We have dual natures, you and I. On the one hand we are supremely social animals. Unlike pike or tigers or black widow spiders, who associate only to mate or commit internecine violence, we need one another. Ill equipped for … Read More »
I had a mildly sticky phone convo yesterday, apropos my last post, Corbyn: the first five days, with someone I’ve known a very long time. An intelligent man, highly so in fact, he had two beefs. One (tacitly informed by … Read More »
The hypocrisy is no less breathtaking for being predictable. A billionaire press that cheers on the collateral slaughter of countless innocents in the middle east now excoriates the new shadow chancellor for having suggested we drop our robotically conditioned condemnation … Read More »
After decades of a Labour Party that subordinates human need to “gaining the nation’s trust” – read: “gaining a mild toning down of Murdoch and Rothermere vitriol so we can get our responsible arses back into number ten“ – on stewardship … Read More »
It’s a great story. Mild mannered, law-abiding lady in her forties – black lady in her forties – is too tired, after yet another hard shift as seamstress, to do as she’d done a hundred times before and give up … Read More »
Yesterday the Department for Work & Pensions, having failed to block a Freedom of Information request on the matter, grudgingly released data showing that between 2011 and 2014, 2380 employment support allowance (ESA) claimants died within two weeks of a work capability assessment declaring … Read More »
Anyone not yet got the message? “Old Labour is stuck in the past. That’s a serious charge in politics but look who’s making it. New Labour orthodoxy has it that Blair’s successes in 1997, 2001 and 2005 are down to the … Read More »
George Monbiot penned another fine Grauniad piece this week, this time on Jeremy Corbyn. So what have these in common: Corbyn’s leadership bid, Syriza, and Scotland’s Yes vote? Quite a lot, I’d say. One, they all tap and give focus … Read More »
My elation may be short lived and is in any case tempered by the sacrifice of Yanous Varoufakis, whose intelligence and dignity put our politicians to shame. But again Greece has shown courage in the face of crude threat and … Read More »
For all I know Putin’s a nasty piece of work who eats cats and cheats at chess. And for all I know somebody in Washington really is sincere about bringing democracy to Ukraine. Fortunately, there’s a way of viewing the scary … Read More »