Barnaby Phillips

Barnaby Phillips's picture
Barnaby Phillips
Europe Correspondent | United Kingdom
Biography

Now back in his native London, Barnaby has travelled extensively for Al Jazeera English. He was based in Athens for four years, from where he covered the Greek economic crisis, political upheavals in Turkey, and Kosovo's declaration of independence. While most of his reporting for AJE has been from Europe, he has also travelled to India, the United States and the Middle East. Prior to joining Al Jazeera, Barnaby spent 15 years with the BBC. For much of that time he was a reporter in Africa. He is on Twitter at @BarnabyPhillips.

Latest posts by Barnaby Phillips

By Barnaby Phillips in Africa on February 5th, 2012
Sign behind protesters reads, "2000: popular jubilation, 2012: popular distress". [AFP]

For more than a year, opposition supporters in some of sub-Saharan Africa's more repressive countries have hoped that the wave of pro-democracy protests will spread south from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

By and large, the wait has been in vain. There is some irony in that the latest candidate mooted for "people power" is Senegal, one of the few African countries with a genuine democratic tradition in the post-independence era.

Senegal has strong institutions, and is the only country in west Africa never to have suffered a military coup.

The current president, Abdoulaye Wade, first come to power in 2000 when he defeated the incumbent in one of the most exciting and transparent African elections of the post-independence era.

But now, to the fury of many, Senegal's constitutional court has ruled that Wade will be allowed to run for a third term in presidential elections due at the end of this month.

By Barnaby Phillips in Africa on January 22nd, 2012
File 58061
A series of bomb blasts hit the northern city of Kano on Friday, killing at least 178 people [Reuters]

I bumped into an old friend at a book launch in London recently. She used to be a senior British diplomat, and is still involved in African affairs. The conversation quickly turned to Nigeria, a country that we are both passionate about, and that we visit regularly.
"I get the feeling that people in Lagos have been reacting to the violence in Northern Nigeria like we Londoners used to react to news from Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1970s and 1980s", she said. 
"They recognise that it's terribly sad, but it all feels so far away for many of them, not something that touches their day to day lives," she said. 
Tags: Nigeria
By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on January 17th, 2012
Photo by Reuters

Greek politicians are finding it more and more difficult to mingle in public places.

The former foreign minister, Dora Bakoyiannis, became only the latest to be singled out for abuse just a few days ago, when, according to this report, she was attacked with yogurt and stones by an angry crowd who gathered outside a restaurant in Crete.

Last month, the finance minister, Evangelos Venezelos was heckled at his daughter’s university graduation ceremony, as you can see here. 

There have been many such incidents in recent months, involving cabinet ministers and members of parliament.

Tags:
By Barnaby Phillips in Africa on January 7th, 2012
[Photo from EPA]

On my way home from work the other day I impulsively hopped off the bus outside the British Museum to go inside and admire some of my favourite treasures, the Benin Bronzes.

These, if you’ve not heard of them, are the fabulous sculptures and casts from the West African kingdom of Benin, (the historic kingdom of Benin is part of modern day Nigeria, and is not to be confused with the neighbouring Republic of Benin).

In 1897, the British burnt the city of Benin to the ground, destroying many treasures, and looting others. The best surviving "Bronzes”, actually made from brass, are a series of plaques that adorned the royal palace, depicting kings and their attendants, and visiting European traders. These are now beautifully displayed in the British Museum.

Tags: Britain
By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on December 30th, 2011
Photo by AFP

What will be the major news events of 2012?

A colleague sent me a list of questions the other day, daring me to make predictions about major political, economic and sporting events in the next 12 months. Here are those questions, and my answers, most of which will no doubt look rather foolish come December 31, 2012.

I thought it would be fun to share them, and see if  readers have their own answers.

And please, please remember that my predictions do not necessarily reflect my personal preferences. I'm simply trying to estimate/guess what the next 12 months have in store. 

1)  What will a barrel of oil cost at the end of 2012? (At the end of 2011 it was $108).

$120

2)  Who will win the US presidential election?

President Obama, despite all the bad economic news and the other disappointments of his first term. But if the Republicans choose Mitt Romney as their candidate, the result will be close.

Tags:
By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on December 16th, 2011
Iceland's foreign minister has held talks with EU on accession [Reuters]

It has a governing coalition that is split by differences over the EU, and the Euro. It’s an island, with its own distinct history. And it has a cold, harsh climate. No, not the UK, but Iceland.

 

The country that went so spectacularly bust in 2008 is showing signs of life. In Iceland, the economy is growing, government debts are under control and unemployment is falling.

 

Not that everybody agrees there is a recovery. On the edge of Reykjavik, I watched hundreds of people queuing up in the snow for food hand-outs.

 

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on November 18th, 2011
EPA photo

The most important statistic that came out of Greece this week had nothing to do with the economy.

The EU said that 300 migrants are illegally crossing the border from Turkey every single day.

Frontex, the EU Border Control agency which has monitors on the Greek-Turkish border, said that the total number for the month of October was 9,600, representing "an absolute monthly record".

It describes the situation as "dramatic".

In other words, the Greek economic crisis appears to be having no impact whatsoever on the numbers of people trying to enter the country

Afghans are still the biggest group, but there have been significant increases in the numbers from Pakistan, Algeria and Morocco.

Of course, the vast majority of these people don't want to stay in Greece.

They plan to move on to more prosperous parts of Europe, travelling via Italy or the Balkan countries.

But many migrants discover it is not so easy to do this, or t

Tags: Turkey
By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on November 7th, 2011
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou waves as he leaves the presidental palace in Athens [AFP]

I was watching one of our old Al Jazeera reports the other night. It was from October 2009, the night George Papandreou became prime minister of Greece.

A warm autumn evening.  I was there, and I remember it well. Thousands of supporters of the Socialist PASOK party were celebrating on the streets of Athens.

Papandreou walks through the crowd with a beaming smile. A young woman says to our camera “I’ve looked so hard for work but I can’t find any. I have no money. But, now, I think everything will get better. I’m so happy”.

Was that really just two years ago? It feels like a lifetime. How sad, and how poignant, to look back at those pictures, knowing what we know today. It seems incredible, but remember that during that election campaign, George Papandreou rode to victory with promises to actually increase government spending should he win. Was he being naive, or cynical?

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on October 30th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

It hasn't been the best of weeks for Chelsea captain John Terry.

It ended with him face down in the grass after a calamitous slip, allowing Arsenal's Robin Van Persie to glide elegantly past and score the vital goal in an absorbing London derby.

Arsenal supporters will relish that moment for a long time (and you might have guessed where my loyalties lie…) but John Terry's problems do not end there. 

The Football Association (FA) is investigating allegations that he racially abused Queens Park Rangers' Anton Ferdinand in Chelsea’s previous match.

Terry, who is also the captain of the English national team, vigorously denies the allegation, and says he’s looking forward to clearing his name.

Two weeks ago, in another high profile case that is also being investigated by the FA, Manchester United’s Patrice Evra said that Liverpool’s Luis Suarez repeatedly insulted him with a racist epithet during the match between the two giants of northern E

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on October 26th, 2011
Photo by AFP

 The talk is all of EFSF, firepower, leverage and haircuts. But amidst all the jargon of the Eurozone crisis, it's easy to forget that there are livelihoods at stake, and that real people are seeing their world turned upside down.

Nowhere more so than in Greece.  So here are a couple of reminders. Somebody sent me this videoclip on twitter. It speaks for itself. We don't expect to see a grandmother out on the streets throwing stones, but it's happening because people in Athens are desperate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OvModwZRWI

And here's an excellent story from my friend Joanna Kakissis, which ran on America's National Public Radio.  

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/10/24/pm-suffering-greek-family/#.TqfPkkdD2_w.facebook

Tags: Greece

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Biography

Barnaby Phillips's picture
Barnaby Phillips
Europe Correspondent
Barnaby Phillips has 20 years experience in television and radio journalism.

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