Chris Barker

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    Lockdown is nothing like being in jail. But it should change the way we think about imprisonment.

Lockdown is nothing like being in jail. But it should change the way we think about imprisonment.

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For many, COVID-19 related lockdowns have evoked – largely inaccurate – comparisons with incarceration in prison. Chris Barker writes that while the analogy is limited, such thinking should encourage us to examine our own attitudes to punishment in America and what custodial sentences seek to achieve.  

This story has two parts. The first part is about the effects of social isolation on the American public during the COVID-19 lockdown. Loneliness, we are […]

May 23rd, 2020|Chris Barker, COVID-19, Justice and Domestic Affairs|1 Comment|
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    Why a Colorado cake is at the center of one of the Supreme Court’s most important cases

Why a Colorado cake is at the center of one of the Supreme Court’s most important cases

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Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case revolving around the right of a cake-maker to refuse to make and sell a cake celebrating a couple’s same-sex marriage. Chris Barker looks at the precedents and judicial opinions which feed into this case, and comments that its important questions cover the free exercise of religion, compelled […]

December 20th, 2017|Chris Barker, Justice and Domestic Affairs|3 Comments|
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    How the failure of two political parties helped lead to Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump

How the failure of two political parties helped lead to Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump

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The UK’s recent vote to leave the European Union has been seen by many commentators as mirroring the rise in popularity of Donald Trump on the other side of the Atlantic. Chris Barker writes that the popularity of Trump and Brexit can be traced at least in part to a growing divide between the metropolitan upper classes and non-privileged […]

July 2nd, 2016|Chris Barker, Elections and party politics across the US|0 Comments|
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  • Permalink Credit: Nicolas Raymond (Flickr, CC-BY-2.0)Gallery

    An American view on the Brexit vote: an opportunity not worth seizing

An American view on the Brexit vote: an opportunity not worth seizing

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This Thursday the UK goes to the polls to decide whether the country should leave or remain in the European Union. Chris Barker sees parallels between the UK Conservative Party’s internal debate over the referendum, and the current fracturing of the Republican Party in the US. He warns that those who see Brexit as a way for the left […]

June 21st, 2016|Chris Barker, US foreign affairs and the North American neighbourhood|1 Comment|
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