April 22nd was the day of the state memorial service for Hu Yaobang. In preparation for the service, authorities had declared that the Square would be sealed off by early morning. However, over two hundred thousands students and...

I’ve had a soft spot for Fiji ever since my dad took me to see my first rugby international at Twickenham when I was about 10 – England versus this island that I’d never heard of. They played a really exciting, open passing game, they...

The Columbine High School tragedy of ten years ago is being remembered. Two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher. Others were injured. Ten years on have lessons been learned in the USA about lax gun laws? No, and so every so...

It’s Monday morning, I’m just back from holiday – and sadly some things just seem to show no sign of getting any better. What am I talking about? Sri Lanka of course. The humanitarian disaster there has once more brought London’s Tamil...

In the late evening on 18 and 19 April , student demonstrators, their number swelled by onlookers, gathered at Xinhuamen, the ceremonial main entrance to Zhongnanhai, calling for democracy, freedom and dialogue with the leaders. In the...