Gair Rhydd

Back to the future

Argentina claim the Falklands are theirs. Damian Fantato explains why

Right. So we know that the 80s are supposed to be back in fashion, but this is ridiculous.

Argentina is renewing its claims to the Falkland Islands after passing a law in December which establishes that the Falklands, as well as other British Overseas Territories, are, in fact, Argentinian.

Making a killing

Last week, Israel was accused of sending 15 secret agents to Dubai to kill a senior member of Hamas.

The operation was, strictly speaking, a success: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas senior commander, is no longer alive. The problem is that the secret agents in question left a trail behind themselves.

Giving you a peace of their mind

Chris Tarquini has a chat with Barbara Tucker, a member of a protest group that's been outside Parliament for nine years

At first glance, the banners and tents looks like any other protest. However what makes this campaign different is that it’s in Parliament Square, positioned right next to Westminster Palace, and it has been there for almost ten years.

The Parliamentary Peace Campaign was started in 2001 by Brian Haw. Although originally targeted against the British and American bombing campaign in Iraq, long before the controversial Iraq War, it has spread to campaign against Western aggression in general. As I crossed the road towards the pictures of bombs and children savaged by warfare, I took a deep breath: would an organisation notoriously suspicious of much of the media tear apart an unsuspecting student reporter who could probably pass for a sixth former? What met me was quite a contrast. Far from some of the vitriol-spitting anger-merchants that many protests on any side of the political spectrum attract, the relaxed demeanour of the lady standing by the signs was a great surprise.

Brown goes old school

Gordon Brown has been accused of bullying his staff. Should this matter? Yaz Langley takes a look

So the gist of the story is that one journalist wrote a few little stories about a few things Brown might or might not have done backed up by a few phone calls to the National Bullying Helpline which might or might not have been directly about Gordon himself.

Several statements and articles later and the media have turned him into an aggressive monster who ‘assaults people, has childish tantrums and throws Nokia phones about’.

Greek economy woes

James Dunn examines the effect the that Greek economic crisis could have on the rest of Europe

This past month has seen one of the most unfortunate chapters in the global recession. The Greek economy has suffered an apocalyptic assault. Economists worldwide are now providing it as the example of what the recession has the strength to do.

When the global recession began (the National Bureau of Economic Research claims that this was December 2007), the UK’s national debt was at 40%. Already at this point, Greece had a national deficit of close to 100% (this is calculated by the national debt level contrasted to the country’s GDP). Since then, things have not improved. Britain has stayed roughly the same – 44% is the current figure – while Greece has seen a substantial downturn. Now standing at 114%, the nation stands on the brink of bankruptcy.

This world, this week

Turkey dinner

The Turkish government has this week accused the country’s military of attempting to stir up trouble and justify a military coup.