A daily blog – let’s discuss politics in what will be an ‘interesting’ year!
The year ahead at Westminster
The Oldham East Bye-Elections to be held on 13th January will be the first real test for the Coalition, before that why not look at Simon Carr’s interesting ‘ 10 to watch at Westminster for 2011’? Some well-known names and some less familiar.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/westminsters-movers-and-shakers-in-2011-2175181.html
The troubles continue
The once rich and stable West African state known as the Ivory Coast sinks closer to a re-start of their brutal civil war. This resource rich country is the largest exporter of cocoa in the world and has lots of other minerals waiting to be exploited. To bring about a peaceful outcome will be a real test of the power of ECOWAS.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/04/ivory-coast-leader-refuses-cede
The south of Sudan goes to the polls
After years of bitter civil war the south of Africa’s largest country is expected to vote to break from the North and form the newest country on the continent. Such an outcome may yet cause reprisals from all sides of this long and bloody conflict.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201113143152881650.html
Is Obama in for a tough year?
When Congress reconvenes in just a few days the buoyant Republicans in the lower house (The House of Representatives) will attempt to de-rail the flagship Health Policy. They will win the vote in the lower house but the Democrats will fight off any attempt to ditch the health bill in the upper house (The Senate). This will probably be a regular occurrence as Obama fights to maintain his policies after the November 2010 mid-term poor showing for his Democratic Party.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/us/politics/04cong.html?_r=1&hpw