The Blair Show
Late '90s and early 2000s reality TV in the UK was shaped by its interaction with a Blairite political project which demonised the working-class and cast social problems as individual failings.
Blog
How Labour Lost the Working-Class
New research suggests that, in the 2019 election, more low-income voters backed the Tories than Labour for the first time. The party's decision to side with the establishment over Brexit was the final straw.
Learning the Wrong Lessons in Scotland
The Labour Together report provided all the evidence that the party needs to pursue a broad coalition in Scotland – before concluding that it should back a narrow unionist approach anyway.
A Self-Made Prophet
A new biography of Theodor Herzl tells the story of the thinker who laid the foundations of the first Jewish state, and of how his radicalism was mixed with a fateful support for colonialism.
The Yellow Man
Ten years after the first Coalition austerity budget, we recall the rise of Nick Clegg – British centrism's last great hope – who appealed to the radical instincts of his supporters, only to march them to the right.
The Goldsmiths Wildcat Strike
While Goldsmiths markets itself on its woke credentials, the university is in the process of laying off hundreds of mostly BAME precarious staff after refusing their requests for furlough – but now, they're fighting back.
How Keir Starmer Sabotaged Rebecca Long-Bailey
From her earliest days as shadow education secretary, Keir Starmer set about undermining Rebecca Long-Bailey – because her socialist politics and loyalty to trade unions were incompatible with his leadership.
The Minister for Property Developers
Robert Jenrick’s dodgy dealings with a billionaire Tory donor are just the tip of the iceberg – the whole planning system is rigged to favour private developers over the public good.
The Cholera Riots
Nearly two hundred years ago, shipping merchants ignored all health warnings and brought a cholera pandemic to Britain. Their act of greed triggered widespread social revolt.
Labour’s Soft Left Turn on Welfare
Fears that Labour is returning to hawkishness on welfare seem misplaced, but the party is making a pivot to the pandemic’s better-heeled ‘new’ unemployed – one which will do little to foster social solidarity.
We Can’t Let Corporations ‘Blackwash’ Capitalism
In recent weeks we have seen corporations embrace anti-racist rhetoric – but many continue to pay minority workers poverty wages and bust their unions. That's a PR exercise, not fighting inequality.
New York’s Latest Left Breakthrough
Two years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's breakthrough, the New York Democratic establishment suffered another shock last night as socialist Jamaal Bowman defeated incumbent Congressman Elliot Engel.