May you live in interesting times…

It has become something of a cliché to say you can’t believe everything (or, indeed, anything) that you read in the papers. Increasingly the same is true of Twitter, unfiltered as it is and accessible to anyone with a digit to type with and an axe to grind. All clichés contain some degree of truth,…

We haven’t voted to leave the EU: We’ve voted for oppression

Opinion piece by Rhyley Douglas: Political and Social psychologist I’m not really sure what those whom voted to leave are now expecting to happen or how quick they think it will happen. Are they expecting clouds to part and the sun to shine constantly, for people to have street parties full of Union Jack flags?…

Justice only for the rich? The Illegitimate nature of the cuts to legal aid.

Does the proposed Trade Union Bill further undermine the ‘Right to Strike?’

The following was written by Frederick Antonio Gallucci | @gibblegbble    Does the proposed Trade Union Bill further undermine the ‘Right to Strike?’ The UK Conservative government recently introduced the Trade Union Bill (TUBill). The reasoning presented by Business Secretary Sajid Javid, alongside many Conservative MPs, focused upon the supposed necessity to prevent the ‘wildcat…

Lords Tax Credit Vote; Osborne’s Poll Tax moment?

The following was written by Frederick Antonio Gallucci | @gibblegbble    It is odd that I find myself cheering on the House of Lords, Britain’s unelected second chamber is a strange anachronism, a quasi-medieval second chamber, stocked full of Lords, Barons & Viscounts with quite a few vicars/priests thrown in (“church & state”) This weirdly…

The plutocracy of neoliberal orthodoxy is not the bodyguard of democracy but divisive patronage of profit

The following was written by Paul | @pwmcb    The message is clear, the motive is clear the outcome remains shrouded. This is a short comment on a theme and from the multitude of examples I have scratched the surface of just a few.  Corporate consolidation shrinks rather than diversifies choice Corporate consolidation of markets…

Dystopian Modern Britain. A Picture that says a Thousand Words. Welcome to the End…

The following was written by @mikeypie12    Welcome to the End… I recently attended the TUC rally in Manchester, where I was interviewed twice. By both radio and the BBC. The BBC asked why I was protesting, to which I replied that, “I don’t support the criminalisation of workers.” This was followed subsequently by the…

Disenfranchised and disconnected; isn’t this exactly how the Tories would like us to feel?

The following was written by T J D | @elephantlass    Joining the Dots… It is often remarked upon how disconnected many voters feel from the ‘political elite’ in Westminster. The usual reason given for this is that MPs are part of a self serving and self enriching government elite: they represent no one but…

Seven, or is it eight million people have ‘dropped off’ the electoral register in Britain?

The following was written by Paula Sharratt    World population 7 billion (source, United States Census Bureau) Now if seven, or eight million people had drowned… But like migrants fleeing war becoming numbers and ‘quotas’, so the excoriatingly slow process of disenfranchisement has been creeping up on us all in Britain. And we’re all the…

Do we have to wait until 2020 to get rid of the Tories?

Petition: Repeal the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011 The following is from Chris Blackmore @RebetikoWalrus   https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/108447/ In 2011, the coalition made up of the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrat Party passed the Fixed Length Parliaments Act 2011. The effect of this is that there can only be General Elections every five years, and that means…