Opinion: Mayors Are Blairite Nonsense and We Don’t Need Them
by Owen Hatherley
The left should not be campaigning for better mayors - we should be arguing for no mayors at all.
Opinion: Labour is Running a Saudi Apologist in Hartlepool – And It Should Be a Scandal
by David Wearing
In 2018, Labour’s candidate in the Hartlepool by-election went on a state-funded trip to Saudi Arabia and came back a vocal supporter of the regime. While the party’s decision to run him in Hartlepool is certainly shocking, it’s also not even slightly surprising, argues David Wearing.
Opinion: The Pandemic Has Given Sex Workers a Grim Taste of Criminalisation
by Vee H
Sex workers are tired of having to fight criminalisation, writes Vee H. But lockdown has given them frightening insight into what tougher laws could entail: more risk, more stigma and ruined earning capacity.
Opinion: Prince Philip Knew One Important Thing: For Monarchies to Survive, They Must Learn to Adapt
by Ash Sarkar
Prince Philip was born into a monarchy in the grips of existential crisis – and died with the British royal family in a state of relative stability. Ash Sarkar argues he adapted to survive, understanding better than anyone else in The Firm that “everything must change, for everything to remain the same”.
Opinion: Gypsies and Travellers Are Under Attack – And So Are Our Collective Freedoms
by Jake Bowers
From Priti Patel's police bill to a racist local Labour leaflet, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are facing attacks from all sides. If GRT culture is stamped out, then everyone else’s liberties will be just one step behind, writes Jake Bowers.
Opinion: Being an Opportunist Has Worked Well for Johnson. Why Not for Starmer?
by Samuel Earle
Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer share a willingness to forgo principles in order to win votes. In the second piece of a new series on the Tories and how they hold on to power, Samuel Earle explains why this strategy is working for one but not the other.
Opinion: Define, Divide and Rule: The Race Report Shows the State is Not Interested in Racial Liberation
by Annie Olaloku-Teriba
The race report fundamentally misunderstands racism - telling us it is interpersonal, rather than structural, and denying the role of class. This is no accident, writes Annie Olaloku-Teriba – in doing so it seeks to further an agenda as old as colonialism.
Opinion: Police Brutality in Bristol Has Shocked the Country. Why Won’t the City’s Labour Politicians Condemn It?
by Anna Lart Greene
Labour’s complicity with police savagery is an insult to Bristolians, one they are unlikely to forget come 6 May, writes Bristol student and Labour activist Anna Lart Greene.
Opinion: With Our Right to Protest Under Threat, Collective Struggle Is the Only Way We Can Win
by Ilyas Nagdee and Azfar Shafi
By drawing on the historic techniques of Black community organisers, recent protests have served as a reminder that we must approach our struggles collectively rather than as individuals, write Ilyas Nagdee and Azfar Shafi.
Opinion: Erdogan’s Attempt to Ban Pro-Kurdish Parties Will Only Fuel the Resistance
by Rosa Gilbert
The HDP is facing its most extreme threat to date. But the broad coalition the party has convened isn't going anywhere, writes Rosa Gilbert.
Opinion: You’ve Been Fined by the Police. What Can You Do About It?
by David Renton
Don’t panic, lawyer up.
Opinion: Even Without the ‘Vaccine Bounce’, Boris Johnson Would Still Be Winning
by Samuel Earle
Boris Johnson's catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic has led Britain to one of the highest death rates per capita in the world. But it hasn't lost him voters. In fact, he’s gained new ones. In the first of a new series on the Tories and power, Samuel Earle looks at how the prime minister gets away with it.
Opinion: If Jews Don’t Count As an Ethnic Minority, It’s Because We Haven’t Always Wanted To
by Joseph Finlay
Only recently has ethnic minority status become covetable. British Jews have spent much of our history avoiding it, writes Jewish historian Joseph Finlay.
Opinion: Rising Unemployment Is Making Us Depressed. But We Are More Than Our Work
by Harriet Williamson
Pandemic-driven unemployment has shown that basing our self-worth on our productivity is unsustainable. As we emerge from a year of lockdowns, we must rethink our relationship to work, writes Harriet Williamson.
Opinion: People Are Waking Up to the Horrors of Police Brutality. It’s Time to Build a Movement
by Chardine Taylor-Stone
After the police violently shut down a vigil for Sarah Everard, many people have had their eyes opened to the horrors of state brutality for the first time. If the left is serious about building power, we shouldn't dismiss these people for being late to the party, argues Chardine Taylor-Stone.
Opinion: Being in Prison During Covid-19 Was Hell – but Pandemic or Not, the System Ruins Lives
by Sam, as told to Sophie K Rosa
Inmates have endured unthinkable conditions during this pandemic, but even before coronavirus, being in prison was like lockdown on steroids. Sam, who has just finished a 30-month sentence, recounts his experience to Sophie K Rosa.
Opinion: Whether or Not a Cop Killed Sarah Everard, the Police Are Complicit in What Happened to Her
by Rivkah Brown
A woman’s disappearance this week has been widely interpreted as an act of gendered violence. But to fully understand what happened to her, we must examine the role played by the state, writes Rivkah Brown.
Opinion: So Long As Our Voting System is Rigged, the Tories Will Always Win Elections
by James McAsh
First-past-the-post is an unfair electoral system that favours the Tories. If the Labour left is serious about achieving transformative change, it needs to get behind proportional representation, argues James McAsh.