Category Archives: Lord McConnell

Avoiding Sahel Famine Demands Urgent Action- NOT Dropping 0.7% Target

Lord McConnell 30/03/2012 – 2:02 pm

  My colleagues on the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Lords could hardly have chosen a worse time for their report, published on 29 March 2012, opposing the all party commitment to 0.7% of UK GDP as the target for our nation’s international development aid. While politicians and pundits in Britain might be having fun arguing about taxes on pasties, international attention […]

In Scotland’s National Interest

Lord McConnell 15/03/2012 – 4:46 pm

Five years ago, Scotland's unemployment was below the rest of the UK, and our Annual GDP growth rate had climbed above that of the United Kingdom.  In the past year, however, those positions have been reversed with unemployment higher and growth lower than the rest of the UK. Uncertainty and disagreement over the timing of an independence referendum can only delay our recovery from this econom […]

Congolese Elections: Democratisation is a process, not an event.

Lord McConnell 30/01/2012 – 2:14 pm

  On December 17 2010, a young Tunisian man set himself on fire.  This desperate act helped to spark a political revolution in the Arab world.  Images of people revolting against notoriously oppressive regimes captivated onlookers worldwide.  More than a year later, the world is indeed a different place – long-term dictators have been unseated, governments shuffled or disbanded altogeth […]

DRC Elections 2012: Observing a Rush to the Polls

Lord McConnell 23/01/2012 – 11:22 am

November 28, 2011 was historic in the DRC; the first ever democratic national election organized by the Congolese themselves. Indeed it was only the second time since independence in 1960 that a multi-party electoral vote would be set to determine the presidential seat.  However, this relatively undeveloped voting system left the electoral process wide open to systemic and local corruption that c […]