Unite, the largest union in Britain, has come up with an imaginative response to the current austerity crisis by creating a community arm that supports people hard hit by the cuts. GERRY LAVERY reports on how it helps them campaign for change. The aim of Unite Community is to unionise and embrace people “being pushed...
Immigration Fears: Who is to Blame?
With discussion of immigration becoming ever more toxic, how should progressives respond to UKIP’s blame game and what can they offer as a humane approach?...
Owen Jones: Our Prophet of Hope?
BARRY WINTER was one of 260 people who piled into the largest lecture theatre at Leeds Beckett University last week to hear left wing author and journalist Owen Jones. He left feeling impressed, and a little bit inspired....
Global Justice Now: New Name for WDM
The World Development Movement will have a new name next year when it is relaunched as Global Justice Now following a vote of the organisation’s members last month....
Podemos: A New Way of Politics?
The sudden rise on the Spanish political scene of Podemos, a radical political party based on the indignados 15M movement, will be the subject of discussion at the next Taking Soundings meeting in Leeds on Wednesday 26 November....
Barnsley Hosts Two Exhibitions on the Miners’ Strike
Two innovative exhibitions are currently showing in the gallery at Barnsley’s Civic Theatre to mark the legacy of the 1984/5 miners’ strike....
‘Don’t Let Them Drown,’ cries HOPE not Hate
HOPE not Hate has launched a petition condemning the government’s decision to withdraw support for migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean, describing the stance as “inhumane and unacceptable for a modern civilised country”....
Class Gathers to Challenge Inequality
A huge roster of speakers from the Labour and progressive movement has been assembled for a conference on ‘challenging inequalities in wealth and power’ in central London this Saturday....
EU Citizens Combine to Oppose Corporate Trade Deals
More than 250 ‘citizens’ organisations’ from across 22 European countries have joined forces to oppose two controversial transatlantic trade deals currently being negotiated by the European Union....
Now for the Hard Part
While the No victory in the Scottish referendum was a huge relief to many, the political minefield the campaign left behind means there is much hard work to do before we’ll see any renewal of Labour and the UK left. WILL BROWN reports. The No vote means that we have avoided many problems independence would...
Unbalanced Britain: This Sorry State
BARRY WINTER assesses the work of David Marquand and considers what it can offer a left desperately seeking some answer to society’s massive imbalance in power and wealth....
March to End UK’s Worst Ever Pay Squeeze
The Trades Union Congress is calling on thousands of people to join its three demonstrations this Saturday and rally for an end to poverty wages and a ‘real economic recovery’ that doesn’t favour the rich over ordinary employees. The three marches are being held simultaneously in London, Glasgow and Belfast “to send a message loud...