2006: year of the dead dictator
First Milosevic. Then – in a gratifying last-minute spurt – Pinochet, Niyazov and Saddam. I am rapidly running out of people to really, really hate.
Given the collective nature of the Saudi and Burmese dictatorships, it is difficult to imagine them being wiped out in one fell swoop. We can but hope, I suppose.
Readers, please raise [...]
1976: Britain on the brink of a military coup?
How close did Britain come to a military coup in the late seventies? Papers from 1976 – released today under the 30 year rule – add to the growing body of evidence that sections of the ruling class were certainly thinking along such lines.
According to the Financial Times, MI5 was ‘preparing plans’ to deal with [...]
The return of Marxism
The spectre is still haunting Europe, it seems. Marxism’s back, particularly in France, writes John Thornhill in today’s Financial Times. And he’s not exactly delighted about it, either:
‘One would have thought that several decades of experimentation with communism would have convinced most observers that it was a murderous and economically sub-optimal creed. Even its most [...]
Hazel Blears: health hypocrisy
Press release from NHS campaign Health Emergency:
Health campaigners today blasted cabinet minister Hazel Blears – pictured – for ‘rank hypocrisy’ after she joined protesters fighting the closure of the maternity unit at Hope Hospital in her Salford constituency – one of 29 acute hospitals facing closure or downgrading up and down the country as [...]
Must Labour lose members?
If Labour Party membership continues to decline at the present rate, deputy leadership contender Jon Cruddas has pointed out, Labour will not have any members left by 2013. Zero. Zilch. None at all.
But not to worry. Labour chair Hazel Blears was quick off the mark on Boxing Day, reassuring us all that Cruddas was using [...]
Nationalism in socialist theory
Nationalism is easily the most influential political ideology on the planet right now, and only getting stronger. But just how well does the left understand what is going on?
Bear in mind that many countries exist in permanent ongoing crisis, with national tensions now hidden, now flaring up with sometimes bloody results, now hidden again.
Nationalism can [...]
The cost of Christmas
The cost of Christmas will be $18,820 in 2006, up 3.1% on last year, according to PNC Wealth Management. Yes, way beyond the means of most Farepak punters.
The Philadelphia-based asset manager bases the calculation on the basked of goods covered in that well-known carol, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.
So that’s 12 partridges in 12 pear [...]
Socialist Workers Party: international perspectives
The latest international perspectives document from the Socialist Workers’ Party has been published on a French Trot online forum. It’s mostly pretty unexceptionable stuff, though I reckon predictions of a possible US invasion of Iran will prove wide of the mark, if only on grounds of imperial overstretch.
Probably of most interest to the wider left [...]
John Lennon and the International Marxist Group
American academic Jon Wiener has spent years campaigning for the release of FBI files on rock singer John Lennon – pictured – and has finally secured the release of the final ten documents.
The US government has insisted for decades that disclosure would constitute a threat to national security and could prompt ‘diplomatic, economic and military [...]
McDonnell, Meacher: 44 is the magic number
John McDonnell – pictured left – confirmed his intention to stand for the Labour leadership in September. Michael Meacher’s key sidekick Alan Simpson has today confirmed the long-running suspicion that the former Bennite also wants a run at the top job.
Hay un problema, dudes. Getting on the ballot paper requires the signatures of 44 Labour [...]
