Month: December 2013

So, it’s that time of year again when we pick out the most viewed pieces at The Centre Left.  This year, what’s been encouraging to see is that, where in the past my most viewed pieces have often been at group blogs such as LabourList, Labour Uncut or elsewhere, in 2013 this little blog has… Continue reading The best of 2013

Jimmy Stewart as Bailey in the original “It’s A Wonderful Life” (With apologies to the late Frank Capra)Christmas Eve, 2013: snow was falling fast in the small town of Leftford Falls, the stores were packing up for Christmas and Edward Bailey – known to his friends as Ed, and his detractors as “Red Ed” –… Continue reading It’s a wonderful Labour life – a Christmas special

Moscow, I have recently discovered, has a decent daily English-language newspaper, the Moscow Times. Among the dull things which interest Western businesspeople (“Leasing Commercial Property: A New Approach To An Old Problem” – zzzzz), it has a lively Opinion section which is well worth a read. Now, while its attitude to the Putin government tends… Continue reading Letter from Moscow: declining human rights, drifting economy and the return of “spheres of influence”

With the thousands of pieces being written around the world about the death of a political giant, this is not about the great man himself – there are plenty of people better-qualified to write that one. But it’s worth pausing to think about Mandela’s relationship with Labour. Like many, I grew up in the late… Continue reading The Tories who failed to support Mandela’s “long walk to freedom” were not bad, merely wrong