The Tynwald

Twitter: @thetynwaldblog Politics made simple. The Tynwald is a blog aimed at making politics more accessible, particularly for students. The blog features three main sections: 1. #tynwald opinionated (posted the 10th of every month). 2. #tynwald explained (posted the 20th of every month). 3. #tynwald roundup (posted the last day of each month). There is also the #tynwald glossary, an alphabetical list of all explanations and definitions.

[thetynwald-blog]

Maybe the British government should scrap the NHS…

The NHS.

Some argue that it’s a necessity and works exactly as it should, others claim that it is deeply flawed and needs desperate reorganising. My argument, however, is not based on how well the NHS performs its role, but rather on the moral implications of the service.

Many would suggest that the free, comprehensive and universal health service is one of the few socialist triumphs in the UK, providing much needed health services to those who can’t afford it. I disagree.

In fact, I would argue that the NHS is not left-wing at all.

Keep reading

[burnitalldownism]

Those who can afford to pay for private care pay for private health insurance. With that they get treated in private hospitals with fancy rooms and the likes by whatever constitutes “better” healthcare professionals, and have shorter wait times. Same as all the other countries (every single developed one in the world bar the US) that have universal healthcare.

But hey…if you’re advocating for a system where people earning above a certain amount don’t get access to free public services so that they have to pay for private, then I’m all for it. Funny how your suggestion was just scrapping universal healthcare instead though.

Try doing a modicum of research before embarrassing yourself ye gombeem.

[thetynwald-blog]

A system where people who earn over a certain amount don't get access to free public services is scrapping universal healthcare. Universal means available to all.

I am suggesting a system where people who earn over a certain amount don't get access to free public services. This is so that government can use the money saved by the decrease in use of the public services to improve those services for those that can't afford to go private.

I merely used the NHS as an example to illustrate my point.

[thetynwald-blog]

Maybe the British government should scrap the NHS…

The NHS.

Some argue that it’s a necessity and works exactly as it should, others claim that it is deeply flawed and needs desperate reorganising. My argument, however, is not based on how well the NHS performs its role, but rather on the moral implications of the service.

Many would suggest that the free, comprehensive and universal health service is one of the few socialist triumphs in the UK, providing much needed health services to those who can’t afford it. I disagree.

In fact, I would argue that the NHS is not left-wing at all.

Providing free healthcare for all is like like taxing everyone the exact same – unfair for those who earn less.

The fact of the matter is, the government cannot treat everyone the same. There are people in society who need more support and so why should those who can afford to pay for private healthcare clog up the vital services that the NHS provides to those who can’t afford to go elsewhere. Those who can afford their own healthcare shouldn’t get it for free.

[thetynwald-blog]

International political roundup - November 2017

4th – The Saudi Arabian air force intercepted a missile they believe to have been fired by the Houthi rebel forces in Yemen.

4th – US airstrikes focused on Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan killed over a dozen civilians.

5th – A Saudi prince died when his helicopter crashed near the border of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. 

8th – Trump, speaking to the South Korean parliament, warned North Korea that ‘the weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer’, and told Kim Jong-un not to ‘underestimate’ the US.

10th – Saudi Arabia warned its citizens to leave Lebanon, causing fears that the two states were heading to all-out-war.

14th – 61.6% voted for the legalisation of gay marriage (with a turnout of 79.5%) in Australia in a non-binding vote.

15th – The Zimbabwe military took President Mugabe into custody and stated he would step down.

19th – German coalition talks between Merkel’s conservatives and the Free Democrats broke down.

22nd – Mugabe resigned as the president of Zimbabwe.

22nd – Zimbabwe’s former vice president who was exiled returned to rule the nation.

24th – Over 300 people were killed in an attack on a mosque in Egypt.  

26th – Egypt launched airstrikes against the Islamic State in response to the mosque attack.

29th – North Korea tested its most powerful ballistic missile yet.  

[thetynwald-blog]

US political roundup - November 2017

5th – 26 died in a shooting at a Texas Baptist church. The US air force failed to flag up a previous assault conviction on the shooter that would have prevented him from purchasing firearms.

11th – Trump, when asked, revealed that he believed a meeting with Kim Jong-Un would be a ‘good thing’.

14th – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate tax bill would include a proposal to repeal Obamacare’s mandate for Americans to acquire health insurance and use the money it would raise to fund corporate and personal tax cuts.

15th – 6 House democrats introduced 5 new articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.

16th – The House passed the GOP tax overhaul in a 227-205 vote.

16th – Around 210,000 gallons of oil spilled from the Keystone pipeline in South Dakota just days before a decision on whether to grant permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska.

17th – It was revealed that Kushner, Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, failed to disclose Wiki Leaks and Russian communications to Senate Judiciary Committee investigators.

21st – District Court Judge William Orrick permanently blocked President Trump's executive order to cut funding to so-called sanctuary cities.

22nd – District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin struck down parts of a Texas law that would ban the most common type of second-trimester abortions in the state

22nd – Senator Franken was accused by several women of sexual harassment.

[thetynwald-blog]

British political roundup - November 2017

1st – Sir Michael Fallon resigned as Defence Secretary due to sexual harassment rumours.

2nd – It was revealed that Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary held 14 off the books meetings in Israel with a number of important political parties and groups.

2nd – Labour suspended Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins over sexual harassment allegations.

3rd – Charlie Ephicke MP was suspended by the Conservative Party after serious allegations were reffered to the police.

7th – It was revealed that Prince Charles lobbied on climate change without revealing that his private estate would benefit from policy changes through an offshore fund.

8th – Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary resigned after it was revealed she held about 14 unofficial meetings with important Israeli politicians, business people and lobbyists.

15th – It was revealed that Russian twitter bots posted over 45,000 messages aimed at dividing voters ahead of the Brexit vote.

[thetynwald-blog]

What is impeachment?

The dictionary definition of impeachment is to call into question the integrity or validity of something. 

However, in the political world, impeachment refers to the act of forcibly removing a politician from office and is most commonly used in relation to the President.

To be forced out of office the (US) President must be impeached, unlike in the UK where the Prime Minister can be removed by their own MPs in a vote of no confidence. 

According to the constitution, to be impeached the President must have committed ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’. Nixon was impeached after he spied on the Democrats and his own staffers. 

[thetynwald-blog]

How do you propose the government would carry out banning all guns as you support?

With legislation. In both Australia and the UK the government passed laws that restricted the possession, use and sale of firearms and gun crime dropped massively.  

[thetynwald-blog]

America needs to ban guns

It’s been said before, it will be said again, the points I am going to make will be unoriginal and repetitive and the article will be predictable, but it still needs to be said. America has to ban guns.

It still needs to be said because, despite over 30,000 people dying a year, America still hasn’t banned guns.

It still needs to be said because even though millions of articles that make this one unoriginal and predictable, flood the ‘mainstream media’, America still hasn’t banned guns.  

To make this article at least a little unique, perhaps enough to stand out and convince one or two people of my argument, I won’t list all the reasons why guns should be banned, but rather rebut the arguments for gun ownership.

Firstly, we have the classic freedom argument. The belief that a restriction on guns would be a restriction on freedom. I won’t argue against this as I suppose any restriction on what an individual can access is technically an infringement of freedom. However, the public must accept some form of government constraint in the interest of safety. The population accepts that high-class drugs should remain illegal. The population accepts a road speed limit. The population accepts at least some level of taxes, arguably infringing on an individual’s right to spend their hard-earned money the way they want to, as the government uses them to fund protective measures such as policing. Surely this means the population can give up a little more of their liberty to potentially save 30,000 people a year.

Secondly, and potentially the most ridiculous pro-gun argument, is that firearms are needed so that the public can form a militia in case of a tyrannical government. This was actually why the founding fathers enshrined the right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights, in 1787. However, it’s now 2017 and the government has drones, nukes and probably a whole host of other weapons we don’t even know about. The American public best hope that a separation of powers and checks and balances are enough to prevent a tyrannical government from forming, because Dave from Nevada and his semi-automatic rifle doesn’t stand much of a chance against the full might of the US military.

Finally, many claim that getting rid of guns wouldn’t end gun violence. However, there’s much more evidence to support the fact that it will. The Port Arthur massacre of 1996, was Australia’s deadliest mass shooting. Afterwards, the government quickly banned guns and there has not been another mass shooting. Similarly, the Dunblane massacre, 1996, was the biggest mass shooting in British history. Again, the government banned guns soon after the event and there has only been 1 mass shooting since.  

In America, there has been an average of almost 7 mass shootings a week so far in 2017. The government needs to take action.

[thetynwald-blog]

International political roundup - October 2017

1st – Rex Tillerson revealed that the US were directly communicating with North Korea over the nuclear crisis.  

1st – Voting took place in the Catalan independence referendum despite objections from the central government and police intervention, which resulted in the injury of over 750 people.

2nd – Catalonians voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence on a turnout of 43.2%. Manuel Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister, maintained that the vote was illegal.  

3rd – A general strike took place in Catalonia to protest the police brutality during the independence referendum.

4th – The leader of Catalonia stated that the region would declare independence within a couple of days.

5th – Iraqi forces recaptured the Hawaji area from the Islamic State, one of the last strongholds of the extremist group.

6th – It was revealed that Apple gave Uber the disturbing ability to record what was on their users iPhone screens. Uber could have, in theory, have monitored customer’s passwords and their use of rival ride-hailing apps.

13th – Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said the US was ‘more isolated than ever’ after Trump threatened to cancel the nuclear deal.

13th – Iran was blamed for June cyber-attack on British MPs.

16th – Iraqi troops seized the northern city of Kirkuk from Kurdish control 3 weeks after a controversial independence referendum that was denounced by the Iraqi government.

19th – New Zealand voted in their first Labour PM in 9 years, Jacinda Ardern.

19th – a 35-year-old Russian socialite declared herself a presidential candidate to challenge Putin.

21st – The Syrian Democratic Forces, supported largely by the US, declared total liberation of the former ISIS capital Raqqa.  

21st – Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy announced Madrid will remove Catalan President Carles Puigdemont from power and suspend the areas regional autonomy.

22nd – Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party secured a convincing win in the snap election, retaining their 2/3 majority in the lower house.

22nd – Argentine President Macri’s coalition gained strength in the nations midterms.

23rd – US-backed fighters seized Syria’s largest oil field from the Islamic state.

24th – The Chinese Communist Party wrote President Xi Jinpings’s name into the party’s constitution, elevating him to the same status as Mao Zedong.

25th – President Xi Jinping of China secured a second 5-year term.

26th – UN experts blamed the Syrian government for a nerve gas attack that killed over 90 people in April.

27th – Catalonia’s parliament voted to declare independence. The Spanish government immediately responded by imposing direct rule over the autonomous region. Spanish authorities also charged 20 separatist leaders with rebellion.

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing. 

[thetynwald-blog]

US political roundup - October 2017

1st – 58 people died and 546 were injured after Stephen Paddock fired into a crowd at a music festival in Las Vegas.  

6th – Trump’s government allowed employers to opt out of providing free birth control to millions of Americans.

6th – It was revealed that the Las Vegas shooter also planned a car bomb and may have planned other attacks.  

8th – Vice President Pence walked out of an American football game before it started after some players knelt during the national anthem.

11th – Trump threatened to revoke NBC’s news license, claiming it printed false information.  

17th – Trump allegedly told the widow of a soldier that he ‘knew what he signed up for’. This was later confirmed by the widow.  

19th – A neo-Nazi speech by white supremacist leader Richard Spencer caused huge protests at the University of Florida. Three men were arrested after they chanted ‘Hail Hitler’ and fired a gun at a group of protestors.

23rd – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq as the US are working on creating a stronger alliance against Iran.

25th – Trump signed an executive order to lift the most recent refugee ban, but imposed a tougher screening process on refugees.

26th – Reports appeared that Trump campaign’s data firm may have contacted WikiLeaks about Clintons private email server.  

26th – House Republicans narrowly passed a budget resolution.

27th – The opioid epidemic was declared to be a public health emergency by President Trump.

27th – Parts of Trumps military transgender ban were blocked in court.

27th – A former campaign advisor to Trump, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russia connections.

30th – Mueller filed the first charges of his investigation into the Trump administration, including the indictment of former campaign chair Paul Manafort for money laundering.

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing. 

[thetynwald-blog]

British political roundup - October 2017

1st – May pledged to freeze tuition fees at £9,250/year and increase the repayment threshold, so people start paying them back when earning £25,000.

1st – Representatives from the Church of England and BBC traded insults over how each institution handled sexual abuse cases.

1st – Henry Bolton, new UKIP leader, said that LGBT equality had ‘gone a bit far’.

2nd – When asked if gay sex was sinful Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said ‘I haven’t got a good answer to the question’.  

3rd – Several Tory backbenchers (along with other politicians and members of public) called for Boris Johnson to lose his cabinet post following his claim that Sirte, in Libya, could be the next Dubai once they ‘clear the dead bodies away’.  

4th – It was revealed that around 30 Tory MPs plotted to remove May from office after her disastrous speech at the party annual conference.  

7th – EU negotiators increased backroom Brexit talks with Corbyn and the Labour Party amid fears that May’s government will collapse.

8th – France and Germany rejected May’s hopes to fast-track talks on a 2-year post Brexit transition deal. Merkel and Macron insisted that Britain’s EU divorce bill must be settled first.

10th – The first national survey on racial inequality showed huge disparities between ethnic minorities and white people in Britain.

12th – Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced a £4 million scheme to pay newly qualified GPs a starting salary of £20,000.

15th – A cross party group of MPs planned to block May from allowing Britain to leave the EU without a deal.

16th – May’s trip to Brussels to have a private dinner with top EU officials failed to end the deadlock. She allegedly pleaded for a Brexit deal she could to sell to voters.

18th – It was revealed that NHS performance across the UK has slumped in the last 4 years.

18th – MPs voted to pause the government’s universal credit scheme. However, the vote was only symbolic.  

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing. 

[thetynwald-blog]

What do you think of the notion that 'the left' have become immune to hearing the views of 'the right' because they are blocked out as being "racist" and "sexist" (among other descriptives). Many say that this is especially prevalent in the US and was one of the reasons that led to the rise of Trump - as Democrats (as a whole) refused to entertain the Republicans' views.

Firstly, one point of information. Many confuse the left of the political spectrum with liberalism. Many on the far left are just as nationalistic, and often as racist, as those on the far right. In fact, Jeremy Corbyn (one of the most left wing UK MPs) is a widely-known Brexit supporter despite remain being a position affiliated with the Labour party. In fact, remain was a policy mainly supported by centre-left, liberal and centre-right politicians. This misconception was likely caused by the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a far-right group that were a large factor in triggering the referendum who associated right wing politics to supporting leave.

It is true, however, that many moderate-left and liberal individuals reject right wing policies as being racist, as many did with the Brexit result.  

Looking at the reaction to right wing policies, Trump is called racist for wanting to build a border wall with Mexico. Is it ridiculous to want to control immigration into the US? His attempted wall is to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the US, where many don’t contribute to the government through taxation, but often enjoy federal provisions such as education for their children.

On the other side of the spectrum, the proposal of a national healthcare system by left wing politicians, such as Bernie Sanders, is often labeled as communist. There is, however, the NHS in the UK to which funding has been protected and increased by a Conservative government proving that it is in no way a communist idea.

To conclude, I believe that whatever political identification, people will seek to find a way to decisively reject views they don’t agree with. Who wants to entertain the idea that something they are opposed to could be a legitimate solution to a problem? It’s easier to be confident in what you believe in if you have the moral high ground.

[thetynwald-blog]

It’s time America stopped disregarding their territories.

America. The land of the free. That is for anyone with light, or orange, skin.

The nation of immigrants, who are so closed to integration that they want to build a wall.

The international example of equality, where gay people only won equal rights to marriage in 2015.

The greatest democracy ever, where guns are valued over people’s lives, and almost entirely unrestricted, even though over 90% of the population support further restrictions.

As I’ve demonstrated, America is clearly riddled with hypocrisy, but none are more shocking and unacceptable then the way it treats its territories.

A territory is any region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States. This includes 5 areas:

- American Samoa.

- Guam.

- Northern Mariana Islands.

- Puerto Rico.

- U.S. Virgin Islands.

On the topic of hypocrisy, the first problem with the way the US acts towards these regions is the lack of representation. The American Revolution and independence was based on the principle of ‘no taxation without representation’, as Britain had been collecting taxes from Americans without giving them the vote. Now, the US collects taxes from the citizens of the territories, without offering them the vote. How can the US government expect people to pay into a system that they have no influence over? It’s completely undemocratic.

In addition, along with enjoying less privileges than other Americans, territories are treated as second class compared to mainland states. This was made abundantly clear by Trumps, and Americas, response to the various hurricanes that happened this summer. Firstly, US corporations donated hundreds of millions less to Puerto Rico aid efforts than both Texas and Florida. Moreover, Trump visited Texas twice after hurricane Harvey, the first being just 4 days after the incident. He also visited Florida 4 days after hurricane Irma. However, it took him over 2 weeks to visit the devastated island of Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. He then belittled the events in Puerto Rico, where dozens of people have died and most of the island has lost power, by trying to silence his critics by asking them to compare the incident to ‘a real catastrophe like Katrina’.  

There’s one simple reason why the government’s response to hurricane Maria has been slow, Trump doesn’t need to win the vote of Puerto Rico. Everything in politics is done to win elections, so if you refuse people the right to vote, you refuse them the right to representation.

It’s time America stopped disregarding their territories.

[thetynwald-blog]

International Political Roundup - September 2017

1st – 400 members of Myanmar’s Muslim ethnic minority Rohingya were killed in 1 week in military-led operations. This is after Rohingya militants attacked security forces in Rakhine.

1st – The Kenyan Supreme Court has declared the recent election invalid due to electronic tampering. A new election is set to take place.  

2nd – Scientists working to find other intelligent life in the universe reported that they detected radio signals from a dwarf galaxy 3 billion light years away. However, this is not a direct indicator of other intelligent life.

2nd – North Korea carried out its 6th nuclear test. This blast was 9.8 times the strength of Pyongyang’s test last September.

2nd – A five-year-old Pakistani girl was killed by a stray bullet from Indian troops at the border between the two nations. the UN is worried that growing tensions could lead to a nuclear war.  

3rd – South Korea simulated a ballistic missile attack on North Korea after their nuclear bomb test the day before. The US threatened indirect sanctions.

6th – An Israeli air strike targeted an alleged chemical weapon plant in Syria. The Syrian army claimed it was a military base and that 2 soldiers died. Israel did not comment on the issue.

6th – the head of the Indian army, General Bipin Rawat, has warned that India could go to war with both Pakistan and China.  

7th – Aung San Suu Kyi received wide spread criticism for her lack of action over the mass murder of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

8th – NATO said the world is more dangerous currently then it was 30 years ago, during the cold war.  

9th – British officials made the claim that North Koreas quick progress with its nuclear weapon program could be due to external help, most likely from Russia or Iran.

14th – Japan and the US condemned ‘reckless’ North Korea after they launched another missile over Japan.

14th – the UN claimed that austerity programs across the world are to blame for undermining the job security of millions and threatening the progress made by women in the workplace.

15th – Kim Jong-Un vowed that North Korea would complete the nation’s nuclear goals.

15th – The Prime Minister of Iceland called a snap Parliamentary election after allegations that his party hushed up a child sex abuse scandal involving his father.

17th – A team of 6 astronauts finished their 8-month Mars simulation.

19th – Trump addressed the UN, he stated he would ‘destroy North Korea’ if necessary, and demanded that Iran have a regime change.  

21st – Trump was called ‘mentally deranged’ and a ‘dotard’ by Kim Jong-Un in this chapter of their war of words. Kim stated that Trumps speech to the UN convinced him to double his nuclear effort.

22nd – Trump made new threats against North Korea after being insulted by Kim Jong-Un. Pyongyang told the UN that targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable.

23rd – Iran announced a successful medium-range missile test despite warnings from Washington that such activities could break the nuclear deal between the two nations.

24th – Merkel returned for her 4th term as chancellor of Germany. However, far-right party AfD managed to win enough seats to be the 3rd largest party in parliament.

25th – 3 Israelis were shot by a Palestinian gunman.

26th – The Saudi Arabian king lifted the ban on women driving.

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing.

[thetynwald-blog]

US Political Roundup - September 2017

1st – 4 different US companies were commissioned $500,000 each to build a 30-foot prototype segment of the US-Mexico border wall.

2nd – Donald Trump requested $7.8 billion from Congress as an initial fund to help recovery efforts in Texas and Louisiana from hurricane Harvey.  

6th – Facebook stated that an operation likely based in Russia spent over $100,000 on ads during the US presidential election. These ads did not expressly support one candidate but spread political messages on divisive topics such as immigration, race and LGBTQ+ rights.  

20th – the US special counsel investigating the Trump-Russia ties have requested documents from the white house that relate to Trumps term in office.

23rd-24th – NFL protest kneeling massively spread after Trump demanded players who took part in the process be fired. Players kneeling were joined by staff and even owners.

27th – Trump revealed plans for huge individual and corporate tax cuts.

28th – Trump waived the Jones Act to help increase the speed at which supplies could be provided to US territory Puerto Rico.

29th – Tom Price resigned as Trumps healthcare secretary after it was revealed he frequently used taxpayers’ money to hire expensive chartered flights.

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing.

[thetynwald-blog]

British Political Roundup - September 2017

1st – 44 royal engineer troops were sent to Iraq to build infrastructure, taking the total tally of British personnel up to 600 troops.

3rd – around 40 McDonalds workers became the first employees of the fast-food giant to strike. They demanded £10/hour pay, more secure contracts and union recognition.

5th – MPs returned to the House of Commons after summer recess. They received an update on Brexit and information about the governments EU Withdrawal Bill.

5th – Peers returned to the House of Lords after summer recess.  

7th – A review led by Labour MP David Lammy has found that the justice system in England and Wales is biased against people from black and Asian minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME).

9th – the Local Government Association released research suggesting that over 2 million struggling families will be more then £50/week worse off by 2020, largely due to welfare cuts.

9th – a leaked “memo” suggested that Brussels could altogether abandon the idea of a long-term solution to Brexit.  

11th – The governments EU Withdrawal Bill passed its first vote in the Commons by 326 votes to 290.

12th – Police officers and prison guards received a one off pay rise of 2% and 1.7% respectively. This came after rumours suggested May would lift the 1% public sector pay cap. Workers in these fields are unhappy with the increases claiming that they still amount to a real-terms cut.

12th – Research carried out by the National Audit office revealed that conservative welfare cuts are largely responsible for a huge increase in homelessness since 2010.

14th – The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire started.

14th – 14 major NHS unions teamed up to request a 3.9% pay rise from the government. They claimed that, after adjusting for inflation, pay has fallen by 15% since 2010.

18th – May flew to Canada to discuss a possible post-Brexit trade deal with Trudeau.

18th – A study done by Policy Exchange revealed the UK to be the largest consumer of jihadist propaganda in Europe, and fifth in the world.

22nd – TFL decided not to renew Uber’s license in London amidst claims that the taxi service giant swept sexual assault claims under the rug and did not treat their workers properly.

22nd – May gave a Brexit speech in Florence, ensuring that Britain would stay in the EU in all but name until 2021 and pay a divorce bill of €20 billion, which could considerably increase.

27th – a group of 4,000 teachers complained that schools are being massively underfunded by the government, warning that they ‘are going bankrupt’.

29th – the new chief inspector of British hospitals has stated that the NHS is not fit for the 21st century.

Information mainly sourced from The Week daily briefing.

[thetynwald-blog]

how are the politics in the US affecting the politics of the UK?

Often in current politics it is hard to understand the way institutions and individuals interact both domestically and internationally. The way a national leader (President or PM etc.) interacts with their cabinet, the legislature and foreign powers is only truly understood after they have left office. This is because events are no longer developing and a lot of information becomes declassified. 

However, having been president for only a short amount of time, Trump is already having a clear effect on international politics, most of which concerns the United Kingdom. He has instantly adopted a hawkish foreign policy, recently stating that if need be he would ‘totally destroy North Korea’ and demanding that Iran undergo a regime change.

This strong US presence in international politics affects the whole globe, including the United Kingdom, with many claiming we are living in ‘the cold war part 2′.

However, domestic events in the US have little impact in the UK due to stark differences between the political climate of the two nations. For example, the GOP are close to securing an Obamacare repeal while the NHS (an even more extensive healthcare service) is supported by all major parties in Britain.