Canaries in the political coalmine
Labour MP Kate Hoey – once politically close to the International Marxist Group, and pictured left – denies that she is about to defect to the Conservatives. But as a general election that David Cameron now looks like winning comes ever closer, few would be surprised if one or more New Labourite does decide to [...]
How much have the Tories really changed?
A central aspect of David Cameron’s message is that the Conservative Party has changed. It is now, we are told, environmentally friendly, socially liberal and completely at ease with multiculturalism. Yesterday – as part of a conscious attempt to appeal to progressive voters – the multimillionaire Old Etonian grandson of a baronet was even claiming [...]
The politics cartel
Two recent politic stories highlight just how rapidly remaining differences between the only two political parties in Britain capable of forming governments continue to erode. That can only be to the detriment of voter choice. First off, we read that the Smith Institute – a thinktank linked with Gordon Brown – and the Centre for [...]
The Democrats and soup kitchen USA
George McGovern – the Democrat who lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon – once argued: ‘To admit the existence of hunger in America is to confess that we have failed in meeting the most sensitive and painful of human needs. To admit the existence of widespread hunger is to cast doubt on the efficacy [...]
Fightback Thursday: return of working class militancy?
Personally I’ll only believe that there is really an upturn in the class struggle at the point of production when Leicester Square is knee-deep in rubbish, at least a dozen bodies remain unburied, and the ghost of Red Robbo bestrides the now presumably deserted Longbridge car park once again. But for those schooled in the [...]
Labour, Livingstone and the tabloid press
‘It’s The Sun wot won it’; that pointed celebration of readership illiteracy – splashed across the front page of this country’s biggest-circulation newspaper the day on after the 1992 general election – is one of the most famous headlines in the history of British political journalism. On top of denouncing its own readers as thick, [...]
Bob Spink and the future of UKIP
David Cameron – in language that would get him immediately banned from some leftwing blogs – famously derided the UK Independence Party as ‘fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists’. Well, the stridently anti-Brussels neo-Poujadists in question have just secured a base in the House of Commons. Rightwinger Bob Spink (pictured), who recently lost the Conservative whip [...]
Call out the instigators: the troubles facing Gordon Brown
Certain Labour MPs appear intent on destablising the prime minister for reasons of no greater import than factional animosity. However, there is little point in Gordon Brown – pictured – wondering where his opponents might have picked up this schoolgirl mindset. Please Miss, he started it. This is a man who – throughout the decade-long [...]
10p tax band: the case for progressive income tax
Why Labour repeatedly gets its knickers in a twist over taxation policy is entirely beyond me. I mean, correct me if I am being needlessly controversial here, but the basic principle underlying any left of centre take on this matter is simple enough; the more you earn, the more you owe the Inland Revenue. This [...]
Rhys Jones case: a faraway England
A 17-year-old youth has appeared in court today, charged with murdering Rhys Jones, who was shot dead last August while walking home from football training in Liverpool. I’m republishing a post I wrote at the time, making some criticisms of the responses that came from leading politicians at the time, and some background on the [...]
