eu

8 March 2018

It’s been almost a year since the United Kingdom formally notified the European Union of its intention to leave the EU. Since then, the UK and EU have been engaged in intense negotiations about the mechanics of Brexit, all with a view to the UK’s formal departure on 29 March 2019. In the meantime, British Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap general election in

8 November 2017

Catalonia. For most Australians, the name of its capital, Barcelona, will resonate more. The city conjures up images of the grand boulevard Las Ramblas, the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, epitomised in his Sagrada Familia basilica, the Summer Olympics in 1992 and Catalan tenor Jose Carreras crooning Amigos para siempre to Sarah Brightman. Unlike the Basque Country, we don’t associate Catalonia with a

23 May 2017

There has already been much debate about British Labour’s election manifesto commitment to re-nationalise the UK’s energy, rail, water and postage networks as well as Conservative promises to increase the minimum wage, introduce new protections for workers in the ‘gig economy’ and support the domestic shale gas industry. Are Labor’s plans a retreat to the 1970’s or a preview of

1 April 2017

Divorce is never easy. And a divorce after 44 years of unhappy marriage is harder still. Navigating the settlement, splitting the assets, untangling lives while remaining on speaking terms takes the moral fortitude most of us are not blessed with. But that is what will be required of British Prime Minister Theresa May and her European Union counterpart, Donald Tusk,

30 March 2017

If June 23, 2016, marked the beginning of the end of Britain’s membership of the EU, today marks the end of that beginning. Now the two-year negotiating period for Britain to leave the EU begins. Over the next two years, Britain will focus on the size of its divorce settlement with the EU, as well as on a UK-EU free