The big news in Europe this week is the final ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which provides a new constitutional structure for the European Union. But where’s the euroscepticism gone? Has the EU proved its ‘socialist plot’ claims wrong?
Articles by Charles Richardson 
Lessons from a new German government
The recent Germany elections have provided a few lessons that Australia could learn. For example, a coalition should be a post-election decision, not a permanent state of affairs.
Rio’s cloud has a silver lining
It’s hard to imagine it at first, but last weekend’s carnage in Rio de Janeiro may actually have one positive result. It may give the world a deadline for coming to our senses about drug prohibition.
If the boat people did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them
Maybe Australia’s propensity to beat up on small numbers of helpless refugees has nothing to do with the refugees themselves, but is simply the result of any more significant target for nationalist anger.
A small cloud on David Cameron’s horizon
Despite his progressive positions in many areas, David Cameron is bidding to become the most identifiably upper-class Prime Minister for more than 40 years.
Berlusconi may yet get his day in court
Silvio Berlusconi is not Italy’s head of state — just its head of government. If the country’s minister is a crook, the courts need to be given the opportunity to say so.
Europeans throw Russia an olive branch
The big political story in Europe is the release of the European Union report on last year’s war between Russia and Georgia. Both sides claim a degree of vindication from it.
Germans vote peacefully, but not quite contentedly
The results of the German election indicate Germans are dissatisfied with what they have been offered for so long, and in their calm, orderly way, are saying they would like to try something a bit different.
Merkel looks for a narrower coalition
Germany votes on Sunday, with Christian Democrat chancellor Angela Merkel an unbackable favourite to be returned. But will the liberals distance themselves from the parties of the traditional left?
Norway keeps out the hard Right — for now
The fate of Norway’s government is likely not a matter of importance unless you happen to be Norwegian. But what the election revealed about the state of its Opposition is of much more general interest.
NSW voters: get your form letters ready
The deadline for objections to new NSW electoral boundaries close at 5pm today and the electoral commission is bracing for a last-minute flood of paperwork — or not.
Malcolm Turnbull’s Japanese lesson
There is a local lesson to be learned from the Japanese election result. Like what happens when a party’s long-term decline has been masked by one leader’s success…
Churches today, political parties tomorrow
Conflict is occurring in Victoria between freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination. What counts as a relevant ground for discrimination and what doesn’t? It’s the state that has to decide.
Baillieu’s Liberals not keen on new blood
The real scandal surrounding Victorian Liberal pre-selections is not in the challenges, it’s in the almost total lack of them.
Death of a hallowed South Korean democrat
Kim Dae-jung’s passing parallels the remarkable journey that South Korea has travelled since the Second World War.
A Tory experiment worth studying
Foreign observers shy away — with good cause — from the US’s creaky, dysfunctional electoral process. But the British example serves to remind us that primaries are also well-known in Europe.
New Caledonia: another powder-keg on our doorstep
Australian media seem to have some blind spots concerning our near neighbours, like New Caledonia, where recent riots have a political bent.
Liberal Rule: historical epoch or chapter of accidents?
Despite what you may have seen on SBS series Liberal Rule, the rise and fall of the Howard government did not represent big shifts in national sentiment, writes Charles Richardson.
Howard turns 70: age shall not weary him
The idea that a person is too old for political leadership at 70 is relatively recent, and is still unknown in many parts of the world.
Xinjiang: more than just “ethnic tension”
The Uighurs are not engaged in some context-free ethnic rivalry; they are protesting against the threat of becoming a minority in their own land.
Another spin of the wheel for SA Libs
Not much has changed in South Australia since Chris Kenny described the state’s politics 12 years ago as “Melrose Place on ugly pills”.
Uprising in Xinjiang — no one to defend the Uighurs
Just as in neighboring Tibet, the Chinese keep control by military force over the ethnically distinct and hostile population of the Uighurs in Xinjiang.
