I was privileged to be invited by the St. Paul’s Institute to discuss (on the 3 November) the thesis in Paul Mason’s recent book Post Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future with a keynote speech from the author. Mason’s book is both a riveting and intellectually exhilarating read. It challenged me at a range of […]
Posts under ‘Books’
How the Blair Supremacy put Left MPs into a “sealed tomb” rather than purge them
Sep 20th, 2015 by Alan Simpson.As we witness Jeremy Corbyn struggling to create a culture of pluralism and democracy, it is instructive to compare this with the New Labour approach to party management in a book described by Luke Akehurst as “a brilliant read for anyone interested in history of Labour internal politics“. the author described it as a “rolling coup” […]
Left Book Club re-launch planned for autumn with first book on Syriza
Jul 25th, 2015 by Newsdesk.Former London mayor Ken Livingstone is among a string of authors set to be published by a new Left Book Club, which launches this autumn. A collective of writers, activists and academics have been working on the project with the radical publisher Pluto Press. The project aims to emulate the original 1936-1948 club in provoking thought […]
Mark Perryman reviews the best of this summer’s sports books
Jul 2nd, 2015 by Mark Perryman.English football’s Premiership, the best league in the world? The same four clubs, well give or take one perhaps, could be jotted down on a scrap of paper every August with a cast-iron guarantee they will fill the Champions League places, year in, year out. Tedium: it’s the brand value the Premiership has become past […]
A manifesto of good reads
Apr 21st, 2015 by Mark Perryman.Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football selects his reading for the 2015 General Election Campaign The much-missed indie band, well by some of us of a certain age, Sultans of Ping, had a great line in one of their barnstormer numbers “I like your manifesto, put it to the test ’tho.” We are told in all seriousness […]
Labour’s Blues #3 – a coherent ‘anti-theory’ theory that must be challenged
Mar 30th, 2015 by David Pavett.In Labour’s Blues #1, I attempted an overview of the recent book Blue Labour – Forging a New Politics . This was followed by Labour’s Blues #2 in which I questioned the values of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) which receives high praise in Blue Labour. In this last piece I return to the arguments of Blue […]
Labour’s Blues #2 – Catholic doctrine and defence of the existing social order
Mar 25th, 2015 by David Pavett.In Labour’s Blues – anti-secular, anti-rational, more radical conservative than socialist?, I pointed out that the recent book Blue Labour – Forging a New Politics is marked by an anti-secular and anti-rationalist theme running throughout its pages. Further, it claims great importance for religious insights in general and of Catholic Social Thought (CST) in particular as a […]
Labour’s Blues – anti-secular, anti-rational, more radical conservative than socialist?
Mar 23rd, 2015 by David Pavett.With the 2015 general election almost upon us everyone knows that, even with the boosting effect (for the big parties) of our first past the post system, Labour is unlikely to win a majority of seats. The outcome of the election is especially unpredictable due to the decline of the major parties and the rise […]
What the 3 main parties aren’t telling you: a radical way out of austerity
Mar 16th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.On budget day this Wednesday (18 March), I and 16 other contributors are launching in the House of Commons our book What the Three Main Parties are not Telling You: A Radical Way out of Stagnation and Inequality as a counter-blast to Osborne’s demand for another 5 years of austerity. Mariana Mazzucato refutes the conventional […]
Blacklisted – the secret war against trade unionists
Mar 16th, 2015 by Andy Newman.The new book Blacklisted by victimized trade unionist, Dave Smith, and investigative journalist, Phil Chamberlain, is an extraordinary achievement, both documenting in detail the sordid conspiracy by powerful corporations to deny ordinary working people the ability to earn a living; but also in giving those victims a voice: telling their own stories. The tales of skilled […]