Labour in "Full Scale Leadership Crisis"

In Britain, it is becoming apparent that Gordon Brown's government is going to collapse. After several disastrous by-election defeats, suffering a 'bloodbath' in local elections, and loosing the London mayoralty to Conservative Boris Johnson, and a 20 point deficit in the polls, many labour MPs are calling for a leadership review. today comes news of Foreign Minister David Miliband refusing to rule out challenging Gordon Brown in a leadership election - this comes after Jack Straw ruled out his name in a leadership bid. Whether or not Gordon Brown will be kicked out as PM is besides the point, it is almost certain that a 'Tory Tide' is about to swamp Britain. Read about it in the Telegraph.

John McCain - Mitt Romney

It is becoming apparent that Mitt Romney will be John McCain's running mate. This, in my opinion will be a wise choice for McCain. Romney is popular amongst conservatives, a group that hasn't exactly warmed up to McCain, and he polled well in many pre-super Tuesday primaries that John McCain did not do well in.
However, the biggest advantage Mitt Romney will give the McCain campaign is his impressive fundraising capabilities, which will allow the McCain campaign to close the fundrasing gap with Barack Obama. John McCain will make a big mistake if he does not choose Romney as his running mate. Choosing Romney will show unity in the Republican Party, since they both engaged in negative campaigning against eachother. Also picking Romney as his runing mate will give McCain's campaign some much needed news coverage prior to the Democratic Party Convention.

A Whirlwind of Summer Reading

I have set out on an ambitious reading program this summer. So far i have read America Alone by Mark Stein, which presents the startling argument that decreased birthrates and increased immigration will bring the end of Europe. I have also read Empire by Niall Ferguson as a refresher of my knowledge of the British Empire's rise and fall.
Currently I am ploughing through William Shrier's classic The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which I plan on finishing soon. Once I am through with that monster I will have a definite foundation stone for further studies in 20th century history, Hurray! But it doesn't stop there. I plan on reading Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, and Bill O'Reilley's Culture Warrior, which I'm sure will seem like easy reading compared to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich! Once I'm through with this ambitious reading program I will set my sights on learning French and establishing an effective workout routine to counter all the cafeteria food I will be eating this fall!

Is the West Once Again Conservative?

As the United States appears to be drifting to the left, it is hard not to notice the political trend in other western countries. In France, voters elected a President who ran on one of the most conservative platforms in that country's history. In Germany, the Christian Democrats lead the government, and the Italians voted back Berluscioni and awarded him the largest majority of seats since the second world war. And finally in the UK, the Conservative party consistently has a 20 point lead over New Labour. It will be interesting to see if the US (and Canada) goes against this apparent trend.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

I've started reading this monumental and gigantic book about 2 weeks ago. After about 463 pages, Hitler is planning his takeover of Poland. There is no doubt that this book is essential reading for anyone interested in history. I'm also quite sure that once I'm finished with this sucker I'll be well prepared for my first year 20Th century history class.

The British Empire's Legacy

I thought my first blog post should showcase my views on the deceased British Empire.

At its height in the early 20th century, the British Empire accounted for over 25 percent of the worlds surface area, and roughly the same amount of the world’s population. Even though that empire is reduced to nothing more than a handful of scattered islands, and ceremonial monarchies in its former Dominions, it has left a legacy far greater than that of Rome’s. Almost a billion people have a working knowledge of english, capitalism, the most sucessfull and dominant economic system owes its sucess not necessarily to the Americans, but to the British. It was the dutch who first embraced it, but the Britsh were responsible for its rise to dominance in the 19th century.

Democracy even though ‘invented’ by the Athenians, is one of the most enduring legacies of the British Empire. Even when revolutionaries in Paris were sending Louis XVI to the guillotine, across the channel Britian had a constitution guaranteeing individual freedoms and elected parliaments for centuries. some of the worlds most sucessfull and oldest democracies were fomerly part of the Britsh Empire, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the United States all owe their democratic traditions in some form or another to the Britsh Empire.

I will not deny the fact that the empire was founded on slavery, economic explotation, and ethnic cleansing. However, it must also be noted that it was the British who first saw the error of their ways. Here in Canada, their is a lot of bad feelings over the conquest of Quebec and the expelling of the Acadians, but it must be noted that the British evetually allowed them to retain their language, religion, and even legal code (Quebec is one of the only jursidictions in the former empire whose legal system is not based on Common Law).

Many would counter this by saying that many of the ‘non white’ parts of ther former British Empire are not enjoying the benefits of personal and economic liberty. It must be noted that Zimbawe (formerly Rhodesia) was the breadbasket of Africa, exporting food. They had the highest literacy rates, one of the highest life expentancy rates and one of the higest income rates in all of africa, it is becasue of the tyrant Robert Mugabe, not the British Empire that that counrty is in disarray, but thats another story.

Just ask yourself this question, imagine a world if empires like the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) had reached the level of global dominance that the British once held?