Momentum, the organisation created to advance Corbynista ideas within the labour movement and beyond, presents a tremendous opportunity. With 20,000 members, it provides a framework for organising discussions and activity that can take socialist ideas to a far wider audience than has been possible for generations. Yet, reading the left media, a huge amount of […]
Posts Tagged ‘Democracy’
Rahman wins right for judicial review on “undue spiritual influence”
Jan 28th, 2016 by Andy Newman.Back in August 2014, the Times ran a screaming headline saying Muslims told to ‘vote for mayor or be damned’. The quote marks in the headline might have led a reader to assume that the Times were referring to someone who had actually said this, but sadly journalistic standards at the Thunderer are not what […]
Share:
What Labour now needs is informed debate
Jan 24th, 2016 by David Pavett.Everyone, even people who opposed him, understand that the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader was a signal of a deep desire for change among Labour members and supporters. I have never agreed with all Jeremy Corbyn’s views but I was pleased to vote for him and, on reflection, I am glad that I […]
Share:
Really rotten boroughs – the case of Robin Wales
Jan 19th, 2016 by Guest.by Robin’s ‘Hood Many of us have had concerns about the executive mayoral model, especially in unitary councils run as one party states with no effective opposition. Recent events in Newham, East London, illustrate what can go wrong. Three councillors (5% of the total) have currently been placed in administrative suspension by the national Labour Party, […]
Share:
Who will speak for those who lack any meaningful political voice?
May 26th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.One of the most disturbing aspects of the election a few weeks ago was the large and rising number of voters who felt disenfranchised and voiceless. Not only those who felt abandoned by Labour in Scotland, nor even the 9% who deserted the main parties to vote for UKIP, but the untold hundreds of thousands […]
Share:
The big downside of this election
May 5th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Apart from the narrowness in the polling between the two main parties, the other dramatic characteristic of this election is the number of people who are profoundly disgruntled and deep-down angry at the Establishment, in which they include Labour as well as the Tories, and are likely either not to vote at all or to […]
Share:
It’s time for politicians to stop swooning before billionaires
Apr 8th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.If you ask people who runs Britain today, they will almost certainly focus (correctly) on the banks, media and corporate bosses, plus the police, lawyers and accountants who are their agents in protecting their supremacy. Politics and finance have become one, with business leaders trooping into No.10 as regularly as heads of state. There’s nothing […]
Share:
Parliamentary reform should be major objective for next government
Mar 24th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Parliament is currently not fit for purpose. It isn’t just the corruption – the expenses scandal, the recent Rifkind-Straw venality, the link between life peerages and party donations reported yesterday. More insidious and even more damaging is the way that Parliament presently operates fundamentally undermines any serious degree of democratic accountability. Tribalism (my party right […]
Share:
The Stansgate title should not be revived, nor the pretender “elected” to the Lords
Nov 20th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.Tony Benn was devoted to his family, and so far as one could tell, it was always reciprocated at least in his lifetime. The devotion took many forms but I am concerned here with the impact of that devotion on the family’s public face and on political matters. In a family in which four generations have […]
Share:
International support rolls in for workers striking for democracy in Hong Kong
Oct 1st, 2014 by Jon Lansman.The call for a general strike in support of the democracy movement by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) – the only independent union in China – has attracted widespread international support. The Swire Beverages (Coca-Cola) union and the HKCTU unions of school teachers and dockers were striking on Monday after mass civil disobedience actions had […]
