If I was asked to name one single issue as ‘the greatest challenge’ facing our generation, then restoring the privileges of Crouch End yummy mummies and all those financial services blokes jam packed into the 08:12 from St Albans probably wouldn’t be it. But such is the contention of Ed Miliband, who told the Daily Telegraph […]
Posts Tagged ‘Class’
Benefits Street – a deliberate attempt to offend an audience
Jan 14th, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.We Brits love our two minute hates, and going by the bile trickling down Twitter this evening Channel 4’s Benefits Street has cornered that market. So a few points. This programme, despite its obvious opportunism, was conceived and produced by metropolitan elite-types. And metropolitan I, of course, mean London. In typical path-to-hell fashion perhaps the filmmakers genuinely […]
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Political Scandal and Indifference
Jan 4th, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Let’s look at what you would’ve won. No more privatisations. No market fundamentalism. An extension of trade union rights. A thriving mining industry using the most advanced technology in the world. A joined up approach to finance and industry. A strong labour movement. Communities proud of their history. All under three successive Labour governments, dating […]
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Russell Brand makes mincemeat of Paxo
Oct 24th, 2013 by Newsdesk.An impressive attack on the political class, inequality, corporate greed, environmental irresponsibility and much else by Russell Brand. Great stuff. Many readers may be irritated by the fact that he has never voted – is that an indication of an anti-politics stance? – but he certainly makes mincemeat of Paxman. Judge for yourself – watch […]
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George Osborne and ruling class decadence
Oct 22nd, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.If you think this is about the chancellor’s youthful larks with Natalie Rowe, you will surely be disappointed. What’s more important – and far more damaging – from the standpoint of British capital is his current game of footsie with the Chinese Communist Party. The very notion that not only is he letting the Chinese […]
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On Jack Monroe, Jilly Luke and the perils of blogging
Aug 27th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Two days ago, we published a piece entitled Lentils and lager: why we forgive tax evaders but not benefit claimants by Jilly Luke about the media portrayal of benefit claimants. It has generated quite a storm, and received over 8,000 hits in 48 hours, more than any other article on this site. It argued that the […]
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Lentils and lager: why we forgive tax evaders but not benefit claimants
Aug 25th, 2013 by Jilly Luke.Please note that there is now a supplement to this article including reaction to the response by Jack Monroe. Comments are now closed here but may be made on the new article. You don’t need me to tell you that everyone on benefits is a money-grasping sponger. Or that every asylum seeker is parachuted directly […]
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Time to publish the Falkirk report and revise Lord Collins’s brief
Aug 17th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.As we reported three weeks ago, the BBC has already concluded that”there was no major vote rigging scandal in Falkirk.” Tom Watson, interviewed in today’s Guardian, goes further. Unite didn’t recruit anyone in Falkirk without their knowledge, he says, indeed the original allegations, written by a third party and now withdrawn, were made by people not […]
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Posh is not the same as clever
Aug 9th, 2013 by Jilly Luke.I would like to say that on my better days, I’m reasonably socially adept. I have a good handshake and normally manage to maintain eye contact, even though we all know this is not dissimilar to staring into the sun. Once I even managed to hold a perfectly pleasant conversation with someone who opened proceedings […]
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All union levy-payers should be able to vote in Labour selections
Jul 2nd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The current row between Progress and Unite is really about class politics and union influence – not one parliamentary selection in Scotland. However, perhaps it is worth taking at face value the claim by Peter Mandelson in his plea for “no more Falkirks” that he is “trying to defend the rights of grassroots members of the […]
