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Ian Birrell

Columnist & Foreign Correspondent

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Aid / Drugs / Policy

Drug warriors being defeated, but Britain fights on

Published by The Independent (9th November, 2015) There can be no doubt that the daft war on drugs is devastating many of the world’s poorest countries, from Africa […]

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Health / Policy / Transport / United States / World

The fat city that declared war on obesity

Published by Mosaic (13th October, 2015) &  The Atlantic (14th October, 2015) When Velveth Monterroso arrived in the USA from her hometown in Guatemala, she weighed exactly 10 stone. […]

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Crime / Policy / Politics / United States / World

Prison reform is a classic conservative issue

Published by The Spectator Coffee House (12th October, 2015) Many people were surprised when David Cameron placed prison reform at the heart of his party conference speech last […]

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Crime / Policy / Politics / United States / World

Could the Tories’ decade in power really be defined by prison reform?

Published by The Independent (12th October, 2015) Shortly after the Conservatives won their unexpected victory in the general election, I asked a Downing Street aide what he thought […]

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Crime / Policy / Politics / United States / World

Has a Texan gangster persuaded Gove to reform our jails?

Published by The Mail on Sunday (13th October, 2015) Alfred Adams admits that he was a menace to society: a cocaine-addicted gangster who did anything to feed his […]

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Economics / Politics / United States / World

Forget the stereotypes – Britain could learn a lot from Texas

Published by The Independent (28th September, 2015) Texas has always divided opinions. It prides itself on being the best, brashest and most bloody-minded slice of America, a cowboy […]

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United States / World

A broken system, angry electorate and uncertain future

Published by The Independent (21st September, 2015) I met Christopher last week in a café in central Texas, a smart young man with unfulfilled ambitions. ‘I’m basically a […]

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Technology / United States / World

Social media and a very modern murder

Published by The Daily Telegraph (28th August, 2015) The images are calculated, chilling and instantly iconic. They open with a young woman television reporter chatting about tourism with […]

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Africa / Aid / Ethiopia / Kenya

Obama in Africa is right to emphasise trade over aid

Published by CapX (28th July, 2015) It is always easy to snipe at a state leader’s foreign tour, and Barack Obama’s trip to Africa was no exception. He […]

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Drugs / Police / Policy / Politics

Slowly but surely, the West is coming down from the hallucinatory war on drugs

Published by The Independent (27th July, 2015) The stench of hypocrisy has long hung over the drugs debate. Politicians joke about their own use, then talk tough about […]

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Iraq / Politics / Syria / World

Britain should beware sliding back into Middle Eastern war

Published by The Independent (20th July, 2015) Slowly but surely, Britain is being dragged back into wider military intervention in the Middle East. For months, the ground has been […]

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Arts / Books / Drugs / Policy

The war on drugs is stupid and counter-productive

Published by The Spectator (16th July, 2015) Zero Zero Zero by Roberto Saviano (Allen Lane) & Dreamland: The True Story of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury) […]

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Ian Birrell is an award-winning columnist, foreign correspondent, feature writer and investigative journalist. He is contributing editor of The Mail on Sunday, a weekly columnist in The i Paper and writes frequently for other papers and platforms. He is also co-founder with Damon Albarn of Africa Express, the acclaimed collaborative music project. (Pictured: Talking to refugees in Iraq fleeing Islamic State)... Read More.

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