Andy Rowell describes events surrounding Simon Mann’s recent show trial, where Mann faced charges relating to his participation in a coup that intended to overthrow the despotic government of Teodoro Obiang in Equatorial Guinea.

What is happening in Zimbabwe today is a crime against humanity that should not be allowed to continue for one more day – precisely why Gordon Brown should engage with its government, writes Andy Rowell.

And Rowell suggests that demand for oil is now outstripping supply, giving credence to the peak oil pundits that the days of cheap oil over, and the global economy could be heading for a nasty shock

Whilst the poor of the world’s developing nations starve and struggle over soaring food prices, Andy Rowell describes how the rich world is now squabbling over the huge subsidies it gives its producers to produce more biofuels instead of food.

A new report by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) reveals that the promised aid required to reconstruct the country has mostly been ‘wasted, ineffective or uncoordinated’. Andy Rowell reports.

Andy Rowell looks at some of the lessons we could have learnt from the Iraq invasion – if we had wanted to.

Both politicians and the media have failed to fully understand the role of Kenya’s colonial past in its current crisis, writes Andy Rowell.

Andy Rowell on the imminent appointment of the head of the European Chemicals Agency.

Andy Rowell considers the dangers ahead if Gordon Brown’s support for nuclear power and aviation continue.

Andy Rowell on the Chagos islanders’ protest outside Downing Street earlier this month.

Andy Rowell describes the series of deceptions and injustices which have been visited upon the people of the Chagos Islands by successive British governments – and which continue to this day.

Following the fate of a little girl in Portugal may be gripping, but so is what is happening in the Middle East right now. And that should be the priority for the news desks, writes Andy Rowell, because if America attacks Iran the consequences would be terrifying.

The British withdrawal has led to a classic propaganda battle over how effective the British were in their four years of occupation. In reality, writes Andy Rowell, they have been roundly defeated.

Andy Rowell describes the corruption and secrecy that surrounds lobbying in the US and EU, which has motivated the new transparency initiative Alter-EU.

Despite the denial of politicians, the devastation in Iraq does, of course, owe much to Western dependence on oil. However, this dependence is by no means necessary, argues Andy Rowell.

Any defence system built by the Americans in Europe is not a defence system at all, writes Andy Rowell. It is one that promotes and even encourages others to build their own weapons.

No where more will Blair be shown to be out of touch with his people and of being untrustworthy than over Iraq. No matter how hard he tries, it will not be the improvement of public services that people remember Blair for but for a failed war in Iraq. The war in Iraq will define his legacy. It will continue to haunt him long after he leaves office.

SpinWatch exists to expose political and corporate spin and manipulation. Under this broad umbrella it also, from time to time, tracks the activities of a loose group of ex-Living Marxism (LM) members who have morphed their political ideology into a right-wing /pro-corporate libertarian guise. A number of these people now work in science-based organizations as well as in more overtly-LM ones such as Spiked and the Institute of Ideas.

Well now Spiked is hitting back. It’s editor Brendan O’Neil, has accused SpinWatch, amongst others, of belonging to a ‘network of McCarthyites’ that spreads rumours about the one time leader of the LM brigade Frank Furedi “being the all-powerful leader of a sinister cult that has infiltrated the TV industry, the science industry and the media in order to do the bidding of Big Business against environmentalists”.

Andy Rowell on the accounting trick that is Carbon Offsetting.

How the nuclear industry has lobbied for the resurrection of nuclear power.