How a pandemic led to financial contagion
The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a contagious crash in the world’s stock and money markets already inflated and distorted by cheap credit intended for but […]
Parliament’s two civil wars: time for a special Labour conference
As the Tories brutally turn on each other in their bid to replace Theresa May as prime minister, significant sections of the Parliamentary Labour Party have decided it’s time to launch yet another attack on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Farage is a clear and present danger. Here’s how to stop him
The rapid rise of the Brexit Party to first place in the opinion polls for the European elections is rightly sending shockwaves through Westminster and beyond. It is currently forecast to […]
‘What would those at the time of Peterloo think of where we are now?’
It’s taken 200 years but Manchester is finally going to get a proper memorial to mark the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Conceptual installation artist Jeremy Deller’s design has just won the approval of the council’s planning committee after a […]
There’s nothing green about bio-energy
The Bio-fuel Deception: Going Hungry on the Green Carbon Diet by Okbazghi Yohannes, Monthly Review Press, review by Penny Cole
The story of bio-fuels is a moral tale of how marketised, profit-driven […]
In the midst of splits and political meltdown, a way forward for Labour
The resignation of eight Labour MPs and three Tories from their parties in order to form a reactionary “Independent” Group in the House of Commons is a clear indication that the present Parliamentary system is in the midst of […]
Brexit crisis shows political system is broken
The dramatic deadlock in the UK over Brexit is a spectacular expression of a broken political system. Our existing form of democracy is simply incapable of representing the diverse interests of […]
Tories ignore global heatwave and give backing for fracking
In the midst of the global heatwave, energy minister Claire Perry’s approval of the first UK fracking licence under its […]
Everything you wanted to know about neoliberalism but were afraid to ask
A profound crisis is threatening humanity. Democratic politics is being driven out by authoritarian populism in country after country. The planet’s fragile ecosystem is under unprecedented assault as a result of profit-seeking overproduction. International conflict looms more threateningly than […]
A democratic revolution can unite for and against Brexit voters
Is the alternative to Brexit simply the UK remaining a member state of the European Union? Or is there a case for a more imaginative and democratic option that could appeal to both leavers and remainers?
It’s worth asking these […]
In Tory Britain, the only certainty is uncertainty itself
The break-up of the Tory government is more than just a crisis of a party that lost its majority, with many preferring a genuinely warm person like Jeremy Corbyn instead of a robotic prime minister.
Corbyn promised an end to […]
Why we need a governing legislative framework at the heart of a new written constitution
In the e-book Democracy Unchained, Chapter 2 charts the rise of a corporatocracy that has re-fashioned the state to serve the needs of powerful corporations and their shareholders – particularly over […]
Planning for a Corbyn government
The prospect of a Jeremy Corbyn-led government grows closer as Theresa May’s divided government staggers from pillar to post in the wake of the abysmal failure of her pathetic “strong and […]
The case for a democratic revolution
1 The present political and economic system prioritises and serves powerful corporate and financial interests and not those of the majority.
2 Therefore the system cannot be regarded as democratic in a meaningful way, as is claimed by the ruling […]
A better democracy – create anew
Imagine tomorrow you were to be born again into the world, a world you can control but you cannot control what characteristics you’ll be born with. You don’t know whether you will be a man or a woman, black […]
Inequality will persist without redistribution
Luck determines the winners and losers of society, not merit or hard work. Those that start out with more get more, and those that start with little often fall through the gaps.
Inequality is not only caused by the human […]