By Richard Bourne, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies The Eminent Persons Group, set up in Trinidad to forge a more compelling future for the association, is proposing two new instruments – one which could be important for journalists, the other which could make them yawn. The proposed Commissioner on Democracy and the Rule of […]

By Elizabeth Smith, Chair, Commonwealth Media Group “Now is the time for reform” is the message from the Eminent Persons Group, set up to carry out “Blue Skies” thinking on the Commonwealth. They met in London on 22 March and a member of the Group and their spokesman, Sir Ronald Sanders, emphasised that, without reform, […]

By M.J. Akbar The habitat of a government may have relocated from a palace to a hospital, but don’t start the funeral prayers too soon. The fate of Dr Manmohan Singh’s coalition will not be determined by the number of wounds on its body, or indeed on the body politic, nor by the toxicity of the environment, but by […]

A first trip to Britain for young Indian writer and English literature enthusiast Joyeeta Basu brought home the contradictions between London and her native Mumbai. It was in the winter of 2006 that I first visited London. It was my first international flight and I remember smiling through most of the eight-hour long journey from Mumbai. I’ve […]

By Nicholas Jones Having been a journalist for fifty years, I am in no doubt about my own position. I support and applaud principled individuals who are prepared to leak information which they believe should be in the public domain. They invariably put their own jobs on the line and often face the threat of […]