WILL BROWN assesses the mixed bag of high-handed and factionally-driven party rule changes pushed through Labour conference in the wake of Keir Starmer’s last minute proposals....
The Battle for Labour’s Soul
With auto-exclusions and proscribed organisations, Labour seems to have entered another period of acute internal tension. But the party needs its broad church and membership-based democracy more than ever, says DAVID CONNOLLY....
Repeat to Fade?: Meeting Labour’s Electoral Challenge
Labour’s poor performance in recent local elections show how it’s still failing to learn lessons that have been decades in the making. WILL BROWN sifts through the all-too-familiar responses and seeks a route to recovery that embraces all parts of the fractured party....
Bordered Minds: A Century of Division in Northern Ireland
GARY KENT reflects on the 100th anniversary of partition on 3 May and the distorted thinking that for decades dominated left-wing approaches to the province, the Troubles and the sectarian divide. ...
Fade to Mauve: Starmer’s Leadership One Year On
Easter Sunday marks 12 months since Keir Starmer was elected Labour leader on 4 April 2020. DAVID CONNOLLY assesses his first-year performance and suggests a way forward for the left....
Building a New Consensus
GARY KENT recalls how some on the British left challenged orthodox thinking and pioneered an alternative approach to Northern Ireland that helped lay the political groundwork for the Good Friday Agreement....
Labour ‘Under New Management’
Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership must amount to more than just competence and Union Jacks, says DAVID CONNOLLY. It’s time for Starmerism to assume the social and economic shape promised by his own campaign pledges. ...
Labour should withhold support for Johnson’s Brexit deal
As the end of year Brexit deadline arrives, the left-wing group Another Europe is Possible is leading calls for Labour to withhold support for the Tories’ woeful trade agreement....
Antisemitism: A Stain We Must Erase
Antisemitism in the party will only be tackled when Labour members left and right accept the problems and come together in a spirit of tolerance and respect, says MARY STRATFORD. ‘We must begin to repair the damage.’...
We Need to Talk Trans
MARY HULL draws on her personal and professional experience to explore the contested but increasingly important terrain of transgender rights. The left needs to listen and learn, she says....
What Now for Scottish Labour?
Last December Labour returned only one MP in Scotland for the second time in three general elections and it’s been out of power in Holyrood for 13 years. The time has come for change, say DANIEL DEERY and CIAN IRELAND, or the party faces continued decline....
Coronavirus: Tackling Domestic Abuse During Lockdown
There has been a worrying growth in domestic abuse during the Covid-19 lockdown. The government’s response has been poor, says MARY HULL, but Labour has an important role to play....