Why Albania’s Tirana could be the city break of the future Life&Style “Tirana is like a cross between Mumbai and Las Vegas,” I was told by a teenage traveller a week before I arrived in Albania’s capital city. “I’ve never been to either place, but at least that’s how I imagine them to be.” I’m not sure if Tirana is really like either of those cities, but [...]
The real reason young Albanians like me are coming to the UK illegally Opinion Growing up in Kukes in northern Albania, one of the poorest places in Europe, Gezim Hilaj watched as most of the young people he knew crossed to the UK in small boats. Here he argues that Keir Starmer’s return hubs won’t stop more Albanians doing the same In 2019, while I was studying hard to [...]
Starmer’s immigration plans dealt surprise blow by Albania Politics Keir Starmer’s plans to “take back control” of immigration rules in the UK were dealt a fresh blow after Albania’s prime minister ruled out hosting failed asylum seekers, a proposal widely seen as acting as a deterrent to illegal migration. In a visit to the capital city Tirana, Starmer was told by Albania’s Edi Rama [...]
How Albania went from Europe’s socialist poorhouse to a narco-state February 6, 2025 Albania was once a socialist backwater with just 1,265 cars in the whole country. And though living standards have improved considerably since that time, it’s failure to transform into a true market economy has handed power to drug lords and driven the brightest and best to emigrate, says Rainer Zitelmann I was in Tirana, the [...]
Landmark judicial review starts as Albania’s ex-PM tries to overturn UK Home Office ban March 19, 2024 The politician was banned by the Home Secretary, then Priti Patel, from entering the UK in 2022 on the grounds of alleged criminality and corruption.