A new NRA president is the cue for another look at the Republican Party’s debt to the deep south.

An unsuccessful vote on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland demonstrates Sinn Féin’s willingness to defy the Catholic church, raising hopes that Ireland may be on the way to a less sectarian party system.

Local elections in the UK don’t tell you a great deal. But whatever their message is this week, it’s bad for David Cameron.

Italy gets its old president back – but still no government, and the prospects for the centre-left are looking bleaker than ever.

President Obama’s modest plan for gun control falls victim to the paradox of gradualism.

New Zealand votes for marriage equality, with a bit more partisanship than you’d guess from the media reports.

The centre-right narrowly wins a French by-election from the far-right National Front, with some tricky manoeuvring by the Socialist Party.

Simon Crean’s spectacular failure yesterday illustrates a common failing among modern politicians – an aversion to actual, good-faith negotiation.

After being cheerleaders for authoritarianism for so long, some Republicans are starting to move a little in the other direction. Kentuckian Rand Paul is their spokesman.