Originally founded by exiles from Labour’s neoliberal wing, it is now an important part of the new right-wing coalition government in Wellington.
We should not shy away from facing the many unsavoury episodes of imperial history. The consequences of Britain’s historical actions are still shaping world events negatively. But that doesn’t mean the moral wrongs of our ancestors should necessarily dominate and guide our actions today.
The undoubted prestige of having an Irishman in a leading global role would be offset by potential short term political pain, not welcome at any time but especially in a potential election year.
The danger is that the conflict slowburns into a wider one, with hostilities between Israel and Iran’s proxies accelerating, and knock-on consequences for inflation and Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Republican challengers are putting their own egos ahead of any coordinated effort to beat the former president, whilst any move against Biden are likely to come later, at the Democratic National Convention.
Now, through Orbán and Trump, the Kremlin is cashing in its chips. Unable to defeat Western-supported Ukraine on the battlefield, it’s playing Western politics to cut off its supply of money and weapons.
Apparent progress on employment and the cost of living is largely smoke and mirrors, whilst crime, border security, and his failed constitutional referendum don’t get a mention.
If National are to comprehensively balance the books and leave room for the investments in infrastructure and public services that need to be made, nothing less than swingeing cuts will be required.
A world in which Russian warmongering prevailed over British and American promises would be one where the advantage had passed decisively to the autocracies.
We must stand up for the international rules-based order, international law and human rights, otherwise it will have a long-lasting effect on how Britain is viewed globally.
This European “nationalism” could well produce a considerably more populist EU. Whether that would be good for the UK is another matter.
Ukrainians fear that the horrors in Gaza and Israel are hogging the attention their Western backers. Some suspect that Vladimir Putin and his Iranian allies encouraged the Hamas atrocities precisely to open a second front against the democracies.
It is much easier to defend the sanctity of the collection in toto than to start making difficult and diplomatically awkward judgements about the return of individual artefacts on a case-by-case basis.
The Foreign Secretary ought to say something to mark the crossing of a new red-line: the labelling of British citizens as criminal in Jimmy Lai’s sham trial.