And they’re off! This is less a two-horse race of LibDem leaflet fame, and more a thorough bred tearing up the track as the knackered and no-hopers settle into a canter. At least that’s how the Conservatives and their helpful friends in the press and broadcast media see it. And, understandably, they want to maintain […]
Theresa May calls a snap General Election for June 8th
Apr 19th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Ask me this morning if there would be a general election, and I’d have said no. The stars were aligned against it, and yet here we are, stumbling about with our ghast well and truly flabbered. Her shock announcement caught everyone on the hop, and Westminster and its echo chamber are gripped by elation and […]
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For the McDonnell amendment
Apr 18th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.It’s getting to the time of year that Constituency Labour Parties are selecting their delegates for party conference. This time both the right and left of the party are scrambling members for the monthly meeting because there’s something substantial on the table for when we meet in Brighton in September: the McDonnell Amendment. For readers […]
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“Doing something” about Syria
Apr 13th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.“Something has to be done!” goes up the cry every time an abominable war crime surges over the newswires, but the question has to be what and how. Throughout yesterday, following Donald Trump’s bombardment of the Syrian government airfield apparently used for the chemical attack on Idlib province, we saw implacable foes of the White […]
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Postcapitalism: A belated review
Apr 6th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Is capitalism coming to an end? Perhaps not its end, but it is facing a number of difficulties. These aren’t episodic issues that can simply be reformed away by enlightened politicians or ironed out by a spot of Keynesian demand management here and there. They are structural, fundamental, and would require a political struggle and […]
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Gerard Coyne: Another Reason to Vote Len McCluskey
Apr 3rd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Got nothing against Gerard Coyne, but in 20-plus years associating with the labour movement I have never seen a candidate run such a desperate and rubbish General Secretary election campaign. Kicking off his Unite leadership bid, Gerard criticised Len McCluskey for spending more time talking about and fiddling with the Labour Party than looking after […]
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Douglas Carswell and the fall of UKIP
Mar 28th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.As surprises in politics go, this one’s right up there with night following day. In case you’ve hid in a cave or were too dazzled by the March for Europe’s liberal virtue, Douglas Carswell has resigned from the United Kingdom Independence Party. Something of a square peg in a round hole, Carswell’s politics are complete crap. […]
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The Collapse of the Labour Right
Mar 23rd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.In calling out Jon Lansman and Momentum publicly for the temerity of, you know, organising, Tom Watson has made a fool of himself. Worse than that, in attacking a mooted alliance between Momentum and Unite he has gone so far as to suggest there is something improper about unions seeking to maximise their influence in the Labour Party. It’s only […]
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Will Brexit kill the Boundary Review?
Mar 22nd, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.I’m breaking that rule, again. You know, the one forbidding ventures into the realm of political predictions. Perhaps the recent foray into long range forecasting has empowered me to speak about matters in the nearer term. So here it is: the redrawing of constituency boundaries isn’t going to happen. Okay, let me rephrase that, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that […]
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Dutch Lessons for the Centre Left
Mar 21st, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.A much-hyped populist-right party with a “charismatic” figurehead and a sideline in racism, where have we heard that story before? Well, across nearly every Western liberal democracy it seems. But in the Netherlands today, the exit polls strongly suggest Geert Wilders’ misnamed Freedom Party (PVV) has juddered to a deserved halt. The hype surrounding his […]
