Huh! Call that class war?
IT’S ASTONISHING how many commentators are unable to discern between a touch of tokenistic populist grandstanding and what they disarmingly insist on labelling ‘class war’. It must surely be apparent to even the densest national newspaper leader writer that Alastair Darling’s decision to tax bankers’ bonuses is an expedient driven by crass electoral calculation, without [...]
Book review: ‘Zombie Capitalism’ by Chris Harman
The latest edition of Weekly Worker carries a full-length review of the late Chris Harman’s last book, ‘Zombie Capitalism’, outlining the SWP’s ideas on Marxist economics and the nature of the current downturn. It was written by yours truly. Read it here. Agree – or indeed, disagree – in the comments box below. Bookmark It
Why most bankers won’t leave London
I LIVE in London – the city in which I was born – because I love London. I’ve been to New York and Tokyo and Paris and dozens of other cities across the planet, but for my money, nowhere else comes even close. Next month, the plan is for me to spend three weeks or [...]
Iraq bombings: more than a little disappointing
IT SEEMS nobody is quite sure how many people died in the five bombings that took place in Baghdad yesterday. The body count is 127 and set to climb, say some reports. Most newspapers seem to go with the figure of 112, while reports just breaking say the authorities have revised the estimate down to [...]
Sexed up: the vindication of Andrew Gilligan
NOW the Chilcot Inquiry is in full swing, cast your mind back to the Hutton Inquiry into the suicide of Dr David Kelly in 2003. Remember that day six years ago, when BBC Radio 4’s defence correspondent was subjected to a four hours and eleven minutes of hostile interrogation from James Dingemans QC? Andrew Gilligan’s [...]
Yes, let’s tax the ‘wealth creators’
IT’S the ultimate fallback argument for the richest one or two percent of the population; sure, the £20m penthouses overlooking Hyde Park, the private jets and the 37 meter superyachts might make it look as if we are flaunting it, but at the end of the day, don’t you ever forget for one moment that [...]
At least Eton has still got a playing field
JUST a footnote on Gordon Brown’s ‘playing fields of Eton’ jibe at David Cameron last week, which the rightwing press is advancing as evidence of some sort of return to class war on the part of New Labour. The irony here is that at least Eton as still got playing fields; that is more than [...]
Things that are banned, but aren’t
SO THERE you are taking a stroll in the countryside after a couple of pints in a delightful rural boozer on New Year’s Day, when you happen across a bunch of upper class tossers in red tunics, surrounded by a pack of beagles, casually sipping sherry while sat on horseback. What are they up to? [...]
Deindustrialisation: yes, it does matter
DAVID Cameron reassures us that he now does believe that there is such a thing as society. But the legacy of the woman who famously asserted the contrary means that there is still no such thing as a decent job in a former mining village. If we do indeed live in a Broken Britain, deindustrialisation [...]
After Dubai: outlook for sovereign default
SOVEREIGN default is basically the posh name for what happens when a country says it can no longer meet repayments for the 545% APR doorstep loan it took out from Provident Financial. But here’s the good bit; in these cases, the friendly neighbourhood bloodsuckers can’t exactly send round the bailiffs to take away the telly [...]
