Since the atrocities on 11 September 2001 Al Qaeda hasn't missed the opportunity of an anniversary to celebrate their murderous attacks. Usually a video is released like clockwork on 11 September. It inevitably features an array of Al Qaeda stars like Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri who celebrate the advance of their global jihad to a backdrop of Arabic nasheeds (Islamic songs) and footage from battlefields around the world. The purpose [...]

The leaking of an MI5 report on violent extremism in the UK provided official confirmation of a conclusion that may have been all too obvious to someone studying the evolution of Britain's terrorist threat: there is no “one size fits all” template that can be applied to the homegrown Islamist danger the UK faces.

On the conspiratorial side, people will claim the leaked document is the ultimate ratcheting up of [...]

No sooner than Hillary conceded to Obama then the US presidential campaign got underway in earnest and with it came the usual rampant speculation.

Who might get top jobs in the next administration, dark whispers alluding to salacious details in each candidate’s alleged past; and, most entertainingly of all, the art of calling the “flip flop” on your opponent.

The “flip flop” is what people in Britain might call a [...]

Having recently returned to planet earth from a ten day stop-over in Washington, it would appear as though Barack Obama is on the cusp of being a shoo-in not just for the Democratic nomination but for the presidency as well.

That's unless Hillary does something dramatic, Senator McCain manages to make a party that couldn’t beat a paper bag electable, as someone said. Or some act of god should [...]

In a particularly memorable statement that rather aptly summarized his central role in the first Bush presidency, Vice President Dan Quayle said he yearned to be "Robin to Bush's Batman".

While the seemingly never-ending primary season we are starting to see the conversation moving on to actual presidential campaigns, with one of the biggest questions of course being: who are the candidates likely to be for the number two [...]

Sometime late last year, amidst the premature furore over who the candidates for each party would be, someone thought it might be an idea to get the President’s impression.

Ever the diplomat, and in what turned out to an unusually prescient observation, Mr Bush advised that the reporters “not count John McCain out”. Given the lame duck nature of the President, this didn’t resonate very far among a press [...]

In the midst of the inflated rhetoric, the hours of media coverage, the mind-boggling volume of money, the spats it is often easy to forget we still have not started the actual American election campaign.

In fact, pundits and politicians alike have been running hard now for more than a year, and still have many months to go until Election Day on 4 November.

The reason for this endurance [...]

So, is everyone excited by Super Tuesday, or maybe you prefer Tsunami Tuesday, or Giga Tuesday, or the imperious Tuesday of Destiny?

To those who have managed to avoid the fevered American pre-election election, the real answer to all of these questions might be what exactly is this epoch sounding day that is steadily taking the American media cycle hostage?

Whichever name you prefer, the Tuesday in [...]

If press coverage is anything to go by, today is Election Day in the United States. With the much anticipated arrival of the infamous Iowa Caucuses, it would seem that it is finally decision time.

But hold on a minute. The reality is the election is not until 4 November, and today’s gatherings are merely the first milestone in what increasingly feels like the world’s longest election campaign.

Before [...]

“You, sir, are an apostate!” So went my first media introduction to Mitt Romney – delivered as a question (well, statement really) in one of his early media appearances when he was getting his campaign going. It seemed to be a bad portend for his attempt to seek the highest office in the land.

Having avoided the question for so long, the former Massachusetts Governor and CEO of [...]