Analysis: Generation Left Might Not Be That Left After All
James Meadway
The left is wrong to take young people’s support for granted, writes James Meadway.
Tag: austerity
Report: Jobcentre Staff Were Taught to Inflict ‘Psychological Harm’ on the Unemployed
Sophie K Rosa
A new report reveals how the coalition government pressured jobcentre staff to bully the unemployed out of claiming benefits. Sophie K Rosa reports.
Opinion: Universal Credit Is a Symptom of Britain’s Broken Jobs Market
Andrew Fisher
Boris Johnson seems to think that cutting the £20 uplift to universal credit will enable him to create high-paid jobs, writes Andrew Fisher. He's living, as Adam Curtis would say, in a dream world.
Analysis: Neoliberalism is Dead – and Something Even Worse is Taking Its Place
James Meadway
The Tories may have ditched austerity, but that doesn’t mean we’ve anything to celebrate, writes James Meadway.
Opinion: Police Brutality in Bristol Has Shocked the Country. Why Won’t the City’s Labour Politicians Condemn It?
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: The Tories’ Levelling Up Agenda is Just Thatcherism for Towns
Joe Duffy
A new report by a rightwing thinktank on "unleashing investment" in the north of England provides a grim insight into how the government may convert its Brexit majority into an even more sinister political settlement under the guise of concern for regional equality, writes Joe Duffy.
Downstream: Maybe Don’t Defund the BBC? Interview With Nish Kumar
This week on Downstream Ash Sarkar met with Nish Kumar - comedian and host of The Mash Report - to talk about how he became the accidental face of the Defund the BBC movement, and why rightwing comics are the real snowflakes.
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 […]
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?
Opinion: Queer People Have Had to Rely on Each Other This Year, and Christmas Is No Exception
Harry Gay
In the absence of adequate government support, queer people have created networks, organisations and structures to care for each other throughout the pandemic, writes Harry Gay. Christmas will be no different.
Analysis: Only the Left Can Save Brazil From Bolsonaro in 2021
Benjamin Fogel
Bolsonaro's chaos-making coronavirus strategy and ruthless attacks on his opponents have paid off: the Brazilian president closes 2020 with higher approval ratings than ever. Yet this year has also seen a resurgence of the Brazilian left, one that could halt the country's slide into authoritarianism, writes Benjamin Fogel.
Opinion: The Collapse of the Arcadia Group Spells the End of Britain’s High Street – When Will Politicians Act?
Aaron Bastani
If the Tories continue to offer no analysis of capitalism beyond doing nothing and saying 'that’s the market', the crisis of Britain’s high street - and with it, household and regional inequality - will only get worse, writes Aaron Bastani. Instead, we must repurpose high streets for the public good.
The Bastani Factor: The 21st Century Crisis Nobody Talks About: Demographic Ageing
Humanity is getting older. But while the old outnumbering the young is one of the supreme achievements of our species, it comes with major challenges. Aaron Bastani on a crisis set to re-define societies around the world which, for the 21st century at least, is every bit as disruptive as climate change.
Opinion: The Tories Could Feed Poor Children – They Just Don’t Want To
Francis Brewer
The government says that there isn't enough money to pay for free school meals over half term. Modern monetary theory shows this is a lie, writes Francis Brewer.
Report: ‘They Lose Out on Being Kids’: The Activists Campaigning to End School Exclusions
Francesca Newton
School exclusions socially segregate the most vulnerable children, preparing them only for life in the margins. Francesca Newton reports on the activists calling for the punishment to be abolished.
Analysis: Austerity Might Be Over, But Everything is Still Terrible
James Meadway
In the wake of Covid-19, governments worldwide are spending at levels unprecedented outside of wartime. But ending austerity on the Tories’ terms will not herald a new era of public munificence in the UK, argues James Meadway.
Report: Labour Is Hemorrhaging Leftwing Activists. Will It Survive?
Harriet Williamson
Thousands of Labour activists who were galvanised by the prospect of a Corbyn government have lost hope in Starmer's Labour - and are leaving the party in droves. Harriet Williamson speaks to some of them.
Opinion: Coronavirus Has Had a Devastating Impact on Mental Health, but It Didn’t Have to Be This Way
Harriet Williamson
Coronavirus was always going to be difficult for people with mental health conditions, but political decisions rooted in Tory ideology have made things much worse, writes Harriet Williamson.