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SubscriptionsAuthor: Alexandra Hall Hall
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Kemi Badenoch’s Foreign Policy: ‘Channelling Her Inner JD Vance’
The former senior diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall sees signs of Trumpist culture wars and a woeful lack of realism in the opposition leader’s foreign policy set piece speech
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‘Keir Starmer Must Accept These Hard Truths Before Meeting Donald Trump’
Before the Prime Minister heads to Washington he must wake up to the fact that the UK’s real allies may now lie elsewhere, argues UK diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Dear King Donald the Magnificent’ – A Letter From One Troubled Monarch to Another
King Charles congratulates Donald Trump on his “magnificent accomplishment” in restoring monarchical rule to America, imagines Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Donald Trump’s Self-Defeating Foreign Aid Freeze Will Only Help America’s Enemies’
The US President’s decision to suspend all foreign aid will harm US interests while gifting a golden opportunity to China, argues former UK diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Trump May Be Returning But the Post-War World Order Is Not’
Donald Trump is throwing his second US administration into an already volatile mix – adding his own blend of disorder, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘The West Will Regret Abandoning the Georgian People to the Clutches of Russia’
Europe and the US must wake up to the threat posed by Georgia’s repressive Russian-aligned regime, writes the UK’s former ambassador to the country
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Donald Trump’s Hateful Attack on US Government Workers Will Be Cheered by America’s Enemies
“America’s enemies will only watch with glee, as America self-destructs from within”, says former UK diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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Donald Trump’s Team of Yes Men and Ideologues Shows There Will be No Guardrails Around His Presidency
The President elect’s appointment of a group of fawning and ideologically blinded advisers should worry us all, writes former UK Diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Democrats Need to Stop Blaming Trump’s Voters and Admit the Party Must Change’
It was Trump’s lead on the core issues that matter to voters that won him the election – a language the Democrats didn’t know how to speak, writes US-based Alexandra Hall Hall
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Harris Fights Off Fox Grilling, but Polarised US Presidential Election Still Misses the Bigger Picture
Americans will go to the polls in less than 20 days but the race still dominated by personality rather than growing international crises
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How JD Vance’s Attempts to Soften Republican Party’s Position on ‘Sensitive Topics’ Came Unstuck
Vance is judged to have performed better than Tim Walz at the Vice-Presidential debate, but the Minnesota Governor got the better of him when they discussed the 2020 election
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David Lammy Unleashes On Vladimir Putin in Remarkable UN Speech – Then Takes aim at Russian Ambassador
The Foreign Secretary’s attack on Russian President was in stark contrast to Joe Biden’s final speech at the UN General Assembly on 24 September
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What Gazans Really Think of the War, Who They Blame, and What They Want to Happen Next
An ‘extraordinary’ new poll reveals some uncomfortable truths about the war in Gaza
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A Stumbling Trump Receives a Well-Deserved Shellacking at the First Presidential Debate
Vice President Kamala Harris relentlessly prosecuted former President Donald Trump’s record and character during their first televised showdown
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‘Kamala Harris Casts Herself as the True American Patriot in Barnstorming Democratic Convention Speech’
Where Biden’s campaign erred in building up Trump as a larger-than-life threat to democracy, Harris and other speakers sought to take him down with a series of jabs
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Russia Prisoner Swap: ‘Why the UK Must do More to Help British Citizens in Trouble Overseas’
Following the largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, the UK is being urged to adopt a policy on hostage cases and establish a point of contact for families involved
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From Me, Me, Me to You, You, You: The Democrats’ Fight Back Begins
By surprising Trump and Vance with his shock exit from the presidential race, President Biden has enabled the Democratic Party to appear more fired up and enthused than the MAGA Republicans, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Assassination Attempts and the Rise of the Right – Amid the Turmoil, Britain is Emerging as a Steadying Force’
As world leaders brace themselves for another potential Trump presidency, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quickly re-establishing the UK’s global influence
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A Tale of Two Very Different Debates: Biden and Trump’s Horror Show, Sunak and Starmer’s No Surprises
From lies, incompetence, porn, and golfing bravo in the US – to dull and boring, with a side of rude and shouty in the UK
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‘Britain’s Long History of Corruption and Cover-Ups and the Dire Consequences for Those the Government Chooses to Ignore’
If a likely new Labour government wants to truly mark a difference from the Conservatives, it needs to fix the systemic failings, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Donald Trump’s Hush Money Verdicts May Not Hurt his Presidential Run But Will Damage America’s Democracy and Image’
The former US President was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels
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How the Georgian ‘Foreign Agents Bill’ May Cost it Everything its People Have Ever Dreamed Of – And Benefit No One But Russia
Georgian Dream’s ‘Russian-style’ law has prompted strong statements of concern from the UK, US and EU with critics saying it is an attempt to muzzle the media and NGOs – it may also end Georgia’s hopes of joining the EU
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The Dilemma Facing Civil Servants Over the UK’s Arms Sales to Israel
Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall, who resigned from the Foreign Office in 2019 as she felt unable to represent the Government’s Brexit stance, unpicks the questions of law and morality facing those working inside Whitehall
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‘Trump’s Second Presidential Run and the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse Have a Lot In Common’
Baltimore’s Francis Scott Bridge collapsed after one part of the structure was hit by a ship. The disaster is a perfect metaphor for the crisis Europe may face if Trump is re-elected, writes Alexandra Hall
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‘It Is No Coincidence Israel Chose US Super Bowl to Launch Latest Bombing Spree On Palestinians’
The western powers have expressed increasing concern over the conduct of Israel’s campaign in Gaza but applied no consequences in practice, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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The Palestinians and Israel: A Modern Day ‘Trail of Tears’
The treatment of Native Americans more than 100 years ago cannot provide an exact comparison to the situation of Palestinians today – but there are striking similarities, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Get Brexit Done’ is now ‘Stop the Boats’: Is the Rwanda Bill the Conservatives’ Trojan Horse?
We again have some members of the Conservative Party arguing that the UK needs to abandon another European institution, writes former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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The Israel-Hamas War: Searching for Moral Clarity Amid Conflict
Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall reflects on the complexities involved in the conflict and why there are no easy answers – if any
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‘Populists Learn From Each Other’: Is the World Heading for a Tipping Point in 2024?
The prospect of another Trump presidency in the US, rising authoritarianism and multiple complex conflicts around the world make for a depressing picture
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‘Israel’s Actions in Gaza Will Come Back to Haunt It’
Israel’s concept of itself as a peaceful and democratic nation risks being irrevocably damaged by such excessive violence, writes former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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The Republican Presidential Debate – Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Alexandra Hall Hall provides her insights on a frightening two hours of Haley, Christie, de Santis, Scott and Ramaswamy
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Don’t Let the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Become Yet Another Front in the West’s Internal Culture Wars
What we are witnessing in the UK and the US is a weaponizing of the situation in Israel and Gaza to justify pre-existing right-wing or left-wing goals
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Israel and Hamas: ‘Finger-Pointing Will Get Us Nowhere’
The ripple effects of this latest upsurge in violence will go far beyond Israeli and Palestinian territory, writes former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘The UN Refugee Convention Should Be Reformed – But Not in the Way Suella Braverman Thinks’
The UK could show global leadership by pushing for the international community to broaden its definition of refugees, writes former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Sunak’s Failure to Attend the UN General Assembly is a Disrespectful Missed Opportunity’
Britain cannot assume other countries will automatically bend the knee to it based on the country’s past historic greatness, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘If Our Government Turns on its Own People, We Will Need the ECHR to Protect Us’
The European Court of Human Rights is there to safeguard us against our own worst impulses – calls to leave its jurisdiction are deeply troubling, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
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The UK and US’ Turbulent Times: A Race to the Bottom
Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall, who now lives in the US, explores which country has been on the bigger self-destruct mission
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‘The World Burns as Our Dangerous Age of Unreason Fuels the Flames’
The Conservative Party may well be on the wrong side of public opinion – as well as history – when it comes to its lack of commitment to tackling the climate emergency
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‘Labour Must Be Bold on Political Reform Beyond It’s Own Self-Interest if we are to have a Properly Functioning Democracy’
A big problem facing UK politics is that both main political parties see the status quo as in their narrow self-interest, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘When Will We Hear these Brexit Truths From an Opposition Leader?’
The UK’s real problem never had anything to do with the EU – but was about the lack of capable and honest political leadership, according to the former diplomat who resigned from the Foreign Office over Brexit
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The End of America’s Title 42: ‘Immigration Needs to be Treated as a Humanitarian Crisis Rather than a Political Football’
Under Title 42, many migrants to the US were blocked from requesting asylum at all – what lies ahead with the policy expiring?
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The Coronation: ‘Is It Lese Majeste to Want Less Majesty?’
King Charles’ Coronation is a missed opportunity to move monarchy into the modern era, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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Dominic Raab’s Resignation: ‘A Man So Unwilling to Learn is Undeserving of Our Sympathy’
The relationship between ministers and civil servants is, by definition, an unequal one – it takes courage to stand up to a minister or offer an opinion contrary to their own, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
