In defence of the subsidariat
Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre – pictured left – has been fulminating against his slightly more serious competitors, or ‘the subsidariat’, as he has inventively re-christened them. The Guardian, the Independent and the ‘pinkish’ Times were all among the middle market tabloid boss’s targets in a lecture delivered in London last night. Their crime, it [...]
Ruth Turner and the credibility of Tony Blair
Until a few days ago, my hunch was that Scotland Yard’s investigation into New Labour’s cash for peerages racket would not lead to any substantial conclusion. Not that I had any inside information or anything. But that’s just how things are in a country where the law seems not to apply to leading politicians from [...]
Nominations for John McDonnell
Labour leadership contender John McDonnell earlier this week said that he was within ‘striking distance‘ of the 44 nominations he needs to challenge Gordon Brown. Formulations like that are vague, of course, and usually designedly so. But from what I hear, the claim is not untrue, provided you interpret the words generously. According to a [...]
Death of a trade unionist: 2
In a post two days ago, I highlighted the case of Pedro Zamora (pictured left), the Guatemalan dockers’ union leader brutally executed by rightwing hit squads earlier this week. Now there are reports that five remaining union leaders have been followed, and are receiving regular death threats, not only to themselves but to their families. [...]
Blair babe from Helle
Helle Thorning-Schmidt- pictured left – has been in London this week to address some New Labour wonkathon or other. And to save you asking who the hell is Helle, be aware that the woman is none other than the leader of Denmark’s opposition Social Democrats. That’s not all. I am indebted to a well-known Hackney [...]
McDonnell: in ‘striking distance’ of a bid
The big question mark over John McDonnell’s Labour leadership campaign has always been has chances of finding the 44 MPs he needs to sign his nomination papers. Now he has told Guardian Unlimited that he is within ‘striking distance’ of getting over that hurdle. Until now, McDonnell has always ducked the issue. Now he seems [...]
Death of a trade unionist
The leader of Guatemalan dockers’ union STEPQ has been murdered, in what looks like a cold-blooded paramilitary execution. Pedro Zamora, 43, was shot 20 times by multiple assailants who ambushed him in his car on Monday night. After the attackers had fired 100 shots from 9mm pistols, one of them walked up to the wounded [...]
Scottish independence: the break-up of Britain
Three hundred years to the day after the Scottish parliament signed the Act of Union, the issue of what form the UK state should take is high on the current political agenda. Both Labour and the Tories are rattled by the prospect of the Scottish National Party emerging as the largest party in the Holyrood [...]
Child malnutrition in Central America
It reads like a feature article in an agitprop paper. But it’s not. It’s from the World Bank website: Malnutrition is not usually thought of as a Latin American problem. But in much of Central America – notably El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua – chronic child malnutrition is as prevalent as it is in [...]
Will the real David Cameron please stand up?
Following the defection of a number of rightwingers to UKIP, David Cameron – pictured – has written an article for the Daily Telegraph today, assuring the Conservative faithful that he remains what the paper’s headline writers call a ‘true Tory‘. Compare and contrast the piece with the speech of little more than a year ago, [...]
