Articles By Graeme Mackay

Hollande

François Hollande: Rejected Before a Year in Office

On 25 April 2013 the French Ministry of Labour posted the latest unemployment figures for March - an increase of 36,900 and the 23rd consecutive monthly increase - which showed that 3.224 million were signed up and looking for work. The Ministry admitted that this figure broke the previous record set in 1997 of 3.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher Death: Trade Union Wars and a Chinese Take on the 'Iron Lady'

I was leaving Singapore which had been "home" for the previous 10 months and had asked the teller at the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank on Collyer Quay for the balance of my account in the form of a sterling draft. A little surprised, I was told that a manager would see me shortly and I was duly ushered into a rather plush interview room wondering what could possibly be amiss.

North Korea

North Korea: Dealing With Planet Kim

It is most difficult to judge the true measure of the threat currently posed by North Korea in its war of words plus limited action, with South Korea, Japan and the United States. Both sides having their fingers on the triggers, US Secretary of State John Kerry was in China, the North's only r...

George Osborne TSC

Was George Osborne's 2013 Budget a Watershed? The Cuts Are On Their Way!

The agency stated that it was more than likely that by the end of April 2013, by which time the agency will have made a full review of the UK's sovereign ratings, it is more than likely that the UK will be downgraded.

Mali

Mali's 96:4 Ratio and Chad's 26:3 Have Raised Differing Reactions

As French troops and their allies start their tenth week fighting against Muslim militants and terrorists in Northern Mali, opinion in one of the world's poorer countries remains firmly in favour of the intervention by France, the old colonial power, in the country's struggle against the extremists which so nearly brought down the country's government.

Algeria Amenas Gas Plant

Splinter Wars, A Problem For The West As Well As Algeria

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a terrorist group which is financed through its criminal activities of smuggling, drug trafficking and kidnapping for ransom, carried out two separate bombings on 11 April 2007 in the Algerian capital, Algiers.

Senkaku Diaoyu islands

Five Tiny Islands, Three Smaller Rocks and One Very Poisoned Atmosphere - A Take on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Dispute

On 16 December 2012 with voter turnout at just over 59 per cent, the lowest since the Second World War, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party trounced Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan to win the most seats in the House of Representatives, the Lower House in the National Diet, and so...

David Cameron Nick Clegg

Coalition Mid-term Report: Is the Government Giving up on the Deficit?

All things considered, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat Deputy Nick Clegg, have established a close working relationship over the past two-and-a-half years of Coalition Government.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne outlines his Autumn budget

Might Future Autumn Statements Bring Greater Cuts in Welfare Spending?

George Osborne, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, has often of late made reference to the fact that the Coalition Government has already reduced the country's Budget Deficit by a quarter since coming to power.

Aung San Suu Kyi Takes A Walk Down Memory Lane, Feels Herself ‘Partly A Citizen Of India’ (PHOTOS)

Can Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi Bring About a Real Union of Burma?

"We are not making reforms because I want to. We are merely responding to the people's desire for reform. Therefore my future depends on the people and their wishes."