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David Miliband

Len McCluskey is right to threaten Miliband with disaffiliation from Labour

1 Comment / Labour, Trade unions, Welfare /

Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, has given the strongest indication yet that his union may consider disaffiliating from Labour. At this stage, it’s not much more than a shot across Miliband’s bow as McCluskey attempts to pull Labour’s lax policymaking leftwards. Unite is highly unlikely to rock the boat before the next election. But […]

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Nick Clegg lies

Did Nick Clegg receive a spine for Christmas, or just a second face?

Leave a Comment / Conservatives, Cuts, Economics, Liberal Democrats, Politics, Poverty /

Either it’s an election year, or Nick Clegg has suddenly discovered some principles. This week, George Osborne announced that there would be another £25 billion in spending cuts after the 2015 general election and around half of that would come from the welfare budget. For Clegg, who must have been given a spine at Christmas,

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Left Unity

Why Left Unity could become Labour’s UKIP

Leave a Comment / Cuts, Labour, Left Unity, Media, Politics, Poverty /

“There is a spectre haunting Britain,” Ken Loach warned a packed conference hall at the first national meeting of a political movement in its genesis. “It’s called Nigel Farage.” There will be few more haunted by the spectre of Farage’s UKIP than David Cameron as he heads into conference season. With the European Parliament elections

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Left Unity Guardian

Letter in the Guardian: Left Unity ready to offer an alternative

Leave a Comment / Conservatives, Cuts, Labour, Left Unity, Media /

Managed to get this letter into the Guardian today, signed by director Ken Loach, Only Fools and Horses actor Roger Lloyd Pack, former Children’s laureate Michael Rosen and a number of other famous writers, academics, activists and musicians supporting Left Unity. This summer will be remembered for Labour‘s final betrayal of the working-class people it

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Owen Jones

Owen Jones calls on the left to unite against austerity

Leave a Comment / Conservatives, Cuts, Labour, Left Unity /

Chavs author, Independent writer and Labour activist Owen Jones talked to Salman Shaheen about the People’s Assembly and the prospects for resistance to austerity If the People’s Assembly could be summarised in a word, it would be optimism. From the opening speeches it crackled, infusing enthused activists with the idea that austerity – a failure

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Thatcher

Did Thatcher make Britain a more selfish country?

Leave a Comment / Class, Conservatives, Cuts, Society, Welfare /

It’s a curious irony that with the death of Margaret Thatcher and the release of Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45, the two great ideological consensuses of the 20th century should return to sharp focus at the same time. Both ideologies emerged from a country in ruins. On the one hand, a spirit of unity,

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Tax havens

Appearance on Voice of Russia: The social cost of tax havens

Leave a Comment / Cuts, Economics, Media, Poverty, Tax /

A massive leak exposed in the Guardian yesterday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists identified thousands of the world’s super-rich who have hidden trillions of dollars in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. In the wake of the expose, I was asked to discuss the social cost of tax havens on Voice

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Iain Duncan Smith

The government of millionaires needs to wake up to the lives of millions

Leave a Comment / Conservatives, Poverty, Welfare /

After Iain Duncan Smith claimed he could live on £53 a week in benefits instead of his £1581 a week post-tax salary, he was challenged by an online petition to put his money where his mouth is. Within a day the petition attracted more than 200,000 signatures. Petitions are hardly the strongest form of political

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David Miliband

David Miliband’s departure shows Ed is set to be the next Prime Minister

Leave a Comment / Conservatives, Cuts, Labour /

Ed Miliband says that British politics will be a “poorer place” now that his brother David is stepping down as an MP to run the International Rescue Committee. This is likely to be a contentious point for many on the Labour left who will be keen to see the party cleansed of Blairite clones like

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