Georgia L. Gilholy

Georgia L Gilholy is a columnist for Conservative Home

Wednesday

Georgia L. Gilholy

Why are British aides going on ‘Future Leaders’ trips to China?

From our UK edition

What if it were uncovered that staffers for Foreign Office ministers had been flown out to Moscow for lavish grace and favour trips with Vladimir Putin’s underlings? Investigations would be launched and resignations hastily tendered. But we can expect no such outrage when China, not Russia, is the destination. Why funnel money into tackling the CCP’s malign influence while investing in networking trips that fuel its propaganda machine? The ‘Future Leaders Programme’ is organised by the Great Britain-China Centre (GBCC), a taxpayer-funded quango charged with encouraging ‘dialogue’ with China.

Tuesday

Georgia L. Gilholy

Robert Jenrick can change the Tories’ fortunes

From our UK edition

If you speak to anybody unfortunate enough to have spent time canvassing for the Conservatives during the general election, they will tell you that one issue came up on the doorstep: immigration. The failure to control our borders using Brexit powers led voters to defect en masse to both the Liberal Democrats and Reform. Any attempt to forge a right-wing party capable of entering Number 10 again must begin with contrition, followed by a long period of working to regain trust. Much has been made of the fact that Jenrick is a former Remainer This year’s leadership debate marks a welcome change from 2022. Two years ago, the unprecedented movement of people into Britain was essentially dismissed as an afterthought.

Georgia L. Gilholy

The sexing-up of Emily Brontë

From our UK edition

In a month that has seen more than its fair share of chaos, I had hoped the release of the first-ever Emily Brontë biopic would at last offer some cause for celebration. But Emily, which arrived in cinemas this week, has provided quite the opposite.  Frances O'Connor’s directorial debut focuses on a fling between Emily (played by Emma Mackey) and her father Patrick’s dishy assistant curate William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), suggesting that their racy romance inspired Wuthering Heights.  Not only is there no evidence that this relationship took place, but there are clues that it was actually the youngest of the sisters, Anne, who caught Weightman's eye.

Wednesday

Georgia L. Gilholy

Northern Etons won’t ‘level up’ the country 

From our UK edition

After more than two years of deliberating, the Department for Education has finally approved a batch of new free schools, including three sixth-form colleges that will be funded and mentored by Eton.   This trio of academies will be opened in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham – areas which contain some of Britain’s most deprived boroughs.    The Times has previously revealed that these colleges will all be ‘highly selective’ in terms of academic requirements, but will focus on recruiting pupils who live in particularly deprived areas or are on free school meals, to gear them toward the top universities.

Wednesday

Georgia L. Gilholy

Germany can’t continue to ignore Polish pleas for war reparations

From our UK edition

The Nazi occupation of Greece decimated its finances, left hundreds of thousands of civilians dead and all but destroyed the country’s ancient Jewish communities. Some Greeks, including the country's former president Prokopis Pavlopoulos, think Germany should pay reparations. At the feet of the Parthenon last week, a cache of lawyers met to discuss the pressing need for Greece and Poland, another erstwhile victim of the Nazi yoke, to receive its dues. Germany, so far, is playing hardball. This month’s conference was the culmination of a coordinated six-year effort to open up direct avenues of inquiry with the German government regarding Nazi-era reparations – an avenue Athens itself tried and failed at throughout the 2010s.