Ed Miliband and the bacon sandwich: Exploring the relationship between the serious and the frivolous

With a less than convincing showing for Labour in the local and European elections, criticisms of Ed Miliband’s leadership grew louder. But there is a paradox at play: while his critics emphasise the need for serious policy and direction, the criticisms of Miliband are only ever trivial; about his looks or how he eats a bacon sandwich. John Gaffney explores the complex relationship between the serious and the frivolous, between policy and personality

Anti-Hollande sentiments have fuelled the popularity of France’s Manif pour Tous movement

In May, France signed gay marriage into law, a move that was met with mass protests from the right wing Manif pour Tous movement. How has this movement met with such success in a country that is predominantly tolerant in sexual matters? John Gaffney argues that the movement’s success has fed on the negative sentiment towards the French President, François Hollande, and fears from the far right that gay marriage legislation could lead to even more dramatic social and cultural changes. He writes that the Manif pour Tous’ followers may yet flock to Marine Le Pen’s far right Front National, which will cause further headaches for an already beleaguered Hollande

Ed Miliband’s conference speech should be understood as part of a narrative reorientation process

John Gaffney takes a look at Ed Miliband’s rhetorical approach at the Labour Party conference, writing that The challenge now is to reorientate the party – through his performance – towards an election winning set of policies that will keep the party united behind him and reflect him as possessing a Prime Minister’s ‘character’

French politics after the Paris attacks: polarised and deeply personal

France will hold regional elections on 6 and 13 December, which are expected to be dominated by the response to the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November. John Gaffney writes that the split between left-wing and right-wing parties in the aftermath of the attacks has been much more profound than following the previous attacks in Paris in January. He also argues that any upturn in President Hollande’s approval ratings are likely to reflect broader attitudes toward the role of the President during a crisis, rather than support for the specific actions Hollande has undertaken

Labour’s century-old problem: leadership performance

Party leadership requires rhetorical performance – but the Labour party has broader issues with leadership: it doesn’t understand it, writes John Gaffney. Those challenging Corbyn must therefore grapple with questions of what leadership entails, what the relationship(s) between leader and the parliamentary party, the electorate, and the media should be – not least because the Conservatives already know that all these matter

With both the French government and opposition in crisis, the door is open for Marine Le Pen to move firmly into the mainstream of French politics

French President François Hollande has suffered from consistently low approval ratings and his Socialist Party received exceptionally disappointing results in both the country’s local and European elections earlier this year. As John Gaffney writes, however, the main opposition party, the UMP, has also been hit by a series of scandals, including the revelation that the party’s finances contain debts of around 80 million euros. He argues that the issues being faced by the two mainstream parties are not only damaging their electoral chances, but fundamentally alienating voters from the political class. Ultimately both the left and right are laying the foundations for Marine Le Pen and the Front National to make an impact in the 2017 presidential elections

François Fillon’s nomination was the worst case scenario for Marine Le Pen

Should François Fillon face off against Marine Le Pen in the second round of the 2017 French presidential election, which candidate would have the edge? John Gaffney assesses the key policy differences between the two candidates, arguing that Fillon’s victory in the French centre-right’s primary was probably the worst possible outcome for Le Pen

Facing our Waterloo? The referendum was unnecessary, and its consequences ironic

The shy pro-Europeanism of the last 40 years, together with the ways the EU was being abused for domestic purposes, all contributed to Brexit, writes John Gaffney. But the irony of it all is that the likely consequences of the vote could include both the break-up of the UK and that of the EU itself. An unnecessary referendum will therefore change the course of our history

Could BITs and BATs be combined to ensure access to human rights remedies?

The UNGPs require governments to ensure that, when human rights abuses occur in the context of business activities within their territory, the victims of such abuses have access to effective remedies. This Perspective suggests how they may do so in an investment context by merging the “BAT” concept into BITs

The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge: two comments on its scope of application

The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, which commits its signatories to improving the profile and representation of women in arbitration, is a laudable step toward increased diversity in arbitration. The next step must be to expand the Pledge’s scope of application whilst ensuring it does not overreach in other respects