McDonnell on the Clarke/Milburn ‘debate’ initiative
John McDonnell has this to say about the Clarke/Milburn ‘open debate’ initiative: ’Whilst I welcome any form of policy debate within the Labour Party, nobody can believe that this is anything other than a smokescreen for the launch of a pre-emptive coup against Gordon Brown by the Blairite ultraright.” ‘I just wish that people would [...]
SWP in Unison: defending Yunus Baksh?
Thanks to the reader who drew my attention to this piece in the latest Socialist Worker, which is basically an update on the campaign to support victimised Unison activist Yunus Baksh. Tyneside-based Baksh – who sits on the union’s health service group executive, and who has previously stood for election as Unison general secretary – [...]
Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn: open debate?
Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn – picture left – have sent an email to all Labour MPs, urging ‘open debate’ on the future of the party. They must be having a laugh. Open debate has never exactly been a New Labour strong suit, as anyone old enough to have witnessed the neutering of the annual [...]
Arlette Laguiller: this could be the last time
Arlette Laguiller – the perennial far left candidate for the French presidency, on behalf of the Trot group Lutte Ouvrière – will fight her last campaign this year, she has confirmed in a television interview last night, pictured. Outlining her policies on TF1, she called for 50% taxation on business and reduction of the country’s [...]
RMT on Cumbria rail crash
Rail union RMT leader Bob Crow makes some telling points on Friday’s fatal rail crash in Cumbria: ‘I believe that the apparent similarity to the Potters Bar crash of May 2002 proves that, in incidents of this type, the normal industry and Railways Accident Investigation Branch inquiries are insufficient to prevent a recurrence of this [...]
Answer the question
Readers of the Independent were asked to submit questions to Northern Ireland secretary and Labour deputy leadership contender Peter Hain, pictured left. It’s fair to say that many of them were hostile. It’s also fair to say that some of the answers were evasive: ‘The Government falsely claimed that Saddam Hussein had been buying uranium [...]
Outfitters by appointment to Red Ken
Alright, alright. It was a freebie. And I’m just jealous because I want one, too. But whatever next? A makeover for Jeremy Corbyn? ‘Ken Livingstone has swapped his usual shabby suits for an upmarket £1,200 Savile Row number that’s more City gent than man of the people. ‘London’s mayor was given the Gieves & Hawkes [...]
Class war
I’m lost in admiration for people able to earn a living by teaching in Britain’s bog standard comprehensives. I’d certainly not be able to do it myself. On the face of it, the holidays look quite tempting. But the money’s crap, and anyone able to keep order among anything up to three dozen pubescent thugs [...]
Hazel Blears’s socialism
Quote of the week comes from Hazel Blears, who will tomorrow formally declare her intention to run for the Labour deputy leadership: ’My socialism is a product not of academic seminars, but of my experience, from the streets and estates of the inner city.’ Really? Bookmark It
Socialist Labour Party finances
Several of the reports on the financial difficulties currently faced by the UK Independence Party also include the following snippet: ’The Electoral Commission is also preparing to take legal action against the Socialist Labour Party. The move concerns more than £5,090 of donations.’ A quick glance at the Electoral Commission website indicates that this probably [...]
