Capital’s Safe Pair of Hands
Labour’s opposition to tax increases for major corporations isn’t popular or even good economics – but it is a signal that the days when the party challenged big business interests are over.
19 Articles by:
Tom Blackburn
Tom Blackburn is a Tribune columnist. He is a founding editor of New Socialist and lives in Greater Manchester.
The North Doesn’t Need More Thatcherism
A new report from Tory MPs and a right-wing think tank recommends deregulation to fix the North’s ills – but turning things over to the market has never solved the region’s problems.
Starmer’s War on Grassroots Politics
For Keir Starmer, scrapping the Community Organising Unit and attacking party democracy are part of a single project: to turn Labour back into a party of the establishment.
Levelling Down: How Regional Inequality Is Growing under Covid-19
Before Covid-19, the Tories promised to ‘level up’ Britain’s post-industrial regions – but new research shows they have been hammered by the pandemic and government support has been thin on the ground.
Playing by the Rules
Anneliese Dodds’ speech was not as bad as advertised – but it demonstrated the fundamental problem with Labour’s new leadership: it is more concerned with appearing respectable to elites than with representing popular interests.
Abandoning the NEU Shows Everything Wrong with Starmer’s Labour
When teachers called for schools to close in the interests of public health, Labour should have backed them. Instead, Starmer and the frontbench ignored trade unions – and got the issue dead wrong.
2020: A View from the Left
2020 has been a difficult year for the socialist movement, with significant defeats in many countries – but the Left’s answers to the crises we face remain far more compelling than any offered by the Right or Centre.
Capital’s B Team
As the Labour leadership drives members out of the party and damages ties to trade unions, they have turned to wealthy donors to fill the funding gap – but so far the rich seem quite happy with the Tories.
Labour’s Bristol West Suspensions Are an Attack on Party Democracy
The suspension of the chair and co-secretary of Bristol West CLP over a motion supporting Jeremy Corbyn is a calculated attack on Labour members’ rights and party democracy.
Nigel Farage’s Latest Grift
Nigel Farage’s new anti-lockdown party aims to capitalise on the economic hardship facing millions due to the government’s Covid-19 failures. The Left must speak to these concerns – or risk him gaining ground.
What We Learned from the Spy Cops Bill
The government intends to wage a sustained attack on human rights in the coming years – and the Spy Cops Bill shows that we can’t rely on Labour’s leadership to fight back. It’s time to build grassroots resistance.
Britain’s Dreadful Workplace Conditions Are Driving Covid-19
From BooHoo to warehouses and meatpacking factories, the dire working conditions of modern Britain have helped to drive Covid-19 – but you won’t hear much about it from the government or media.
The Disappearing Party
With the objective of a mass membership party now abandoned, Labour is returning to its recent past as a Westminster political machine – but members can still have influence, if they organise.
Why Liberalism Can’t Solve the Crisis of Democracy
Liberals increasingly realise that astronomical inequalities are tearing democracy apart – but won’t support figures like Corbyn or Sanders because they can’t countenance the radical change required to save it.
The Starmer Illusion
Keir Starmer promises to unite the party and appear prime ministerial while sticking by Labour’s left-wing policies. But if elected, he would be forced to choose between these priorities – and it’s clear which one would lose out.
Turning Back the Tide
After decades of attacks on trade unions and workers’ rights, inequality in Britain is soaring. But in this election, finally, workers have a chance to vote for a government that would empower them.
The Choice Facing the North
In this election the North of England will choose between a Labour Party that is fighting to tackle regional inequality – and a Tory Party that has spent the last decade deepening it.
The Trigger Battle
The upcoming reselection process is a historic test for the Labour left: can it secure a parliamentary party willing to support a transformative socialist government?
Culture and the Community
A new generation of socialists in Manchester and Salford are building radical institutions that bring politics to life.