Novara Live: Jail Time for Travel Breaches
Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani discuss the health secretary's announcement of 10 year-jail sentences for breaching Covid travel restrictions.
Tag: Aaron Bastani
Downstream: Can Capitalism Solve Its Crises? Interview With Mariana Mazzucato
What can the Apollo Missions teach us about dealing with the major crises of the 21st century? And why are politicians so eager to dwell on caricatures of the public rather than engage in problem-solving – from climate change to housing and education? Aaron Bastani speaks to author and academic Mariana Mazzucato to find out.
Opinion: Covid-19 Has Shown Humanity’s Vulnerability. It’s Time to Take Existential Risks Seriously
Aaron Bastani
Some in the scientific community believe a future pathogen - one more deadly than Covid-19 - is the greatest immediate threat to the survival of our species. The good news is that this threat is avoidable - but only through global cooperation, argues Aaron Bastani.
Novara Live: Clap for the Captain
Boris Johnson has called for a nationwide clap to remember Sir Captain Tom Moore, who on Tuesday passed away from covid-19. Given the Prime Minister has presided over 109,000 deaths and leads a party that cut the NHS to the bone, is he simply exploiting a tragedy for his own partisan end?
Downstream: Why Has Britain Failed on Covid? Richard Horton
A year after the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic, with Britain enduring more than a 100,000 deaths since, a number of major questions remain unanswered. Why was the response of the UK among the worst in the world? How is it possible that the death toll of countries in Europe and North America […]
Opinion: Think the Tories Can’t Possibly Paint Britain’s Pandemic Response As a Triumph? Think Again
Aaron Bastani
From the failures of WW2 to the horrors of empire, Britain is incapable of an honest reckoning with its history. There’s no reason to think that in a decade's time, Covid-19 won't just be another notch in a record of national self-delusion, argues Aaron Bastani.
Novara Live: Johnson Is to Blame
Boris Johnson has claimed that his government “did everything” they could to protect lives and tackle the coronavirus pandemic. As the death toll exceeds 100,000 people, we explain why Boris Johnson was lying. With Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani.
The Bastani Factor: Boris Johnson Ends ‘War on Woke?!’
On Wednesday, shortly after Joe Biden was inaugurated as President of the United States, Boris Johnson said there was ‘nothing wrong’ with being ‘woke’. Yet the signature of the Tories in recent years has been a ‘war on woke’, with MPs and media outriders attacking ideas of social and economic equality while using the term. […]
Opinion: Keir Starmer is Ignoring the Few Lessons He Could Learn From Joe Biden
Aaron Bastani
There aren’t many lessons from Biden’s victory in the US that translate across the Atlantic. But from an openness to coalition-building to publicly supporting trans rights, the few things Keir Starmer could learn are being ignored, argues Aaron Bastani.
Novara Live: The Start of the Biden Era
The Trump presidency has ended and Joe Biden is in the White House. Is there now a chance to seriously reform the US?
The Bastani Factor: “This Is the Worst Interview I’ve Ever Seen With a Politician”
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Health Secretary Matt Hancock gave the worst interview by a politician Aaron Bastani has ever seen. What does it say when after 100,000 people have died a leading politician can get away with such a performance?
The Bastani Factor: Do Donors Now Control the Labour Party?
Yesterday Richard Leonard resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour party – less than 24 hours after a potential donor allegedly said they would not give money while he remained in place. This raises huge questions. Firstly whether the Scottish Labour Party is autonomous of the party at Westminster, and secondly whether wealthy donors now […]
Novara FM: Ten Years of #NovaraFM
This year makes it a decade that Novara has been on the air in some form. Join James Butler for a head-spinning trip into the FM archives.
Novara Live: Fleecing Britain’s Children
The government have once again been shamed by a footballer for failing Britain’s kids. From a botched schools policy to paltry meals, are the Tories failing a generation? With Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani.
The Bastani Factor: Britain Is Now Fyre Festival
During the Covid pandemic the failures of Britain’s model have become painfully clear, from 80,000 deaths to a test and trace system which isn’t good enough. The latest shambles on free school meals demonstrates that these aren’t the result of a few bad individuals, or random mistakes, but the result of forty years of privatisation […]
Opinion: No, the United States is Not the Home of Democracy
Aaron Bastani
The attack on the Capitol, some claim, is all the more shocking considering the US is the ‘home of democracy’. Aaron Bastani argues this couldn't be further from the truth - and that it’s only by acknowledging the nation’s real history that we can guard against fascism in our own time.
Downstream: Can the Left Trust Keir Starmer? Interview With Richard Burgon
Was the Corbyn leadership a complete failure for the left – and what can be learned for next time? What are the chances of a socialist Labour government implementing the kinds of policies seen in the 2017 and 2019 manifestoes? And can the left trust Keir Starmer as party leader after a disappointing first year? […]
Opinion: You Thought Britain’s Media Was Rightwing? By 2024 It Will Be Much, Much Worse
Aaron Bastani
Given 75% of all Britain's national newspapers are controlled by Tory-supporting billionaires, it may seem like our media couldn't be more rightwing. But with the launch of GB News and the BBC under new senior management, things are about to get a whole lot worse, argues Aaron Bastani.