Alan Fisher - Journalist

Just over a year ago I presented my thesis towards earning an MA. My topic was one in which I was deeply interested. Not least because it touches on who I am. My topic was the work of "war correspondents", a job tit...

Political symbolism is important. It’s why US politicians are frequently pictured in front of a flag. It’s why the faces in the crowd at rallies are always mixed. It’s why Mitt Romney ditched his suit jackets of four years ago when he was campaigning for President and now bounds onto the stage in check shirts and chinos or jeans. It’s all about making the multi-millionaire ‘more normal’, more like the people he needs to elect him President.

The other ...

Newt Gingrich likes to talk. He's a smart guy - a professor of American history and a former speaker of the House of Representatives. It's his love of debates that has thrown him to the front of the field of candidates hoping to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

He gives emphatic answers. He makes promises. He rightly addresses the format of the debates when he suggests that some of the issues raised, such as the economy or US relations with Pakistan, can't be summed up in...

It’s been a bad week for Mitt Romney. Ten days ago, he was looking at virtually tying up t...

The departure of Rick Perry from the contest to be the Republican presidential nominee is not hugely surprising. It probably just came 72 hours before everyone expected.

Some Presidential election campaigns will end here in South Carolina. The candidate or candidates will come to the realisation that they cannot win the Republican nomination, that their vision ...

With news that the Taliban is stepping up 'political efforts' to find a solution to the violence in Afghanistan, I thought I'd report an article I wrote in October 2009 about Talking to the Taliban

When I arrived in Belfast for the first time, 17 years ago next month, it seemed to me the Northern Ireland question was one that could never be solved.

...

Rick Santorum won't win in New Hampshire.

The latest polls suggest the best he will do is finish third - but for a man voters struggled to identify just a few weeks ago, he has, through hard work and dogged campaigning, elbowed his way into the top tier of challengers for the Republican party nomination.

He spent a lot of time in Iowa. He went from meeting to meeting, diner to church hall, speaking with people, sometimes one on one, in each of Iowa's 99 counties.

When I visi...

It was just before two in the morning when the head of Iowa's Republican Party walked onto the stage in front of the thinning ranks of journalists in the Polk Convention Centre in Des Moines to announce the result of the state's caucus.

After a record turnout of more than 122, 000, the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, topped the poll by just eight votes.

But even though he finished first, the big winner on the night was the new standard bearer for the right of Re...

Michelle Bachman hopes her Iowa roots- she was born in the state - might give her an advantage when people make their decision on January 3. She briefly topped opinion polls in the summer, but her support has faded and she needs a good result, certainly top three, if she’s to continue.

Supported by the rightwing Tea party she has spent time on the campaign trail constantly hammering President Obama and his handling of the economy.

A former ...