Arguing for welfare over warfare is naïve and out of date, says GARY KENT. We need urgently a European military superpower to protect us from whatever is coming our way, whether from east or west....
Labour in Government: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Reeves’ Second Budget
For JOHN CUNNISON disappointment with Labour budgets is ‘baked in’. He picks out his personal highs and lows from last week’s announcement. ...
How Labour Together Divided the Party
Keir Starmer came to power on the back of ‘a deliberate and calculated act of internal political sabotage’, according to a new book on the party think tank behind his leadership. It reveals, says ERNIE JACQUES, ‘a secretive, deceptive campaign to dismantle the Labour left and extinguish social democratic principles’....
Labour in Government: The Welfare Revolt
After a week of parliamentary rebellion and government chaos, ERNIE JACQUES assesses the outcome and impact of Labour’s ‘crazy’ welfare proposals....
Labour in Government: Joseph Rowntree & the Need for a Moral Crusade
Sick of waiting for free markets and trickle-down economics to make us all better off, ERNIE JACQUES looks for hope in the legacy of a northern factory owner and philanthropist whose social reforms inspired the welfare state. ...
Labour in Government: Why Slashing Aid is ‘a Strategic Error’
The prime minister’s decision to cut international development aid to pay for increased defence spending is not only short sighted, says WILLIAM BROWN, it trashes the party’s proud record....
Labour in Government: We Need Hope, Not Hardline Policies
MARY STRATFORD is baffled and angry at the increasingly worrying course being charted by our Labour government. We need a rethink, she says, before things become truly terrifying....
Labour’s Election & the Left
Labour’s landslide victory is cause for celebration but serious challenges lie ahead for the party, the government and UK politics, says WILL BROWN....
Labour’s Manifesto: Policies & Prospects
If opinion polls are to be believed, Labour is on course for a significant election victory. But what should the left make of its policy offer and its prospects for government? WILL BROWN casts his eye over the party’s pledges....
Ukraine, Starmer & the Left
The Labour leader is right on Ukraine, but wrong in his response to the anti-war left, says WILL BROWN. By threatening the left rather than winning a political argument, Starmer is putting petty vendettas ahead of party unity in the face of this perilous European conflict....
Safety First: Keir Starmer & The Road Ahead
It may be a centrist approach, but Keir Starmer’s recent Fabian pamphlet does at least reveal the three prongs of his electoral strategy. DAVID CONNOLLY assesses a flawed and uninspiring statement....
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....