Coca-Cola Scholarship Program for Students in MENA Region 2017/2018

Application Deadline: 20th March 2017

Eligible Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestinia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

To be taken at (country): United  States

About the Award: The Coca-Cola Company & the U.S. Department of State are partnering for the 6th consecutive year to sponsor 100 university students from 7 different countries across the Middle East and North Africa to attend a month-long business program focused on entrepreneurship at Indiana University’s prestigious Kelley School of Business, one of the top-ranked business programs in the United States.

This multi-faceted, immersion scholarship program is designed to give a group of students the opportunity to learn about business education through an accelerated curriculum.

Type: Training

Eligibility: All candidates must:

• Have nationality and currently reside in the country from which you are applying and must have a valid passport for international travel.
• Zero to limited travel experience to the United States preferred.
• Be currently enrolled in a university and between 18-24 years old
• All areas of study are eligible to apply.
• Be able to travel from June 24th – July 28th
• Be fluent in English and have a basic knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)

Successful receipt of the J-1 visa for the United States

Selection Criteria: All you have to do is share your business idea on how to Make Tomorrow Better in your country.

The Coca-Cola Company will use the following criteria to review submissions:

• Does the idea address a business issue in the local market?
• Is the idea centered around a product or service?
• Characteristics of strong business ideas are: Innovative, Unique, Sellable, Competitive

Selection: The Coca-Cola Company will review all submissions and award applicants the opportunity to complete a formal application based on the strength of the applicant’s submission. Additionally, the 25 ideas with the most votes will automatically be awarded the opportunity to fill out a formal application which will be reviewed by The Coca-Cola Company and local U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: The program, which begins in late June 2017, is fully funded, including travel to and within the United States, accommodations, meals, and university and visa fees.

How to Apply: To participate, start by choosing your nationality in the Scholarship Webpage.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Coca-Cola Company

Important Notes: Please note that the program will take place towards the very end of Ramadan and travel dates can’t be amended. Indiana University is well aware of Ramadan and will make accommodations for attending scholarship winners.

University of Witwatersrand China-Africa Internship for Young African Journalists 2017

Application Deadline: 21st March 2017

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The ideal person for this position is versatile, flexible and diligent, with a thorough understanding of the Project’s activities and objectives and creative ideas on how best to attain and improve them. The Project is also seeking a vibrant candidate to carry out its “Africa-China” vision and orientation.

The major tasks of the internship will be to assist the Project Coordinator and to contribute to the successful implementation of the Project’s various activities planned for 2017, but also to assist with administrative tasks and coordination, research and publications, events and interactions with journalists, systems and planning, and more.

The responsibilities of the position include the following:

• Assist the Project Coordinator of the Project
• Manage various administrative tasks related to the disbursement of reporting grants, etc.
• Assist with organising Project events and functions including workshops, seminars and talks
• Conduct research on Africa-China matters for the Project web portal, and assist with maintaining the web portal
• Assist with Project communications and published material

Type: Journalism Internship

Eligibility:

• Academic qualifications in journalism, media studies or related fields
• Experience and knowledge of China and Africa-China relations; appreciation of the Project’s Africa-China orientation and outlook
• Attention to detail
• Positive attitude, good interpersonal skills and willingness to learn and contribute
• Competence with online and offline media and journalism, as well as processing and design tools

Number of Awardees: Not specified

How to Apply: To apply, applicants must send an email marked “APPLICATION – INTERNSHIP” containing a CV (including a list of Africa-China publications if any) and a covering letter explaining interest in and aptitude for position to africa-china@journalism.co.za by no later than March 21 2017.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: The project is funded by a grant from the Open Society Foundation.

GAIA Agtech Innovation Challenge for Women Agricultural Entrepreneurs in East Africa 2017

Application Deadline: 9th March, 2017

Eligible Countries:

West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia

To be taken at (country): Nairobi, Kenya

About the Programme: GAIA is pleased to announce that Gender in Agribusiness Investments in Africa (GAIA) is now accepting applications from institutions and enterprises for the 2017 GAIA AgTech Innovation Challenge.  GAIA has been launched by AWARD to increase agribusiness investments in technological and business model innovations that benefit African women value chain actors. Do you have a big idea that has been piloted successfully in East Africa that focuses on:

1. Closing yield gaps in crop and livestock value chains
2. Reducing post-harvest losses
3. Improving agri-market efficiencies

We are looking for institutions and business enterprises with innovations spanning the research-to-commercialization continuum, and those addressing business model re-invention.

GAIA is looking for enterprises that are women-led or have women managers, have a clear for-profit business model with high potential for scale, have some proof of concept on the ground, have conducted pilots and are preferably generating revenues.

Type: Entrepreneurship Pitch Programme

Eligibility: AWARD GAIA is looking for enterprises that:

• Serve the agriculture or allied sectors;
• Demonstrate clear benefits to groups that are often marginalized in agriculture including women smallholder farmers and other women value chain actors;
• Have an innovative technology or business model;
• Have a clear for-profit business model with high potential for scale;
• Have some proof of concept on the ground, conducted pilots and are preferably generating revenues;
• Are seeking funding to commercialize or scale.

Number of Awardees: 20

Value of Programme: Winners will benefit from participation in an intensive, 2-day boot camp, which will culminate in a showcase to potential investors, partners, and other key players in the agriculture sector.

Duration of Programme: The top 25 companies will participate in an in-depth boot camp, and then be showcased to investors, incubators, and other support organizations in Accra, Ghana from March 29-31, 2017.

To apply, please complete this application form;

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: AWARD

University of St Andrews Undergraduate Scholarships for International Students 2017/2018

Application Deadline: 16th March 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): UK

Field of Study: All subjects (Please note that this scholarship is not available to students applying for BA International Honours)

Type: Undergraduate

Selection Criteria: Selection is on the basis of financial need.

Number of Awardees:  Variable

Value of Scholarship: Between £1,000 and £4,000. Contribution towards tuition fee.

Duration of Scholarship: Annually for the duration of the student’s undergraduate programme.

How to Apply: This scholarship is available for application through Scholarships and Funding. After you have applied to a new course beginning in the 2017-2018 academic year, you can access Scholarships and Funding through My Application.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK

NWAG Scholarships for Female Undergraduates in Nigeria 2017

Application Deadline: 31st May 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Field of Study: Any

About the Award: In 2016, NWAG plans to award 37 one-time scholarships, one per state of origin as well as one for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in the amount of fifty thousand Naira (N50,000) each, to Nigerian female, undergraduate students in Nigerian universities.

Number of Scholarships: Thirty-Seven (37)

Scholarship Worth: Fifty thousand naira (N50,000)

Type of Scholarship: The NWAG scholarship is a onetime award

Requirements: An applicant must be a Nigerian female, undergraduate student in a Nigerian University. All applications must include the following:

• Proof of State of Origin – Letter of Origination from the university or a letter from your local government office.
• Two Letters of Recommendation from any two of the following: Church Pastor/Mosque Imam, Village Head, Local Government Chairperson or one of your Lecturers.
• One Letter of Recommendation from either the Dean of your Faculty/School or your Head of Department.
• Photocopy of your current university student identification card
• A current photograph of yourself
• An explanation of why you need and should receive the scholarship (not more than one-half typed double spaced page).
• A type-written, double –spaced, two-page essay on:

 “How has the current inflation and its resultant high cost of living in Nigeria, affected the quality of education in Nigeria?”

All application entries must be typewritten and double-spaced.

How to Apply: Interested prospective applicants are advised to download an application form from the link below.

Completed application can be submitted with all required documents by pdf or word version to NWAG either by electronically via email at nwagscholarship[@]yahoo.com or by regular mail to

NWAG
P.O. Box 14542,
Atlanta, GA 30324.

Subject line of Email: Name of Applicant & State of Origin, and All Electronic Submissions must be in PDF or Word format

Late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Applications may not be faxed or hand-delivered.

Visit Scholarship Web page to download application form

Important Note: Application process is free! Do not send money to anyone nor include money in your application

Full-Time Scholarships at Sheffield Hallam University 2017/2018 – Undergraduate and Masters

Application Deadlines:

• 31st May 2017 for September 2017 start
• 1st November 2017 for January 2018 start

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International students

To be taken at (country): Sheffield Hallam University UK

Eligible Field of Study: Scholarship applications are welcome from those holding offers for the following full-time taught postgraduate courses

• MBA
• MSc International Events and Conference Management
• MA TESOL
• MSc Technical Architecture
• MA Design
• MSc Food Manufacturing Engineering
• MSc Advancing Physiotherapy Practice
• MSc Sport Business Management

About Scholarship: Are you ambitious? Do you want to represent international students at Sheffield Hallam University now and in the future? If so, these exclusive and competitive scholarships are aimed at you.

Transform Together scholarships are open to students from any non-EU country applying to study at Sheffield Hallam University to enrol in the next academic year.

The scholarships will be awarded to well-qualified students who demonstrate academic, personal or professional achievement on their scholarship application form. Successful applicants will be awarded with a certificate to mark their achievement following enrolment on their course.

Type: Undergraduate and Postgraduate

Selection Criteria and Eligibility: To be eligible to apply for one of these scholarships you must:

• be an international or a European Union (non-UK) fee paying student
• postgraduate only – have achieved a minimum 2.1 or equivalent in your honours degree and must meet the English and academic entry requirements for your course. Please attach your transcripts to your scholarship application
• undergraduate only – have achieved or exceeded the English and academic entry requirements for the course
• have an offer for a full-time taught undergraduate or postgraduate course at Sheffield Hallam University.
• be self-funding your studies
• be able to pay any additional fees your course may require, for example field trips

Number of Scholarships: Not specified

Value of Scholarship

• 2015/16 – a full (100% discount) or half fee waiver (50% discount) is available for postgraduate courses and half fee waiver (50% discount) for each year of an undergraduate degree.
• 2016/17 – a half fee waiver (50%) is available for postgraduate courses and for each year of an undergraduate degree

A package of incentives is to be confirmed, but will include

• the opportunity to become an alumni ambassador back in your home country
• a programme of events which aims to enhance your learning and social experience with fellow scholars
• a Sheffield Hallam University hoodie

Successful scholars will be expected to represent Sheffield Hallam University through various activities during the academic year and after graduation.

Duration of Scholarship: for full period of study

How to Apply

To apply for a Transform Together Scholarship, follow these steps

• Check you meet you the scholarship eligibility criteria listed below
• Apply for a course at Sheffield Hallam. If you have not applied for a course, please visit our online prospectus
• When you have received an offer from Sheffield Hallam, download the scholarship application form (on the
• Complete and return the scholarship application form with transcripts to scholarships@shu.ac.uk by
  • 31 May 2016 for September 2016 start
  • 1 November 2016 for January 2017 start
• A panel will review the scholarship applications
• You will be notified if you have been successful approximately one month after the deadline. All decisions are at the University’s discretion and are final.

Visit scholarship webpage

Sponsors: Sheffield Hallam University

Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarships at Macquarie University Australia 2017/2018

Application Deadline: Session 2: 30th June 2017. Session 1: 31st January 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Field of Study: Priority areas include Engineering, Environment, Human Science, Media, Linguistics, and Education.

About Scholarship: The Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship provides a partial tuition fee scholarship for outstanding students to study at Macquarie University North Ryde campus. It has been designed to recognise academic excellence and provide financial assistance for international students. The Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship is country-specific and will be awarded progressively through the year to future applicants to Macquarie University.

Type: Partial scholarships for Undergraduate or Masters studies

Selection Criteria: The Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship is highly competitive and awarded based on academic merit.

Eligibility: Candidates must:

• Have citizenship of a country other than Australia or New Zealand.
• Have met the University’s academic and English requirements for the course to be considered for a scholarship (must hold a full offer of admission for North Ryde by the application deadline).
• Have achieved a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 (5.0 out of 7.0 from 2017 onward) for Postgraduate applications and minimum requirement of an ATAR equivalent of 90 out of 100 for Undergraduate applications.
• Have applied for a program that is longer than one Session in duration.
• Commence study in session and year indicated in the scholarship offer letter.
• Have applied for a course which has a full-time study load.
• Commence study in the semester and year indicated in their offer of Scholarship. Commencement may not be deferred.

Number of Scholarships: not specified

Value of Scholarship: Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship is a Partial Scholarship for Undergraduate or Postgraduate studies. The amount is varied up to AUD$10,000 and it will be applied towards your tuition fee.

The Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarships do NOT provide financial support in the form of a living allowance, nor does it provide for the cost of visa application, Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), airfares, accommodation, conferences or other costs associated with study.

Duration of Scholarship: The Scholarship is a single scholarship and not available to be renewed.

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): Macquarie University Australia

How to Apply

1. Candidates must complete an online course application form. Online course application will enable you to select your course and upload scanned copies of the required documents. Once your course application has been processed, you will receive a Macquarie University Student Number which is compulsory to submit the online scholarship application form.
2. Applicants must complete an online scholarship application form

For more details, visit the scholarship webpage.

Sponsors: Macquarie University Australia

Important Notes: Applicants can only receive one scholarship.

Applicants applying for the Vice-Chancellor’s International scholarship will not be required to submit Referee’s Report or a Statement of Purpose. Once you have completed the online scholarship application form, a confirmation email will be sent to you at your nominated email address. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

AfricaFrance Young Leaders Programme for Young African Leaders 2017. Fully-funded to France

Application Deadline: 31st March 2017

Eligible Countries: African and French Countries

To be taken at (country): France

About the Award: The Young Leaders program aims to identify, unite, value the very high potential African and French in a spirit of “promotion” of exception. The promotion will bring together young African and French leaders in two sessions in France and Africa with the aim of forging personal ties and proposing a common reflection on global issues.

Type: Short courses/Training

Eligibility: 

• Are you between 28 and 38 years old? 
• Are you French, French diaspora, African?
• Do you contribute to building inclusive, sustainable and shared growth between the African continent and France? 
• You demonstrate leadership, commitment and involvement that has an impact on your community or country? 
• Do you come from companies or civil society in all areas of economic and social life?

Selection Criteria: 

• Candidates must be between the ages of 28 and 38 on 1st January 2017
• Candidates must be French or must come from an African country
• Anglophone candidates require fluency in French as well as the ability to hold a conversation
• At the time of the application, candidates must be working in companies or civil society in all fields of economic and social life (manufacturing, services, both cultural and societal) (the position of President, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Managing Partner or equivalent)
• They must demonstrate leadership, commitment and sustainable engagement (5 to 15 years) that has had an impact on their community or their country
• Candidates must also be able to travel and must make themselves available for the programme’s two sessions in July 2017 and October 2017
• They must demonstrate leadership potential that would enable them to reach the highest level within their sphere of activity
• They must demonstrate the requisite skills, in addition to an ability and a willingness to express themselves at the highest level. They must also be capable of making an oral presentation relating to their candidacy
• Candidates must show a willingness and a capacity to participate in strengthening the Franco-African relationship in their particular sphere of activity
• They must demonstrate the capacity to fully invest themselves in the programme as part of the network of previous Young Leaders

Number of Awardees: Limited

Value of Scholarship: ALL EXPENSES (INCLUDING VISAS, TRANSPORT AND ACCOMMODATION) WILL BE PAID FOR.

How to Apply: Interested applicants must submit the following:

The form, duly completed and signed • Curriculum Vitae • Covering letter • A letter presenting their professional and personal project • A one-page essay on the theme of “Coming together: for a new generation of Africa-France leaders” • 3 letters of recommendation and full details for their references • Copies of their most recent qualifications • Certificates of roles and publications (KBIS and/or Official Journal) referring to the roles • Balance sheets for 2015 and 2016 • One form of valid and in-date ID showing the candidate’s nationality

The form should be returned duly completed and signed in French or in English along with the supporting documents before the 31st March 2017 at 11.59 p.m. by email to: programmes@africafrance.org

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: AfricaFrance

KDI School GKS-KGSP (Korean Government Scholarship Program) for International Students 2017

Application Deadline: 20th March 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): South Korea

Type: Masters

Eligibility: 

-Be non-Korean citizens whose parents are also non-Korean citizens*.

-Be physically and mentally healthy

-Be under 40 years of age as of September 1st, 2017

-Hold a bachelor’s or an equivalent degree prior to August 31st, 2017

-Have a GPA higher than B or 80% from the previously attended institution
*Applicants must be from designated countries (see NIIED application guideline)

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: Full tuition, monthly stipend, round-trip airfare

Duration of Scholarship: Total 3 years:

-First year: Korean language training

-Second & Third year: Master’s program

Apply Here

If you are applying directly to KDIS (for University Track), all required documents must be submitted at the admissions office of KDIS. (address: 263 Namsejong-ro, Sejong-si, 30149, Republic of Korea)

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Government of Korea

Rockefeller Foundation Art Residency Programme 2017 – Italy

Application Deadline: 

• The application period for an Academic Writing residency begins 1st March 2017 with the deadline on 1st May 2017, for residencies in 2017.
• The application period for Arts & Literary Arts residency will soon open. Application Dates will be updated on this site when it opens
• Applications for practitioner residencies are accepted until 31st March 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the United States

To be taken at (country): Bellagio, Italy. The Center consists of several buildings in 55 acres grounds on Lake Como in Northern Italy: the Villa Serbelloni and Villa Maranese house the resident fellows (scholars, practitioners and artists); the Sfondrata and Frati buildings are reserved for meetings. The town of Bellagio, immediately adjacent to the Bellagio Center, is located in northern Italy at the point where Lake Como divides to form its Lecco and Como arms. It is approximately 75 km. (47 miles) north of Milan.

Eligible Fields: The Rockefeller Foundation seeks applicants with projects that contribute to discourse and progress related to its dual goals: i) advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and ii) building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four related focus areas: Advance Health, Revalue Ecosystems, Secure Livelihoods, and Transform Cities.

Applicants with projects that may help shape thinking or catalyze action in these areas are also strongly encouraged to apply.

About the Award:  The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Programme is split into 3 areas:

• Academic Writing residency
• Arts & Literary Arts residency
• Practitioner residencies

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Programme has a track record for supporting the generation of important new knowledge addressing some of the most complex issues facing our world, and innovative new works of art that inspire reflection and understanding of global and social issues.

The Bellagio Center Residency Program is committed to creating an environment that fosters rich cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchanges, which arise from bringing highly diverse and international cohorts of artists, academics, practitioners, and policymakers together. The Bellagio Center typically offers residencies of two to four weeks for no more than 15 residents at a time. Collegial interaction within the community of residents is an integral dimension of the Bellagio experience. Meals and informal presentations of residents’ work afford an opportunity for dynamic discussions and engagement within and across disciplines. To help build connections across one another’s work, residents are also offered opportunities to interact with participants from international conferences that are hosted in other buildings on the Bellagio Center’s grounds.

Type: Residency

Eligibility: 

• Residencies are open to university or think-thank based academics in all disciplines, literary artists, visual artists, and practitioners from a variety of fields, particularly those working on socially impactful endeavors. The Foundation seeks to promote a broad, stimulating mix of disciplines and fields within the Bellagio Community.
• The Academic Writing residency is for university and think tank-based academics, researchers, professors, and scientists working in any discipline. Successful applicants can either demonstrate decades of significant professional contributions to their field or show evidence of being on a strong upward trajectory in their careers.
• The Bellagio Arts & Literary Arts residency is for artists working in any discipline including composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, and visual artists who share in the Foundation’s mission of promoting the well-being of humankind and whose work is inspired by or relates to global or social issues.
• The Center also welcomes applications from practitioners, defined as senior-level policymakers, nonprofit leaders, journalists, private sector leaders and public advocates with ten or more years of leadership experience in a variety of fields and sectors.

Selection Criteria: Bellagio Center arts & literary arts residencies are for composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, interdisciplinary and visual artists seeking time for disciplined work, reflection, and collegial engagement, uninterrupted by the usual professional and personal demands.

Number of Awardees: Not more than 15 residents

Value of Residency: 

• During the course of the residency, room, meals and board are provided without charge.
• Opportunity for dynamic discussions and engagement within and across disciplines.
• Accessibility: housing/grounds/studios are accessible
• Studios/special equipment: Painting, Photography (digital)
• Additional studio information: The Maranese Art Studio (for painters) is located directly one flight downstairs from the bedroom (access through an outside stairway).
• To help build connections across one another’s work, residents are also offered opportunities to interact with participants from international conferences that are hosted in other buildings on the Bellagio Center’s grounds.
• Space for Spouses/Life Partners of residents are welcomed at the Center and can utilize this time to work on their own projects
• Travel grants and modest stipends to offset incidental travel costs are available on a needs basis, with awards granted to approximately half of all resident fellows.

Duration of Residency: 2 to 4 weeks

Go to Application

It is important to go through individual application requirements of each residency on the Rockefeller Foundation Webpage before applying.

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: Rockefeller Foundation

England: the Banana Monarchy

LUKE O'BRIEN

Several rungs below banana republics on the roster of government types, one might find “banana monarchy”. This is post-Brexit Britain.

Monarchy

Some apologists of monarchy would have you believe that Britain’s first family is actually its worst off. They, like Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, or O’Brien of the 1984‘s Inner Circle, suffer a burden so great – all so that the thousands of millions may maintain their authoritarian consolations. A self-selected few keeping big, bad Freedom from our doors.

But do they let the mask slip? Do they let on that, behind the enchanted glass, sits nothing more than a troop of hairless apes (with just as many, if not greater, foibles than the rest)? Do they heck. They trudge along through opening ceremonies, and palace balls, and horse shows, waving and granting this and that, trailing past glories. This, they do for us. Or, more pointedly, they do it for you. Why would you – and why do you – inflict such existences? Upon they, who by accident of birth have to lord it over you. Isn’t it about time we end this protracted farce?

I suggest so. It’s time we got together, take the Windsors to one side and say, “you can pack it in dears, we can see through you”.

Military

The one industry prevented from collapse by Maggie Thatcher and her heirs is the arms. This broader trend – one you might call military protectionism – mimics another. As revealed in Curtis’ The Mayfair Set, under David Sterling the SAS evolved from being a band of Lawrences into the world’s premier mercenary force. Of course, like private physicians, they do a bit of “national service” (the raid on the Iranian Embassy) but the bulk of their work is the propping of Arab princes and African despots, so that they may, in turn, fulfill the Foreign Office’s need for “forces of stability”.

So vital, to take one salient example, is Saudi Arabia as a lynchpin (putting solidarity between kings to one side), that we routinely overlook this hub and exporter of Wahhabism – the greatest ideological foe to British values found offshore.

This relationship almost guarantees perpetual war. Wars, we were told, nuclear weapons had made redundant. Trident, in its titanium skin, with its terrible luminous eyes trained on its equals on what we call Russia and China – perhaps even on those currently irradiating American soil. I say ‘perhaps’ because the Keepers, as Martin Amis named nukes in his essay Thinkability, are incomprehensible. Their purposes are beyond the scope of human imagination, Their intentions surpass the confines of theory. And to Them, the spawn of Rutherford and Oppenheimer: we are nothing. Mere fetuses of the post-civilisation age – the age of Atom.

Culture

As the Empire folded, leaving cartographers with the headache of endless partition, Yemen’s last British governor hosted a dinner party before heading home. As the meal came to a close, he turned to the Minister of Defense and honoured guest Denis Healy (an aside: never trust a man with eyebrows like that), and said, “do you know, Minister, I believe that in the long view of history, the British Empire will be remembered only for two things… The game of football, and the expression ‘fuck off’.”

The British don’t really help competing visions. (One such bid see Brits as the greying wise old Greeks to the new Rome, situated in Maryland. Personally, as you can probably already tell, I find Athenian allusions a little strained.)

But beyond the endless football, shit TV, imported bluster and petite bourgeoisie tedium, there’s plenty to respect: see Blake’s dragon, Darwin’s finches, Byron’s portrait (author of the stunningly brilliant line, “[in England] Cant is so much stronger than Cunt“), books by Orwell, Paine, Mill and Kipling, the works of Milton, Hazlitt, E.P. Thompson and Auden. There’s also the great British dissidents: Richard Carlile, whose bravery in the fight for free expression should be known to all liberals and libertarians; and John Ball who, along with Wat Tyler, led the Peasants’ Revolt and met a tragic end.

Equally worthy of mention are Bertrand Russell, Mary Wollstonecraft, Charles Dickens, George Elliot, John M. Keynes, Eric Hobsbawm and Shelley.

These are the literary and political traditions I admire, and hope to draw attention to in some small way. They, and, more generally, the cause of Liberty, are cultural handrails far more deserving of respect and celebration than anything the Hanoverians ever forced upon us.