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Left Unity

The left must put aside obscure ideological differences and support Ken Loach’s appeal

The SWP – one of the most successful organising forces on the British left over the last few decades – is close to death, its good work sacrificed on the altar of the cult a flawed model of democratic centralism created. I will spend no time mourning for there is no time to mourn. The […]

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Starbucks tax avoidance

Tax avoidance is beginning to hit multinationals’ bottom lines

It used to be that tax avoidance saved businesses money. For decades, the world’s biggest multinational companies have been quietly shifting profits into tax havens to legally lower their tax bills and few but the most hardened activists batted an eyelid. The financial crisis has changed everything. With the public feeling the pinch of punishing

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Ed Balls should not quit

Ed Balls should not fall on his sword, Britain needs him

This article was originally written for Left Foot Forward In an open letter to the Shadow Chancellor, historian Anthony Seldon has called on Ed Balls to “fall on his sword” for the good of his party’s electability. According to Seldon, dropping Balls from front line politics would help Labour lose its tax and spend image.

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Left Unity

Left Unity: A vital project for the age of austerity

Sixteen years of age, a naive young activist who’d read a bit of Marx and wanted to make the world a better place, I was walking along Lowestoft high street when I encountered a stall of scruffy-looking men campaigning against the impending Afghanistan war who were saying all the things I identified with. They called

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Labour’s poll lead over Tories proves austerity is more unpopular than the EU

 This article was originally written for Left Foot Forward When David Cameron blindsided Ed Miliband with an in-out referendum on the EU last month, he hoped to deal a devastating blow to the opposition by painting the Conservatives as the party of democracy with its finger on the pulse of public opinion against an out

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George Osborne: History will remember you better if you turn left

At 11.39pm, April 14 1912, a man called Robert Hitchins made the mistake of turning right instead of left. The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, taking with it a captain who had blithely ignored all warnings of danger and plowed on full steam ahead with the arrogance of an Empire which was soon

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