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The secret state is out of control: our privacy and freedom is threatened
In recent days a whistle blower has revealed that I was under surveillance by Special Branch in the nineteen eighties and nineties. I cannot say it comes as a complete surprise. Ever since the...
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Fifty leading trade unionists express solidarity with Venezuela
Fifty leading trade unionists have issued the following statement in support of Venezuela: On March 9 US President Obama signed an executive order declaring “a national emergency with respect to the...
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No truth and justice as decision on Orgreave investigation stays secret
I have written to the chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) requesting an explanation of the continuing delays in determining how they will proceed in the investigation of the...
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Human rights will shatter the myth that Cameron is in control of the UK’s...
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be central to Tory planning for the EU referendum. The Tory manifesto gave a clear commitment to scrap the 1998 Human Right Act (HRA) and curtail the...
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Who will speak for those who lack any meaningful political voice?
One of the most disturbing aspects of the election a few weeks ago was the large and rising number of voters who felt disenfranchised and voiceless. Not only those who felt abandoned by Labour in...
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Governance deficit – the burning issue entirely absent from the Queen’s Speech
Three related things became apparent on the day of the Queen’s Speech which show what is seriously wrong in the running of this country, but which got not a peep in the government’s legislative...
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Tory Trade Union bill is an attack on a fundamental human right
Under the Tories’ proposed new law, strike ballots would need a 50% turnout for industrial action to be legal. But in the case of ‘essential’ public services – health, education, transport and fire...
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Orgreave – the IPPC and DPP are not fit for purpose
Accountability in Britain has reached a new nadir today. The report that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPPC) refuses to investigate claims of police criminality at the mass picket at...
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How can we resist the Trade Union Bill?
Trade unionists met at the NUT’s Mander Hall in central London last week, united in their fury about Tory attacks on their civil liberties. What is at stake is an attempt to silence the trade union...
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Exposing corporate hypocrites
A key concept in modern marketing is that of Brand Promise: the commitments made by a company that seek to align it to the expectations and preferences of its target market, to provide competitive...
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Hypocrisy of the Tory “workers’ party”: making it impossible to strike
Strike action, fox hunting, the BBC, Europe, migrant benefits – never underestimate the Tory capacity to identify things that aren’t problems and then attack them. The number of days lost to strike...
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Corbyn’s Labour will stop the Tories abusing liberty, removing rights and...
An effective, credible and principled opposition has never been needed more. The Cameron Government have resumed their assault on working people in the Commons this week. The Trade Union Bill seeks to...
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Britain First: cynical Islamophobia on the telly
A documentary about Britain’s First virtual fascist group, Britain First? Why ever not. With UKIP commanding four million votes at the general election, the press stuffed with xenophobic bullshit as...
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Labour Party will boycott G4S security services over repression of Palestinians
It has emerged that the Labour Party decided at its national executive meeting on Tuesday to boycott the private security company, G4S, that has provided its conference security in recent years...
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NATO’s disastrous legacy in Libya
There is almost an air of desperation in the recent unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2259 that seeks to bring together a critical mass of Libyan factions and actors to support a...
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Rahman wins right for judicial review on “undue spiritual influence”
Back in August 2014, the Times ran a screaming headline saying Muslims told to ‘vote for mayor or be damned’. The quote marks in the headline might have led a reader to assume that the Times were...
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Labour MPs abstain on snoopers’ charter. Straight talking, honest politics?
Yesterday in the vote on the second reading of the Investigatory Powers Bill (aka the snoopers charter), there were just two Labour votes against. All credit to Dennis Skinner and David Winnick who...
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Taxation – challenging everyday libertarianism
In his Left Futures article on the 7th April, Intense Relaxation, David Osland took John McTernan to task for advocating tax avoidance as a ‘basic British freedom’ and for making reference to the...
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Why Andy Burnham should oppose the snoopers charter come what May does
Today, the Guardian reports that “Labour has edged closer to supporting the ‘snooper’s charter’“, referring to the Investigatory Powers Bill carried forward from the last session of Parliament. Andy...
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Remembering Mohammed Ali: boxer, philosopher and poet
Ann Pettifor remembers Mohammed Ali with whom she worked in the Jubilee 2000 campaign for cancellation of third world debt Mohammed Ali – ‘The Greatest’ – died this weekend, at the age of 74. With his...
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