page. The seriousness with which people have taken this is what I am lamenting. No, @regejean ! You CANNOT leave me like that. I WILL NOT have it! @bridgerton !!!!!! — Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) April 3, 2021 I have an admittedly unpopular opinion on the programme Bridgerton, in that I think it is objectively bad. Bridgerton is a Netflix series based on a series of novels by Julia Quinn. The programme is set in London during the reign of King George III, and the first series followed the life of the upper-class Daphne Bridgerton, and her courtship with the aforementioned Duke of Hastings during her first season out. Daphne and Simon Bridgerton, Netflix I watched the first series of Bridgerton upon the recommendation of several friends, and I had (relatively) high hopes. I really like period dramas, and I am a fan of...

The 10th of March was probably a date you had circled in your calendars for several months now. It, of course, marked the date of the much-anticipated V-Dem Democracy Report 2021. If you weren’t as excited about its publication as I was, let me fill you in. V-Dem is an independent research institute that measures levels of democracy around the world. This year, its Democracy Report was entitled "Autocratisation Turns Viral." Not exactly the good news democracy-fans were hoping for. This year's V-Dem Democracy Report opened with heart-warming statements such as “another year of decline for liberal democracy” and “pandemic backsliding looms”. It wasn’t a huge surprise to anyone familiar with trends in democratisation, which granted is perhaps fewer people than I am making out. Organisations that measure global levels of democracy have been indicating a global decline for over a decade, and the pandemic, while perhaps not the final nail in democracy’s coffin, hasn’t done wor...