Trump says the USA will “run” Venezuela after the his armed attack on the country this weekend. He thinks his power entitles him to take over countries in what he considers to be the US’s backyard. Judging by his actions in Ukraine, Putin thinks the same about what he considers to be Russia’s sphere of influence. As does Xi when it comes to Taiwan. A world to be divided between three superpower …
On Monday of this week, the United Nations Security Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution endorsing President Trump’s plans for the future of Gaza. There were 13 votes in favour, including the UK, and none against. There were two abstentions – Russia and China. Such a decisive result says a lot about the imbalance of power in today’s world – reflected in the reluctance of leaders of European …
Learning lessons from the 1990s genocide could help us to better understand what is going on now – in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the wider world and here in the UK.
Like millions of other people around the world, I can’t get my head around the enormity of the devastation that Israel has been inflicting on human life in Gaza, week in, week out, since the awful attack its own citizens suffered twenty months ago. Neither can I get my head around the fact that the rest of the world allows the atrocities to continue. The most powerful country in the world even …
Last month, I wrote about the haunting photo of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya standing alone and unarmed in front of advancing Israeli tanks amid ruins around his hospital in Gaza. I called the post “What courage looks like.” Soon after the photo was taken, Dr Abu Safiya was abducted by Israeli soldiers and taken out of Gaza. He was held in solitary confinement for 24 days and he is still in Israeli …
I was privileged to be one of those representing Remembering Srebrenica at Holocaust Memorial Day, hosted by Birmingham City Council today. 2025 is a special year for commemoration – marking both the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the 30th anniversary of the genocide near the Bosnian town of Srebrenica when over 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were …
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.