The Labour right and the Labour left never was one of the great romances. Ever since the couple plighted their troths on 15 February 1906, theirs has always been the very exemplar of loveless marriage. Little wonder that both partners have been guilty of flirtation – and sometimes adulterous couplings – at repeated intervals, for […]
Posts under ‘Ideology’
Is capitalism “mutating” into an infotech utopia?
Nov 5th, 2015 by Ann Pettifor.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 […]
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An Osborne Supremacy?
Oct 21st, 2015 by James Elliott.“The best things are when you get your opponents to end up agreeing with you because then you’ve really won the argument. When you finally agree – that’s when it’s going to last, that’s when you’ve won’.” It is statements such as that which have earned George Osborne so many plaudits in the press recently, […]
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What Labour can learn from the Thatcherites
Oct 12th, 2015 by James Elliott.Thatcherism wasn’t always as popular as it is today. For David Cameron to be able to introduce the market so heavily into the NHS, universities, even schools, to privatise the Queen’s head, as Dennis Skinner described the Royal Mail sell-off, shows the strength of right-wing politics in Britain. For Cameron to then be re-elected with […]
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The new mainstream versus right-wing orthodoxy
Sep 16th, 2015 by Bryan Gould.One of the main obstacles to making sense of today’s politics is the insistence of commentators that any shift in political position can only be described as either rightwards or leftwards. This over-simplified and one-dimensional view of the political landscape means that many of the possible directions of political travel – directions that cannot or […]
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Why the means justifies the means (say Gordon Brown and Wile E Coyote)
Sep 7th, 2015 by David Pavett.Chuck Jones, the creator of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and a host of other great cartoon characters once explained that the inspiration for his Wile E. Coyote character (all his efforts to capture Road Runner fail but he never ceases to work on his ineffective plans) was a remark of the philosopher George Santayana who […]
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What if Jeremy Corbyn wins? What then?
Aug 29th, 2015 by David Pavett.The likely election of Jeremy Corbyn is an exciting prospect. The thought of a break with the years of dull mental acquiescence to the dominant ideology cannot but give immense pleasure to all us lefties. But when the wave of nice thoughts has subsided I am left with a more sombre thought: are we up […]
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Gordon Brown and power
Aug 17th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Has Gordon Brown reached down from heaven and, like the vengeful Presbyterian God, smited Jeremy Corbyn with his great clunking fist? Well, no. The much-trailed Power with a Purpose speech wasn’t the knock out some were hoping for, as if a talk could derail the Jeremy juggernaut anyway. Instead we had a thoughtful, nuanced and […]
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The Blairite formula is no longer working
Aug 13th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.In 1994 Blair took over the Labour party and made it safe for British capitalism. Which is why so many top companies and banks were content to contribute large sums to the party in order to hedge their bets – they gained whichever party won the elections. Up till now they have dominated the Labour […]
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Socialism is not a dirty word: A reply to the Guardian’s Jonathan Jones
Aug 12th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.As if proof were needed that stupidity isn’t the sole preserve of the right, along comes Jonathan Jones with a new angle in the anti-Corbyn effort. His target is the slight whiff of Marxism surrounding Jeremy’s campaign. Because – gasp – the ‘s’ word is getting more traction these days, it’s time we “have to face up […]
