Month: January 2015

After the electoral success of Syriza in Greece, comes a massive demonstration in favour of Podemos in Madrid’s Plaza del Sol. The British left has been quick to see Syriza as the start of something. Surely there is about to be an Iberian repeat of that anti-austerity win, which will kill the Euro-zone’s austerity policies… Continue reading Podemos: it’s not what you think, British left

For the last few years, Labour Uncut – and this blog – have been repeating pretty much the same message: the Tories will mainly fight this election on two things: leadership and the economy. They haven’t disappointed. So far, they seem to have been talking about little else. Thing is, at this point the argument over… Continue reading It’s still all about leadership

So, apart from being a great nation who made a partial recovery after a great humiliation; vigorous rearmament; piecemeal neighbour-annexing; pursuing ultra-nationalist policies; persecuting minorities and any critics of the regime; a charismatic leader propagating a dual narrative for the country of both macho strength and victimhood; a controversial Olympics used as a propaganda tool… Continue reading Ten reasons why modern Russia is absolutely nothing like pre-war Germany

Charlie Hebdo‘s brilliant, poignant cover after the fatal attacks on its offices, depicting Mohammed as on the side of the victims Following last week’s fatal shootings in the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Monday night’s superbly-timed Panorama: The Battle for British Islam gave an insight into Islamic radicalism and the narratives which feed it. The most… Continue reading There is a debate going on about the future of British Islam. Labour needs to join it

Just one rider to the whole Charlie Hebdo affair. I did not mention that, after the killing in the magazine’s offices, a second incident in France resulted in deaths of (what we presume to be) Jewish customers in a kosher food shop.In an interview today for The Atlantic, French prime minister Manuel Valls says what… Continue reading Bravo, Manuel Valls

Regular readers will know that we have an occasional series, “The Guardian reaches a new low”, linking to particularly obnoxious pieces that that august organ sees fit to post to its website, Comment is Free. However – credit where it is due – the Guardian, uncharacteristically for recent years, reacted modestly well to this week’s… Continue reading The Guardian narrowly avoids reaching a new low