Caught between Moscow’s ruthless security forces and a million newly-arrived Russian settlers, the peninsula’s minority population deserves our support.
After a brutal civil war, a national de-radicalisation and reconciliation programme has made great progress.
So much of the present crisis – and of the intervening suffering – can be traced to our failure to move decisively against Assad two years ago.
One of the great joys of being a Suffolk MP for eighteen years was to be able to represent Newmarket in the House of Commons. However, it did not start at all well. The French and Irish had obtained a generous VAT derogation from the European Commission in respect of their horse racing and training […]
By Lord Risby A little bit of post-war British history has disappeared into the ether with the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board in the House of Lords. Labour has never felt comfortable with the countryside, and has not the faintest idea as to how current farming practices are carried out. This was blindingly apparent […]
By Lord Risby A little bit of post-war British history has disappeared into the ether with the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board in the House of Lords. Labour has never felt comfortable with the countryside, and has not the faintest idea as to how current farming practices are carried out. This was blindingly apparent […]
By Lord Risby If we look at growth projections for Europe overall this year, they are at best anaemic. By contrast, the USA and many other countries seem to have much more promising outlooks. Our non-EU export performance has been good, but others have done better, and of course we have traditionally suffered from a […]
By Lord Risby There were several reasons, not least the length of time in office, why the Conservatives lost so dramatically in 1997, but there was one word that affixed itself to the party – namely, disunited – which was routinely used by the media and commentators, based on internal differences about Europe, which was […]
By Lord Risby. The most visited sites in Syria outside the cities are the magnificent Roman ruins at Palmyra and the vast crusader castle, the Krak des Chevaliers, part of a chain of such castles right across the country. One of the barely reported aspects of the country’s collapse is that some of their key […]
We are approaching one year since the uprisings in Syria began. When it all erupted in Deraa, both President Assad and his wife tried to see some of the families who had been impacted, apparently to show some degree of humanitarian concern. However, thereafter the military violence against the protesters increased exponentially leading to the […]
Lord Risby is Chairman of the British Ukrainian Society Ukraine has not been enjoying favourable publicity of late. The trial and imprisonment of the charismatic former prime minister and Presidential candidate, Yulia Timoshenko, has in the eyes of western diplomats and commentators reflected significant shortcomings in the country’s judicial processes. Ukraine recently celebrated twenty years […]
Lord Risby has recently returned from a visit to Egypt with the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC). Tahrir Square has achieved iconic status as the epicentre of the Arab spring in Egypt. Without milling crowds, it is really an oval central reservation surrounded by Cairo’s mind-boggling traffic. An air of nervous apprehension pervades the square […]
There are few countries so near to us which have had the gruesome and complex history of Algeria, which this year will celebrate fifty years of independence from France. In 1830 the French removed Ottoman control largely for domestic reasons, to shore up the unpopular reign of Charles X. In due course the white settler […]
Our new council aims to help bolster our industrial and technological base, and boost our diplomatic and military power.