The independence referendum has become a straight up left/right fight
There is, of course, a left wing case for opposing Scottish independence. It is articulated best by the likes of Owen Jones – ‘we shouldn’t divide the working class’. Likewise, there is, of course, a right wing case for independence – the Scottish Enterprise Party got a handful of votes for espousing it, once upon [...]
Now Labour support law to deny compensation to victims of unlawful Workfare
Labour plan to back back draconian emergency legislation to allow the government to keep benefits they withdrew because claimants failed to keep up with a Workfare scheme – even if it later turns out it was illegal to force them onto the schemes in the first place.
Labour party backs bedroom tax
Here is Labour frontbencher Helen Goodman confirming that her party supports the ‘Bedroom Tax’. The charge, a deduction from benefits for anyone who lives in social housing and who has ‘spare’ bedrooms – such as because children don’t share a room – has been widely condemned as unjust. Yet the Labour party has now clarified [...]
Climate challenges for a future Labour government
I was asked by the Young Fabians to write about the climate change challenges for a potential Labour government in 2015. This piece first appeared in their magazine – Anticipations Under the north of England lies a bountiful quantity of shale gas. It is vital to the future of humanity that it stays there. Ten [...]
Jack McConnell blasts Labour’s “caveman” attitude to Happiness Index
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Michael Dugher MP rejected the Measuring National Wellbeing Programme as “a statement-of-the-bleeding-obvious [and] a waste of taxpayers’ money,” prompting Lord McConnell to describe Labour’s response as “ignorant” and to say of Dugher “the guy sounds like a caveman”.
Which way is the wind blowing? Or why we need a theory of social change
Bob Dylan famously sang “You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows”[1] these words chimed with 1960s youth across advanced capitalists countries, who were becoming increasingly captivated by a mass counter culture – fueled by the seemingly unending promise of emancipatory possibilities for democracy, peace, tolerance and sexual freedom. That [...]
The end of opposition
Yesterday the official opposition gave up. In a packed room at The Insititute for Education Ed Balls finally confirmed what many of us have been thinking for a while: The Labour Party aren’t the alternative. As the cuts continue to bite, the wages of workers remain stagnant and the economic outlook for the UK remains [...]
Three things about the independence referendum scrap
First: let’s get one thing straight. Nations have a right to self determination in international law. David Cameron may quibble about the devolved powers of the Holyrood Parliament under the Scotland Act. He may even, if it came to a battle in the international court, win. In my experience the arc of judicial rulings bend [...]
Stop Lying About the Nation’s Credit Card
We’re making sure that this generation does not bankrupt the next. Not saddling them with our debts, not maxing out on the nation’s credit card, but building a better future for our children. Tory Party Chairman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi For a party feigning concern about “the nation’s credit card”, the Conservatives are remarkably comfortable with the [...]
Save Our Services: East Edinburgh Edition
Sometimes, something happens that restores your faith in activism, and humanity in general. This week, I had one of those moments at a public meeting for Save Our Services East Edinburgh. I’ve been to a lot of meetings since the Coalition government came to power, and not all of them have been terribly interesting or [...]
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