Month: August 2012

Once upon a time, there was a left-wing newspaper. Its founder, C.P. Scott, clearly saw it as less of a paper and more of a social mission. My grandfather, a true Socialist all his life, religiously took the Guardian every day, and I would leaf through it as a teenager, mulling over its worthy appraisals… Continue reading Comment Is Free: eating the Guardian

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks currently claiming asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy, is only the last in the long line of distinguished anti-Western campaigners, so adored by the liberal left. Assange may or may not be guilty of rape, and you may or may not agree with the motivation of Wikileaks as a liberating… Continue reading Thank you Julian Assange: you have shown your true colours and got George Galloway to show his

The average reaction of most Labourites to last Monday’s news from Corby must surely have been: we never really took to you as an MP, but hey, thank you so much, Louise Mensch. To have pulled out of her marginal seat after only two years in the job, forcing an unwanted by-election in the middle… Continue reading Corby is a not just a by-election Labour ought to win: it is one it cannot afford to lose

Banks, eh? On the British left, we’re often so busy disliking them in general that we don’t always take the time to differentiate between their misdemeanours. While we’ve been exercising ourselves greatly about irresponsible bankers who have largely been operating within the rules – and where arguably we ought to be looking first to governments,… Continue reading Standard Chartered: these are the real ills of modern banking

My fifth post for the New Statesman, essentially about why I think François Hollande’s maths is fundamentally flawed, is here. UPDATE: I should point out, that the excellent Chris Dillow, who understands these things (he is a professional economist, as well as a very good blogger) agrees with me on the pensions question.