A critique of Labour’s NPF International Policy Commission Document. Before looking at the very limited content of this International Policy consultation document, a word on its methodology. The provision of extremely short, and what are obviously seen by its authors (from their entirely neoliberal status quo mindset) as deliberately non-controversial “motherhood and apple pie” bland statements […]
Posts under ‘International’
What’s in the NPF draft policy statements?
Mar 24th, 2017 by David Pavett.According to the Labour Party Rulebook: “Party conference shall decide from time to time what specific proposals of legislative, financial or administrative reform shall be included in the Party programme. This shall be based on the rolling programme of work of the National Policy Forum.” (Emphasis added) The results of that “rolling programme of work” […]
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Dutch Lessons for the Centre Left
Mar 21st, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.A much-hyped populist-right party with a “charismatic” figurehead and a sideline in racism, where have we heard that story before? Well, across nearly every Western liberal democracy it seems. But in the Netherlands today, the exit polls strongly suggest Geert Wilders’ misnamed Freedom Party (PVV) has juddered to a deserved halt. The hype surrounding his […]
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Brazil – In Solidarity with Lula, Against the Coup and Neo-liberalism
Mar 3rd, 2017 by Chris Williamson.Over the last year Brazil has been in the depths of the most scandalous political crisis in recent history. Despite the controversy surrounding the country, the international coverage of the fifth-biggest country in the world has at times felt non-existent. Last year, just 62 senators overturned the votes of more than 50 million Brazilians in […]
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Brexit: Where do we go from here?
Mar 2nd, 2017 by Peter Rowlands.The Brexit debate has now become very unclear, with in my view many activists and quite a few MPs either confused or failing to understand that Labour’s position was and is the only one it is possible to take if the object is to minimise the damage to Labour and lay the basis for a […]
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A 21st Century Energy Policy, Part 3: The Institutions to Make it Happen
Feb 28th, 2017 by Chris MacMackin.As discussed in Part 2, the transition to a low-carbon economy is a massive task requiring extensive government intervention. In the recent leadership campaign, Jeremy Corbyn promised to “promote the growth of over 200 ‘local energy companies’” and to “support the development of 1,000 community energy co-operatives”. Presumably by “local energy companies” he is referring […]
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Labour needs a global vision when it comes to jobs
Feb 22nd, 2017 by Jenny Clegg.Tom Watson, in a recent speech at the Cooperative Conference to launch his new Future of Work Commission, suggested that it is imperative for Labour to keep an open mind about Trump. In doing so he seems to have taken on board some of the anti-globalisation sentiment of America’s protectionists, setting the Commission off on […]
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The Latest Return of Tony Blair
Feb 22nd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.It’s been a few months, so we were due another return of Tony Blair. And so we had today’s intervention in the Brexit debate, fulfilling his earlier promise that he was going to get more active in British politics again. Naturally, and it couldn’t have escaped His Blairness’s notice even as he moves among the higher planes, is […]
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Ecuador: Social Progress & Tax Justice Face Right-Wing Reaction & US Intervention
Feb 15th, 2017 by Matt Willgress.Ten years ago President Rafael Correa was elected President in Ecuador and, as in many Latin American countries in recent years, there’s been a tremendous shift in the country. He has remained enormously popular throughout his time in office, winning his last two elections in the first round, winning the most recent vote by some 30 […]
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Opposing Trump can unite the left after Brexit
Feb 9th, 2017 by Andy Newman.David Frum’s article in The Atlantic “How to Build an Autocracy” not surprisingly gained a great deal of attention because of the all too plausible way that it highlighted how the constitutional checks and balances of the US political system can fail, if those whose job is to exercise those checks and balances instead find […]
