A new BBC Channel Four series on Genius of the modern world was launched on Thursday 16th June. The series is to deal with Marx, Nietzsche and Freud – one 60 minute programme for each. The presenter of the programmes is historian Bettany Hughes (BH). In the opening passages BH says that her three […]
Posts under ‘People’
Remembering Mohammed Ali: boxer, philosopher and poet
Jun 8th, 2016 by Ann Pettifor.Ann Pettifor remembers Mohammed Ali with whom she worked in the Jubilee 2000 campaign for cancellation of third world debt Mohammed Ali – ‘The Greatest’ – died this weekend, at the age of 74. With his loss, the world is deprived of the terrific energy of a principled, devout and committed man. A boxer, a philosopher […]
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Theresa May’s leadership bid
Apr 28th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.As the EU referendum battle gets nasty and Tory tears lumps out of Tory, spare a thought for the chancellor and the London mayor. At times these last six months, both men have had reason to believe their careers are sloping upwards. Number 10 has conceivably been in reach, but their grip on political gravity […]
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On the narcissism of Simon Danczuk
Jan 5th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Hand on heart, I’m not Simon Danczuk’s biggest fan. Of all the Labour MPs of this Parliament and the last, his record has been downright appalling. At times when UKIP were surging, he courted will-he-won’t-he defection rumours in the gutter press. He’s taken to the airwaves to attack socialists as the equivalents of the BNP, […]
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We may not like Simon Danczuk but he is entitled to fair treatment and natural justice
Jan 1st, 2016 by Jon Lansman.I am not a fan of Simon Danczuk although in all my encounters with him he has been unfailingly polite and courteous which does count for something. He has a number of political views I don’t share, he shows far too little respect to a newly elected leader of the Labour Party, and some of his […]
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Farewell again then, Dan Hodges
Dec 16th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.You know Twitter has reached peak absurdity when someone like Dan Hodges – really only known by super hardcore political people – has become a trending topic. The occasion of Dan’s elevation to internet celebrity is yet another piece of finely crafted miserablism for the Telegraph. His double whammy of likening Jeremy to hard right […]
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The return of George Galloway to Labour – yes or no?
Nov 14th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Ever since the election of Jeremy – and before – there has been whispering that the Gorgeous One, George Galloway will make a triumphant return to Labour. Ever since his expulsion from the party for “bringing it into disrepute” for suggesting that soldiers should disobey orders given by officers, it’s no secret that he has held […]
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Andrew Fisher’s comedy career is all over
Nov 8th, 2015 by David Osland.I hate to break it to him, but Andrew Fisher is just going to have to accept that the second career he so obviously yearns for as a fulltime gag-writer for Frankie Boyle is never going to happen for him. He’ll just have to stick to being Britain’s best young left-wing economist instead. Rumour is […]
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Remembering Denis Healey – the good, the bad and the utterly hilarious
Oct 4th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Denis Healey was a great figure for twenty-five years of Labour history, a politician with “a hinterland”, very well-read and deeply interested in art and music, and, though Jeremy Corbyn may not have approved, was a master of the brilliant put-down. Geoffrey Howe was forever diminished by that greatest of personal attacks – his attacks […]
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Assem Allam: don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Sep 18th, 2015 by Patrick Smith.Yesterday the multimillionaire businessman called on Labour Party MPs to set up a new centrist party or defect to the Liberal democrats. He told The Times “I will do anything I can if I am convinced they can form a strong opposition,” adding that he will no longer donate money to a Labour Party led by “Comrade […]
