Articles
Saturday, March 19, 2022
The loyalty of fans to the clubs they support runs deep, but football is increasingly big business. The ownership of Newcastle United by Mike Ashley and now the Saudi Public Investment Fund tests fan's loyalties and raises ethical questions. But there are other models of ownership which could address these issues.
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is launching a constitutional Commission advised by Gordon Brown. it will consider further devolution of powers across the UK. On the left the idea Progressive Federalism has been developed which would seek to devolve power and enshrine socialist values in its structures. Partly these moves are a reaction to the success of nationalism in Scotland. But are these schemes practical? Would the ruling class sit back and allow the radical elements of Progressive Federalism to be put into practice? And, when previous devolved powers have failed to halt nationalism, why would these options be any more successful?
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Brexit will leave British capital weaker and marks another significant step in Britain’s decline relative to other imperial powers over the last 100 years. Britain always had an uneasy relationship with the EU, with different allegiances and ambitions from France and Germany. Having said that the dominant sectors of British capital, whose interests were tied up with the EU, were not in favour of Brexit. However it did happen due to the continued tensions within the British ruling-class about its world role, the incompetence of its political representatives and alienation in communities which had suffered neglect over decades. The full impact of Brexit remains to be seen, but there is bound to be a hit on the financial sector which dominates the economy. There is also the prospect of the break-up of the UK with majority support currently for Scottish independence and the reshaping of Northern Ireland’s relationship to the UK and Ireland by the Brexit process.
All this is happening against the backdrop of a long term decline in British capital’s share of the world economy, an increasingly parasitic domestic economy and the disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the UK government and the devolved administrations.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Ten years after his first report Professor Sir Micheal Marmot shows that little has changed in terms of the health of the population. In fact things are getting worse, with stalling life expectancy. The report puts the blame on austerity - not only its impact on health services, but on the wider impact that cuts, poor housing and fewer opportunities
have had on peoples lives.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Andrew Murray's book is a timely reminder of the battles fought in recent decades for workers rights, peace and a host of other issues. The rise of neoliberalism under Margaret thatcher and the defeat of the Miners in 1985 marked a sharp decline in working class and socialist organisation. Today, however, the left has renewed strength, enabled by Jeremy Corbyn's time as Labour leader.
Friday, March 30, 2018
The collapse of the giant out-sourcing and construction firm Carillion exposes not only the scam of the Private Finance Initiative, which transfers taxpayers money into private hands at greater cost than alternative forms of funding, but also the parasitic nature of the British economy. Finance capital remains the dominate sector and all Tories, from hard-Brexiteers to hard-Remainers wish to preserve its role as they grapple with Brexit. Labour is challenging this model and proposing alternatives to promote other sectors of the economy.