Iran: neither Ahmadinejad nor Mousavi
MUDDLEHEADED lack of clarity has unfortunately been a defining aspect of the commentary provided by the British left on events following the Iranian election. Whether this is motivated by reluctance to criticise a regime sometimes characterised as anti-imperialist, or generous subventions available for hosting programmes on Press TV, I am not sure. Even where these [...]
How to be a leftie blogger
IRISH Left Review has produced an eleven-point checklist for those who aspire to produce coruscating leftist polemic online. As a long-time exponent of the genre myself – I used to knock out copy for Trot rags long before the internet had properly taken off, remember – I can wholeheartedly endorse most of the techniques espoused. [...]
Belfast racist attacks on Romanians: where next?
IF IT were possible to devise a scale to measure the seriousness of racist violence, the undeniably nasty but largely symbolic act of putting bricks through the windows of houses occupied by Romanian families in Belfast would only merit a fairly lowly ranking. The consequence – that 120 people have been sufficiently scared to leave [...]
Portugal after the euroelections: ingovernável?
LISBON: I haven’t visited the Portuguese capital since 1989, and had half expected to find it substantially tarted up, much in the same way that some parts of London have been transformed over the past two decades. I needn’t have worried. Lisbon is still recognisably its loveable scuzzball faded fascist self. Admittedly, the working girls [...]
SWP and No2EU: prospects for left unity
THE Socialist Workers’ Party routinely fibs about its membership figures, even to those who actually join it, as former leading member Mark Steel revealed in his recent autobiography. Nevertheless, it remains the largest organisation on the British left. As a result, the SWP leadership tends automatically to assume that it has a right to a [...]
Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden tickets
I’M OFF to Lisbon for a couple of days to, er, watch a building being opened. I may or may not post, depending on whether I can work out how to use the office laptop at the airport. Meanwhile, a short commercial interlude. Because my mate Jerry couldn’t make it, I have one ticket spare [...]
Daniel Hannan: next leader of the British right?
FORGET insubstantial third-raters such as Nick Griffiths, Nigel Farrage and the fruitcake fringe parties that they head; for my money, the intellectually heavyweight contender to become the next figurehead of Britain’s serious right is Daniel Hannan. The Tory MEP – unusually for a politician of any party these days – is both ideologically minded and [...]
RMT: in praise of the tube strike
ISN’T it compulsory to mention French air traffic controllers when writing a leader on industrial relations for a rightwing newspaper? I only ask after perusing the Daily Telegraph’s opinions on the RMT-led 48-hour tube strike that is currently causing comparatively minor disruption to public transport in London. Otherwise, the editorial doesn’t miss a trick, setting [...]
No2EU: what next?
IT’S ONE thing being roundly twatted by the Christian Party – ‘Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship’, to give that outfit its full title. But to poll even less than the Socialist Labour Party – ‘Proclaiming Scargill’s Lordship’ must surely leave many No2EU supporters wondering what the point of standing in the euroelections truly was. The SLP, after [...]
Attack of the neogaragistes
ELECTION Night Special 2010 – or just maybe Election Night Special 2009 – is already shaping up to be anything but fun for Labour Party supporters. On all the available evidence from the opinion polls and the contests last week, we can expect to see safe seat after safe seat turn from red to blue [...]
