Starmer’s lurch to the right
“For reasons which they could not comprehend…they found themselves made strangers in their own country”.1 —Enoch Powell, the “Rivers of Blood” speech, 20 April 1968. “[W]e risk becoming an island of strangers”.
Britain
Interview: “It was absolutely liberating!” Remembering the 1984-5 miners’ strike
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the 1984-5 miners’ strike, a major class confrontation between the government of Margaret Thatcher and a trade union that had helped bring down the previous Conservative administration in the early… Continue Reading
Confronting Britain’s far-right problem
There are moments when the flood tide of history threatens to overwhelm individuals and organisations, rendering them almost powerless.1 There are other moments, when, with sufficient clarity, a willingness to strike out in a new direction and a modicum of… Continue Reading
The British labour movement’s halting recovery
In autumn 1979, Tony Cliff, writing in International Socialism, surveyed the landscape of labour struggle in Britain. He concluded that, in the second half of the 1970s, the balance of forces had tilted in favour of the ruling class.1 A… Continue Reading
Interview: exorcising the cult of Churchill
The past few years have seen both challenges to the official account of Winston Churchill’s life and a hectoring defence of the national mythmaking surrounding him. This dynamic was epitomised by images of the Churchill statue in Westminister being placed… Continue Reading
Trussonomics confronts the crisis
Liz Truss, asked to form a new government in what turned out to be the dying act of Queen Elizabeth II, confronts one of the greatest crises for an incoming British prime minister with one of the weakest mandates.1 Truss… Continue Reading
Universal Basic Income: reasons to be cheerful or no go central?
Universal Basic Income (UBI), while having several differing strands of thought among its proponents, is in essence the proposal to introduce a single non-means tested, unconditional flat payment to all citizens regardless of employment status.1 Luke Martinelli provides a useful… Continue Reading
And now the British question
The British general election of 7 May 2015 represented a curious mixture of stasis and dramatic change. But its outcome—the election of the first majority Tory government for 20 years—underlines that what we are confronted with is a crisis of… Continue Reading