Reino Unido

Princess Catherine, BBC Dad, and the New Picture Perfect

A family snap of the Princess of Wales with her three children has dominated headlines and group chats since its release on U.K. Mother’s Day last weekend. Princess Catherine, whom the palace says is recovering from abdominal surgery in January, is known chiefly for never putting a foot wrong in nearly two decades of intense public scrutiny—first as girlfriend of Prince William, then as a wife and mother to future kings, and an advocate for uncontroversial but important causes such as early childhood development.

Yet even for a woman defined by her seeming perfection—Hillary Mantel once wrote the former duchess appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen—the Mother’s Day photo of Catherine and her family was judged a little too perfect.…  Seguir leyendo »

This photo released by Kensington Palace shows Kate, Princess of Wales, with her children, Prince Louis, left, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The circled areas appear to show evidence of potential manipulation, including Princess Charlotte’s sleeve cuff and a zipper on the lefthand side of the jacket of the Princess of Wales, which does not appear to be aligned. Kensington Palace

It was a charming Mother’s Day snap intended to assure an anxious nation that all was well with their beloved royal family.

Instead, the statement by Catherine, Princess of Wales that she had ham-fistedly manipulated a photograph showing her posing with her children appears to have sent much of the British public scurrying down the deepest of conspiracy theory rabbit holes.

For weeks, scurrilous whispers about Kate, wife of one heir to the throne, Prince William, and mother of another, Prince George, had been consigned to the darkest corners of the internet.

But when a series of respected photo agencies withdrew the photograph issued by Kensington Palace, citing concerns over its full authenticity, the rumor mill went into overdrive.…  Seguir leyendo »

El rey Carlos, el cáncer y la inusual franqueza sobre la salud de un monarca

Lo más sorprendente de la revelación de que el rey Carlos III fue diagnosticado con cáncer, tras menos de dos años en el trono, es el hecho de que se haya dado a conocer.

El cáncer es común; la franqueza sobre la salud de la familia real británica, no tanto. Durante siglos, como muchas otras familias reales, la corona británica ha hecho todo lo posible por ocultar el estado del cuerpo del soberano. La sinceridad de Carlos, con sus limitantes, parece ser una señal de su anhelo de ser un tipo de monarca distinto.

Un rey en el poder siempre ha sido la encarnación del Estado, una metáfora viviente de su salud.…  Seguir leyendo »

King Charles Has Done What Monarchs Before Him Would Not Dare

The most surprising thing about the disclosure that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer after less than two years on the throne is the fact that it’s been disclosed at all.

Cancer is common; candor about the British royal family’s heath, not so much. Over the centuries, like many royal families, it has gone to great lengths to hide the condition of the sovereign’s body. Charles’s honesty, as far as it goes, seems to be a sign of his desire to be a different kind of monarch.

A ruling monarch has always been the embodiment of the state, a living metaphor of its health.…  Seguir leyendo »

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ghana’s Asante king, receives artefacts returned by the Fowler Museum of UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) to the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Ghana, on February 8, 2024. © Nipah Dennis / AFP

The Asante empire was the largest and most powerful in the region in the 18th century and controlled an area that was rich in gold. Many of the gold royal artefacts were looted by British troops during the third Anglo-Asante war of 1874. The first collection of seven objects is expected from the Fowler Museum at the University of California in Los Angeles. The second collection of 32 will arrive from the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in the UK. These artefacts are being loaned to the Asante people for six years.

RACHEL AMA ASAA ENGMANN: What are these objects and how did they were looted?…  Seguir leyendo »

King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave a London clinic last week. (Hannah Mckay/Reuters)

In 1952, Britain’s King George VI waved to his oldest child from a windy London airport tarmac as Princess Elizabeth set off on a multicountry tour initially planned for the king. A few months earlier, the king was treated for lung cancer by having his left lung removed, yet neither his heir nor his subjects knew the gravity of his condition. Less than a week after that goodbye, George died in his sleep.

Contrast that with Buckingham Palace’s announcement on Monday that King Charles III, George’s grandson, has cancer. The king has started unspecified treatment, the palace said in a statement, and the cancer is a “separate issue” from the recent disclosure of an enlarged prostate.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una narrativa progresista de crecimiento verde

En 2024, habrá elecciones en 76 países; es un año récord para la democracia. Pero coincide con un auge alarmante del populismo de derecha, cada vez más habituado a decirles a los votantes que la culpa de sus padecimientos económicos es de las políticas de lucha contra el cambio climático. La izquierda progresista no consigue articular una contranarrativa convincente, a pesar de que las iniciativas de descarbonización tienen un claro potencial para mejorar los ingresos, la productividad y el crecimiento económico. De mantenerse la falsa dicotomía entre prosperidad económica y sostenibilidad ambiental, la transición verde no tendrá el apoyo político que necesita para ser un éxito.…  Seguir leyendo »

Le Royaume-Uni, comme l’ensemble du continent européen, traverse une période économique difficile qui ne peut être attribuée aux seules conséquences du Brexit. Les économies européennes ont répondu de manière différente aux chocs successifs de la pandémie, de la guerre en Ukraine et de l’intensification de la compétition économique mondiale. De nombreux politiques et commentateurs font le choix trop facile d’utiliser des indicateurs économiques négatifs pour invalider le choix démocratique du Brexit qui reste, huit ans après, respectable et légitime.

Incontestablement, la sortie du Royaume-Uni de l’Union européenne a un coût économique. Le type de relation négociée entre Londres et Bruxelles à la suite du référendum introduit des frictions commerciales qui affectent certains secteurs.…  Seguir leyendo »

The aim of Russia’s war in Ukraine—to destroy Ukraine’s Defence Forces—remains unchanged. Despite an enormous advantage in resources, Russia has not been able to accomplish this task for almost two years. Along with the heroism of the Ukrainian military and the rallying of the population around the state, Western support has played a key role in this. It is this support that strengthens the global dimension of the war and makes it impossible for Russia to achieve its Napoleonic goals.

These goals include, first and foremost, the annexation of Ukrainian territories that have been proclaimed “historical Russian lands” by the political leadership in Moscow; and the creation of a political entity that depends fully on Moscow to govern those Ukrainian lands that cannot be directly annexed.…  Seguir leyendo »

El escándalo de la Oficina de Correos británica y el estado de derecho

Un nuevo drama televisivo ha traído a la luz una de las mayores injusticias en la historia del Reino Unido, provocando un muy esperado ajuste de cuentas público y sembrando la esperanza de una responsabilidad institucional tan necesaria.

El Escándalo de la Oficina de Correos (Post Office Scandal), como se lo conoce en el Reino Unido, tiene que ver con el procesamiento equivocado y la condena de más de 900 trabajadores postales por robo y fraude entre 1999 y 2015, debido a un sistema informático defectuoso. Si bien el gobierno británico ha anunciado planes para exonerar y compensar a quienes fueron sentenciados, el hecho de que hicieran falta más de 20 años y un éxito televisivo para desatar la indignación pública es un mal reflejo del estado de derecho y de la protección de las libertades civiles en el Reino Unido.…  Seguir leyendo »

In Britain, Reality Is Cleaving in Two

In Britain, Armistice Day is usually an understated affair, marked only by two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. This year was considerably more eventful, as two very different protests descended on London.

One, composed of hundreds of thousands of people calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, snaked peacefully through the west of the city and over the River Thames — a patchwork of red, green, white and black. The other, comprising a few hundred people from Britain’s far right and football hooligan networks, gathered several miles away in Westminster. Ostensibly there to defend a key national war memorial from the peace marchers, the group clashed with Metropolitan Police officers.…  Seguir leyendo »

Britain's new foreign secretary, former prime minister David Cameron, arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on Tuesday. (Kin Cheung/AP)

Lazarus breathes. London has witnessed a political resurrection almost worthy of St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 11, in which a man is restored to life (or, here, public life) long after being given up for a goner by his friends. David Cameron, the British prime minister who quit suddenly in 2016, has been appointed foreign secretary. The 57-year-old Cameron will now be presenting his country’s policies on, among other things, Israel-Gaza and the war in Ukraine.

His return to cabinet duties, unprecedented in the past half-century, has astonished Westminster, not least because no one leaked the plan to the media. Downing Street, which is notoriously sieve-like, managed to keep something secret.…  Seguir leyendo »

David Cameron with Jean-Claude Juncker at the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 2016. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

It is quite incredible really. David Cameron is back. The former prime minister who gambled with the future of his country by calling the Brexit referendum because he wanted to resolve a dispute within his own party is now entrusted with representing British interests on the world stage.

As a European, it is impossible not to laugh: I did, for several minutes, when news broke of his resurrection. But in spite of the staggering irony of it all, this could actually be good news from the perspective of the UK’s allies in Europe and beyond. Politics is the art of the possible, and every appointment should be weighed against its alternatives.…  Seguir leyendo »

Britain's former prime minister, David Cameron, leaves 10 Downing Street after being appointed foreign secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle on 13 November 2023 in London, England. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.

There are many reshuffles that provoke surprise; there are some that prompt bemusement as well. Rishi Sunak’s decision to install David Cameron as the seventh foreign secretary in seven years is one that does both. The former prime minister will bring undoubted strengths into the top team and to the UK’s relationships abroad. The concern must be, however, that these could be outweighed by the controversial legacy he brings too. And none of that says that he can bring back voters for his party at home.

He brings one clear advantage as Sunak’s new foreign secretary. As prime minister, he was comfortable on the world stage and congenial in the relationships he formed.…  Seguir leyendo »

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech on AI at Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace on October 26, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)

On 1–2 November, the UK will host its AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, bringing AI powerhouses like the US and China together with industry leaders, civil society and experts, in an attempt to lead on managing AI risks on an international level.

Today, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previewed the summit by announcing a new UK AI Safety Institute, which would monitor AI development and risks and share its findings worldwide.

When the UK first announced the summit in June 2023, there was some criticism that it added another process to an already crowded landscape.

While there is a need to coordinate across these efforts, especially the existing Global Partnership on AI, the summit will have a distinct focus on ‘frontier’ AI risks – that is the concern that the most powerful AI models could either be used for dangerous purposes or act in unanticipated ways.…  Seguir leyendo »

Rishi Sunak Is Trying His Best. He’s Probably Still Doomed.

When Rishi Sunak became prime minister of Britain a year ago, there was little sense of celebration. The markets were in free fall after the disastrous 49-day tenure of his predecessor, Liz Truss, and the government was in disarray. Mr. Sunak, who had been rejected by Conservative Party members earlier in the year, was inserted by lawmakers in the desperate hope he could calm the crisis. Given that the party had just ousted two leaders in quick succession, it was unclear how long he would even stay in the post.

One year later, he can take comfort that Britain is in a different place.…  Seguir leyendo »

Anatomía de Gran Bretaña, de Anthony Sampson, publicada en 1962, fue una obra profunda y académica que apareció en un momento en que la percepción de que el Reino Unido estaba en declive socavaba la confianza en las instituciones británicas. Aunque las nuevas memorias del ex ministro conservador Rory Stewart, Politics On the Edge, son mucho más personales y de alcance más limitado, también brindan una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre la situación del Reino Unido.

Según Stewart, los políticos británicos “no han sabido responder adecuadamente a todos los desafíos importantes de los últimos 15 años”. Si bien algunos sectores de la economía del Reino Unido funcionan bien, el “servicio público británico” –que incluye el Servicio Nacional de Salud (NHS), las escuelas, el transporte público, los servicios públicos, la policía y las prisiones– se está deteriorando.…  Seguir leyendo »

TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images

En julio de 2019, el secretario de Asuntos Exteriores del Reino Unido, Jeremy Hunt, lanzó una campaña mundial por la libertad de prensa en una conferencia en Londres coorganizada por el gobierno canadiense. “Hoy nos acompañan delegaciones de más de 100 países... nunca antes se habían unido tantos países en esta causa”, anunció con orgullo. El evento estableció la Coalición por la Libertad de los Medios, y desde entonces se han unido más de 50 países.

El impulso detrás de la iniciativa de libertad de prensa fue el asesinato en octubre de 2018 del periodista saudita Jamal Khashoggi en el consulado saudí en Estambul.…  Seguir leyendo »

En una época como la nuestra, torturada por relaciones postizas, mediatas e indirectas, que se basan en todo menos en el contacto sincero y personal, nos incumbe evocar a Inglaterra. Con la fama de discretos que tienen, no deja de ser irónico que los ingleses sean maestros de las actividades sociales más extraordinarias. El pueblo inglés no es reservado pero necesita un hábitat concreto con el que esté familiarizado para estar cómodo y poder así proyectarse al exterior. Nos recuerda Scruton que el inglés se asoma al mundo mediante la afiliación a instituciones u organizaciones basadas todas ellas en vínculos leales y duraderos: colegios, universidades, regimientos, equipos deportivos o clubes.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘As it stands, the onus is now exclusively put on the Bank of England to stabilise UK inflation.’ Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock

The government seems to be claiming that it’s winning the fight against inflation. But we are not out of the woods yet. Inflation currently is still far too high and the Bank of England has today increased rates again to 5.25% and lowered its growth forecast. But it doesn’t have to be like this. The case of Spain is a great counter-example. Its inflation has just fallen to the 2% target. How is it that it has already achieved this important milestone?

The reason is more forceful management of the economy – the Spanish government took quicker, more concerted action than ours did.…  Seguir leyendo »