Why they desecrated Marx’s grave
I’M NOT quite sure why I find pictures of swastikas crudely sprayed on Jewish or Muslim graves more shocking than the sight of, say, similar racist graffiti on the shutters of ethnic minority-owned corner shops. In our culture, disrespect for the dead remains perhaps the ultimate statement of visceral hatred. Reports that the tomb of [...]
Ed Miliband speech: predators, producers and the proletariat
I CANNOT remember the last time I was wildly impressed by a leader’s set piece speech to a party conference. These days such perorations are designedly ephemeral affairs, calculated to grab the day’s headlines rather than define any lasting vision. The words delivered by Ed Miliband yesterday are no exception, and in case, have generated [...]
Ed Balls speech: in denial
THIS is the darkest, most dangerous period for the global economy that most of us have ever lived through, Ed Balls correctly insisted in his speech to the Labour conference today. But never mind; a temporary cut in VAT will soon sort things out. I exaggerate, of course. But only slightly. At a time when [...]
Ministerial ‘buddies’ for business: cutting to the chase
I SUPPOSE it is theoretically possible that, at some point in the last few decades, an important chief executive has rung up a government minister, asked to arrange a meeting, and been turned down flat. But my guess would be that this hasn’t happened too often. All mainstream parties are keen to stress their pro-business [...]
Refounding Labour: political homeopathy
INTERESTINGLY enough, Peter Hain is one of the few people with credibility in public life openly to champion homeopathy. So to his way of thinking, it presumably follows that by diluting the influence of unions in the Labour Party, Refounding Labour will ultimately make them that much stronger. The only snag is that the particular [...]
Liberal Democrats: the contradictions of populism
MUCH of the rhetoric emanating from the International Convention Centre in Birmingham over the last couple of days is marked by a degree of ostensible radicalism well beyond anything heard in ministerial speeches under New Labour. Where business secretary John Hutton proclaimed that huge salaries were something to celebrate, his successor Vince Cable attacks ‘pay outs [...]
UBS: rogue trading is intrinsic into the system
SUBEDITORS on some national newspaper websites should note that busted City Boy Kweku Adoboli is not a ‘rogue trader’ unless and until a court of law finds him guilty of the fraud charges on which he is currently on remand. This blog makes no presumption either way. But what we do know for sure is [...]
Trades Union Congress: talking the talk
THE Trades Union Congress doesn’t need to hire Blackpool Winter Gardens anymore. Nowadays it is a small scale event with just 300 delegates, all of whom fit comfortably into the basement of the organisation’s London headquarters. Time was when there were usually that many people selling Trot newspapers outside, and everybody seriously interested in politics would [...]
Julius Malema: killing them softly with his song
‘KILL the boer, kill the farmer’ is obviously not a very nice song. Then again, neither is ‘Build a bonfire, build a bonfire, put the teachers on the top’. Today Julius Malema, president of the African National Congress Youth League, has been found guilty of hate speech for public renditions of the controversial anti-Afrikaner chant. [...]
How Grant Shapps is ‘tackling homelessness’
‘TACKLING homelessness and rough sleeping is what first got me into politics,’ Conservative housing minister Grant Shapps emphasised in a Department of Communities and Local Government press release just over a week ago. I’m glad to hear it, and it is obviously not for me to doubt the sincerity of a man who famously once spent Christmas Eve [...]
