Tag Archives: Great Britain

Colonialism As Portrayed By the British Media

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

Something quite peculiar sometimes happens when the British press deals with India, however. One occasionally comes across a news article hinting about British benevolence during the colonial era. Often this may take the form of a local Indian purportedly speaking to the reporter about how he or she missed life under the British Raj. Continue reading →

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Why These Olympics Are So Much Less Interesting Than the Last Ones

Posted on August 1, 2012 by

The host of the 2012 Olympic Games is the United Kingdom, which has been a very boring country ever since losing its empire. Since then the U.K. has happily bubbled along as a wealthy European country which has studiously avoided doing anything that would make news. The London Olympics have thus been reduced to a mere sporting event. Continue reading →

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Why Didn’t Britain Ever Give Democracy to Hong Kong?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

Hong Kong’s political system today is a strange thing. People in Hong Kong vote in free and fair elections, they can protest and assembly, but the rules are bent so that ultimately only the Chinese government’s candidate can win. Yet, ironically, Hong Kong today is more democratic than it was during the vast majority (perhaps the totality) of its time under British rule. This is doubly ironic, because Great Britain is a democracy and China is not. Continue reading →

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The Movie Lagaan and British Colonization

Posted on December 18, 2011 by

I recently had the pleasure of watching my first Bollywood movie, a title called Lagaan: Once upon a time in India. The movie’s plot was fairly conventional yet unconventional at the same time. India was straining under the rule of the evil British Empire. A rebellious young man with striking green eyes attempts to defy the British. How? By beating them in a cricket match! The local village quickly forms a cricket team, the British team is defeated, and the local village’s crushing tax burden is reduced for the next several years. Continue reading →

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Regional Differences in the United Kingdom’s 2010 General Election

Posted on August 7, 2010 by

On May 7th of 2010, the United Kingdom held a general election to determine its new prime minister. While the Conservative Party gained a number of seats, this was not enough to ensure a majority. Fears of a hung Parliament … Continue reading →

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