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,…

How will an extremely weak Tory party with such disunity react after the EU referendum?

By a Corbyn supporter, fearful of how the Tories vulnerability and weakness following the referendum will cause them to mount a huge onslaught against Jeremy Corbyn, an entirely unjustified onslaught, to deflect attention away from a disunited Tory party in turmoil.  The mainstream media, Tories, UKIP, anti-Corbyn Labour MP’s etc., will try to find any…

Tory Austerity is killing us: Labour must unite after their election failure and help Jeremy Corbyn fight the Tory austerity myths.

A review by Dr Alan Maddison                                                 Abstract Austerity is associated with physical and mental hardship amongst our most vulnerable, yet George Osborne plans to impose even deeper cuts. The Tories have deceived the public into tolerating such welfare cuts with two false claims. The first was that Labour caused the financial crash in…

The etymology of Social Security: From Safety and Care to Disdain and Unworthiness

The following is a post built on thoughts by Dave Burns | @daveburns422    Has anyone else noticed a drift into a change in the language we use to explain the benefit system?  “Social Security” has somehow been replaced in the press and parliament by the words “Credits” and “Benefits” – Americanism’s that are generally…

The Tories and housing: A history of violence.

The following was written by Steve Topple | @MrTopple On Monday, the much-maligned “Housing and Planning Bill” gets its second reading in Parliament. While the detail of the bill has been well publicised (extending “Right to Buy” to housing association properties, forcing local authorities to sell off their most valuable stock), the drip-drip of information…

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…

We are divided by class, not geography

The following was written by T J D | @elephantlass    We are divided by class, not geography I live in the prosperous South East so naturally, like everyone else here, I vote Tory and despise the sick, the unemployed and all northerners. And the Scots, Irish, and Welsh, all of whom form a great…

When have the Tories ever been on the side of anyone but their own priviliged kind?

The following was written by Tina Savage | @savage_tina    Did you expect anything else? I was only a nipper when Thatcher was in government but I remember the day that she was ousted from No10. I was in primary school and teachers were running into each other’s classrooms over joyed, it was like all…

What is the future of the SNP?

The following was sent anonymously, any comments will be forwarded to the author.    After conquering most of Scotland in the biggest national election landslide of the 21st century, the question of what the SNP do with their new support, their new constituencies and their new seats in Westminster remains an enigma… for both the…

Are people from within Labour, ironically, the biggest threat to Corbyn’s Labour being elected?

The following was written by @mikeypie12    Labour’s Oedipus Complex I was never an academic. I learned far more as a child from my grandparents, and at family gatherings where I’d listen to stories in the evening over the course of a winter by a red-hot turf-fire. They’d tell me stories about ancient heroes and…