An interview with Harry Barnes, former Labour MP and ILP friend, which appears on the Irish Labour Watch website: http://irishlabourwatch.wordpress.com Harry talks about his political influences, the politics of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Libya, new Labour, the Robin Hood Tax, and much more besides. Read the full interview here. Read Harry Barnes’ own blog here....
31 51 81: Why Labour stayed in opposition, part 3
The third part of BARRY WINTER’s report on a conference to explore Labour’s lost decades, held on Rotherham on 19 March. Part 3: the 1950s and the 1980s The 1950s Mark Wickham-Jones argued that some important reasons why Labour did not do so well in the 1950s have been neglected. Apart from a team...
Towards an ILP Perspective
The ILP: Our Politics is a draft statement from the ILP’s National Administrative Council of the organisation’s perspective in the current political period. It will be presented for discussion and general endorsement at the ILP Weekend School in Scarborough on 7/8 May after which we hope it will form the basis for the ILP’s...
Combating the Coalition, Constructing an Alternative
The 2011 ILP Weekend School Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 May 2011 On the agenda: the politics of the Conservative-led government and the growing opposition to the cuts the challenges facing the Labour leadership rebuilding the party’s internal democracy (we will be discussing the Party’s Refounding Labour review and consultation document) the ILP’s political...
31 51 81: Why Labour stayed in opposition, part 2
The second part of BARRY WINTER’s report on a conference to explore Labour’s lost decades, held on Rotherham on 19 March. Part 2: the 1930s David Howell disagreed with Hobsbawm’s notion of Labour’s continued forward march during the 1930s; the pattern of support was more complex. Electorally the ‘terms of trade’ were...
31 51 81: Why Labour stayed in opposition
BARRY WINTER reports on a conference to explore Labour’s lost decades, held on Rotherham on 19 March. Andrew Gamble began by offering some opening pointers to Labour’s lost decades. First, the long Conservative hegemony which means that it has been in office for two-thirds of the last 90 years. Since 1918, the Conservatives have...
Marching for an alternative
The TUC’s anti-cuts protest was a good start, but much remains to be done to turn this widespread opposition into a movement that can really challenge the government. Saturday’s TUC march against government cuts exceeded most expectations in terms of size and the good nature of the protest. Giving a proverbial two fingers to...
Thousands ‘surviving, not living’ in coalition Britain
Ahead of the march for the alternative, set to see thousands throng the capital to protest against the government cuts, the country’s biggest union reveals that many people in the UK are now “surviving, not living”. An independent poll tracked the concerns of 140,000 working people over four months from December 2010 until the...
Budget serves last rites on Big Society, says Unite
George Osborne read the last rites for the Big Society in his Budget, as he did not stump up the cash to revive the Prime Minister’s pet project. Unite, the largest union in the country, said that the Chancellor failed to plug the £4.5bn shortfall in funding for the not for profit sector and...
Is Compass losing direction?
The recent decision by Compass, the centre left pressure group, to open up to members of all parties has prompted a series of resignations. MATTHEW BROWN looks at the implications for advocates of progressive realignment. Last Saturday (12 March), a group of Compass members wrote a letter to the Guardian announcing their decision to...
25,000 demand Cameron stops the ‘Blood Money’
Unite’s campaign to stop the privatisation of the NHS Blood Service has received huge public support which is still growing. In under a week, the union’s petition demanding that David Cameron stops the blood money was signed by 25,000 people (go to http://action.unitetheunion.com/page/s/BloodMoney?source=UniteTwitter to add your name). The petition was launched last Friday 3rd...
Familiar problems, failed solutions
When confronted with a familiar problem, the wise either resort to the sure solution or, remembering past follies, try to muster an imaginative and novel way out of their bind. Sadly the current government hasn’t displayed such dexterity in fashioning responses to our economic crisis, rather it responds to familiar problems with failed solutions,...