How “slopaganda” is reshaping the information battlefield Despite America’s tech dominance, Explosive Media , reportedly an Iranian outlet, seems to grasp the American psyche better than current U.S. messaging. This gap is becoming clear as AI-generated content expands. In recent months, Explosive Media’s wave of AI-generated videos has circulated across platforms like X and TikTok. Many are styled with bright, Lego-like animation , paired with English-language rap or narrati

In the wake of its victory over the declining Spanish Empire in 1898, the United States of America was faced with a political and moral problem. Specifically, the territories it had acquired under the Treaty of Paris - the largest of which were Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico - were inhabited by over 10 million people, or the equivalent to 12% of the US population at the time. As Daniel Immerwahr describes in his book How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greate

There can be no doubt that the Prime Minister is a very able man. Nor can there be any doubt that he is a very competent man. The Prime Minister conquered the legal profession to its highest attainable rank outside of politics. The Prime Minister entered politics for the right reasons. The Prime Minister climbed the ranks of his party to become its leader just five years after entering Parliament, a record in the Labour Party. Why then, given his glittering resume and clear a

California’s gubernatorial election grows in intensity and unpredictability every day. The political landscape in one of the wealthiest and most politically influential states in the US  seems to be constantly shifting, and this race has been no exception. In fact, it perfectly reflects California’s distinctively eclectic, trend-bucking politics. It's worth remembering that California's own electoral system contributes to this dynamic. Since 2010, the state has used the Top-T

The recent mainstreaming of wealth taxes as a political tendency in the UK has demonstrated an appetite for solutions to inequality. Although there have been successful debates, won with logic as much as rhetoric, a tangible wealth tax policy is still in its infancy.  The Green Party, the main policy vehicle for the Wealth Tax, is seeking between 1% and 2%  of tax on assets held over £10 million per annum. Yet who exactly pays, and how they pay, remain unanswered questions. W

In 1916, a twenty-four year-old British soldier arrived at the Battle of the Somme, where over a million men were killed or wounded  over just five miles of ground. John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R) Tolkien lost two of his closest friends in the battle, an experience of indiscriminate slaughter that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Echoes of the First World War can be found throughout Tolkien’s later literary work,  most famously in The Lord of the Rings - from the corpse-st

The Iran war has reached the European Union’s back yard, with European warships crowding Cyprus’ shores and drone attacks striking RAF Akrotiri last month. While Europe insists this is not a war, the security of this small island member state is the security of the Union. A few hundred kilometres from the Levant, Europe is quietly building a defensive perimeter around Cyprus – whether it admits it or not.  The UK has cleared its bases  to facilitate US “defensive strikes” on

One of the reasons I became a journalist was to tell the truth. You could say I was under a fog of naivety and idealism, but I think that I truly believed in the best of humanity. Maybe bad things happened for so long because of an ignorant, and simple population, who just didn’t know the truth. Because if people had access to the truth then things would simply change, right? There would be no discrimination, no suffering, no war. Why would we allow it? Surely if people could

The myth of the demonic trans person who simply transitions to dominate women’s sports is perhaps one of the most effective fables about trans people. It is so dominant that—and those who have incentive to spread this—even allies and sympathisers to the cause of transgender civil rights sometimes have a hard time stomaching the idea of a transgender sportsperson. But it is exactly that: a myth. A myth’s inherent power lies in its ability to replace reality with ideology and i

From Neil Kinnock to Nick Clegg, calls to democratise the House of Lords have been around for decades. At first glance, the argument appears compelling. A natural and necessary step for the evolution of British democracy. Why should, in a modern political system, any legislative body, responsible for representing the people and scrutinising the laws that will affect our lives, remain unelected? Yet this instinct, while understandable, risks overlooking the distinct and valuab

Reminiscent of the UK’s 2003 Stop The War demonstrations , where hundreds of thousands gathered to (unsuccessfully) oppose the Iraq War, the most recent wave of ‘No Kings’ rallies in the US saw demonstrations attended by over eight million Americans . Loudly and proudly criticising the administration of President Trump, there were several incredible photos (available here ). Focusing heavily on ICE, democratic freedom, and US republicanism, it was that last feature from which

In international politics today, the epithet ‘realism’ has become common currency. It carries with it a rhetorical confidence – a name which suggests prophecy of truth amongst alternatives which are deceptions. But as proclaiming a realist position has become something of a fashion nowadays, we must beware the fashion victims; those who don ill-fitting articles because they bear the right label, and wear its most ridiculous accessories without any sense of the motifs and subs

Content Warning: sexual themes of inter alia violence In February of this year, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s recommendations in their report into sexual exploitation  and trafficking via adult service websites was met with a nuanced and unemotional response from sex worker-focused charities and organisations, such as National Ugly Mugs . The Commissioner highlighted enduring issues; there were weak verification controls, weak reporting systems, instances of thi

September of last year marked Zack Polanski’s irruption into the highest echelon of British politics. The Green’s new leader, imbued with the gifts of personality, pitch and popularity, bestowed upon the party an attribute they had yet to enjoy – a brand. Polanski has swiftly turned himself into the Greens’ main asset; sharper than his predecessors, more media-savvy, more combative and far less embarrassed by the prospect of harnessing populism for his party’s good. Polanski,

In the aftermath of the Cold War, scholars such as Francis Fukuyama argued that liberal democracy represented the final stage of ideological evolution, famously framing it as “the end of history.”  However, what was celebrated as the final and best form of human government began to buckle under its own contradictions almost as soon as the Berlin Wall fell. “The end” became the starting point for a new political reordering, characterised by the rise of anti-liberal and, eventu

Since October 2023, the passive observer has witnessed seemingly unending cruelty and bloodlust exerted by the Israeli war machine. The state’s obtrusive expansion, retaliation and settlement policies have been in place practically since its inception, of course, but these have happened largely away from the public eye. The American, European or global audience has been aware, perhaps even against the actions of state, yet the public consensus on the Israeli regime has been a

Mexican democracy is the result of a long, complex, and painful historical struggle. It did not emerge overnight, nor was it a generous concession from those in power, but rather the fruit of decades of citizen pressure, political mobilisation, persecution, repression, and, in some cases, bloodshed by those demanding free elections and plural representation. Therefore, the recent attempt at electoral reform promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum raised alarm bells : it was n

I had the opportunity to attend An Evening With Zarah Sultana  at the University of Surrey, graciously hosted by Amelie Abass . As I entered the building, socialist campaigners unaffiliated with the university passed out pamphlets outside, which promised alliances with trade unions, standing up to Reform, and not much more. That seemed to be an appropriate introduction to the night. Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South since 2019, formerly of Labour Party fame, is now kno

If you follow mainstream Irish and Northern Irish press, you may have noticed an uptick this past year in articles referencing “Irish reunification” or “border poll”. There is a push by aligned Irish nationalist parties , academics , and VCS groups  for a border poll as soon as possible.  Some supporting arguments have been opportunistic – members of the SDLP argued during last year’s “Reform-o-mania” that Northern Ireland needed to exit the UK to escape the prospect of a Far

Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner to be the next President of the United States , can do many things other politicians can’t. He can wear denim jeans and apply copious amounts of hair gel without looking like a fool, for example. What he doesn’t do, however, is break any moulds in the sense that he doesn’t add another ‘ism’ to American political vernacular. Though this article's headline refers to ‘Newsom(ism)’, those brackets are important becau