Building the foundations for Labour’s future
The invasion of Ukraine marks the start of some quite frightening new era, the shape of which we don’t yet understand. Whether Putin’s aggression marks the start of a new ‘great game’ of powers and alliances struggling for land, or a tripartite ideological cold war between the West, Russia and China or something else entirely, […]
Medway: Left behind by ‘levelling up’
The long-awaited Levelling-up White Paper which champions Boris Johnson’s flagship policy, perhaps cynically, designed to secure his vote in traditional Labour heartlands, has finally been published. The paper sets out a strategy to spread opportunity more equally across the UK; ensuring that the concentration of wealth is not only in London and the South-East. Predominately […]
Aspirations to power
The subject of aspiration has long been an uneasy one for Labour. The Party has been out of power for much of its existence, more so than the Conservatives, and more than either the American Democrats, or the Victorian-era Liberal party. The reasons for this are complex, but one enduring factor has been its difficulty […]
Time for a progressive refugee policy in Britain
Ten days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 1.6 million refugees have already fled across the border. These are staggering numbers not seen in Europe since the end of the Second World War, and the outpouring of solidarity across Europe has also been remarkable, with 76% of Britons in support of taking in Ukrainian refugees. Yet, […]
Ukraine Crisis: How Labour is pushing for a better UK response
In my last article, I stated that Putin was likely seeking to achieve one of two things: Ukraine to be denied entry to NATO, and to gain influence over the sovereignty of Ukraine. As we have seen, committed diplomatic efforts, unfortunately, did not lead to an agreement that would satisfy Putin. Although, given the accuracy […]
Rethinking Labour’s Past
I have always believed that as a party, Labour can learn and draw inspiration from its history. Our party’s historic achievements help define what it is to be Labour. Labour was founded to give voice to working people at a time before all men, and any women, had the vote. Ours is a history of nation-building – […]
Labour women, leading locally
Today is International Women’s Day and a chance for all of us to reflect on women’s place in society and public life. Much is said about women’s representation in Parliament and increasing the number of the number of women MPs, but there has generally been less attention paid to the number of women serving as […]
Why political activists should care about history
One hundred and twenty-two years on from the founding of the Labour Representation Committee, 116 from the founding of the Parliamentary Labour Party and 100 years since Labour became the official opposition, what can history teach us about the way forward? As a political activist for over 50 years, I reckon it’s time to re-find […]
The Anti Nato Left: A shameful legacy
In this week’s column, Paul takes on the anti-Nato left, tracing its roots to show is has always been a fundamentally un-Labour position. There is no evidence that Lenin ever used the phrase ‘useful idiots’ to describe those in the West who gave succour to the cause of Russian communism without realising the extent of […]
The Politics of the Pandemic: How Covid Finally Caught up with Boris Johnson
Over the last two years, the Covid pandemic has affected the lives of every single British person. Over 150,000 have died from Covid, the initial lockdown caused the worst recession since the Great Depression and our personal freedoms were restricted to an unimaginable degree. By any objective measure, the UK is towards the bottom of […]