By our resident expert in international politics, Henry Schlechta
Since the first update on the UK election, much has changed. At the time the election was called, Theresa May’s Conservatives maintained a comfortable lead over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. However, a series of missteps by Mrs May has contributed to a dramatic decline in the Conservative lead, the magnitude of which is still however debatable.
The key issue with the Conservative campaign appears to have come as a result of a poorly received manifesto. In UK politics, a ‘manifesto’ is a series of policies a party puts forward at election time to implement if they win government. This year’s Conservative manifesto included a promise to change the end-of-life care system to require the elderly to include the value of their house in the amount of money they contribute to end-of-life care, a policy which opponents leaped upon as a ‘dementia tax’. Mrs May compounded the issue by announcing changes to the policy only two days later.
On the other hand, Mr Corbyn’s campaign has gone well, with voters both taking note of the left-wing policies (which include a commitment to remove fees for higher education and to nationalise the railway companies, paid for in part by increasing taxes on corporations) and approving more of the Labour Party after hearing about them, though Mr Corbyn has kept some Conservative cuts to social services.
Read MoreAlong with the rise of the Internet, the Age of Information has begun. As people begin to have easier access to news outlets, social media and other forums, it becomes more and more difficult to determine fact from fiction and increasingly easier to fall into an echo room. Fake News, articles or reports that are generated intentionally for the purpose of misleading unsuspecting readers, has been a constantly increasing phenomenon; seeing widespread usage over the past year, especially during the American Election. It is imperative for the sake of democracy, that the public views truthful and important news, not propaganda. Ever since the formation of the idea of modern journalism, the press has acted as a democratic check, governmental filter and an opinion challenger. For the threat to Democracy that is Fake News to be diminished, the Press must spread the truth as far as they can, while still maintaining integrity, diversity and verity. A free and unhindered press is one of the most important democratic devices, it forces government transparency as it informs, challenges and educates society...
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