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: capitalism
Opinion: We’re Burnt Out – and Unless We Demand a New Normal, We Will Be Forever
Sophie K Rosa
Returning to the neoliberal status quo while processing the trauma of an ongoing pandemic is burning us out, writes Sophie K Rosa. We must imagine a new ‘normal’ - one that allows us room to heal.
Opinion: Wannabe-Bond Villain Billionaires Are Launching Us Into a New Era of Cosmic Colonialism
Joe Duffy
We need to stop billionaires from privatising and monopolising space. And even more urgently, we need to dismantle the economic system that has put them on the precipice of doing so, writes Joe Duffy.
The Bastani Factor: What the British Really Did to India
From famine to deindustrialisation and paying for the world’s largest army, there were no advantages in being part of the British Empire. Aaron Bastani on what the British really did to India.
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.
Analysis: No, Big Oil Still Doesn’t Care About Saving the Planet
Connor Woodman
The viability of the coal, oil and gas industries is a hot topic in elite capitalist circles. But despite appearances, shareholders aren't too worried about planetary collapse – just maximising their profits in the decades to come, writes Connor Woodman.
Novara FM: Afterburn
Kate Aronoff explores climate denialism, oil companies' predictions of the future, and the fate of the Green New Deal.
Long Read: The Left Won’t Win the 2020s by Clinging to the Corpse of the Labour Party
Jonas Marvin
James Schneider's undying Labourism, expressed in his recent series How We Win, obscures an important truth: the next left surge will take place against the state, not within it.
Downstream: Why It’s Eco-Socialism or Collapse
Climate change is better understood as climate systems breakdown, and it’s only through the lens of the latter that we can grasp the scale of the crisis ahead. On this episode of Downstream, Aaron Bastani is joined by Mat Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton to discuss their new book, Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the […]
Analysis: What Does the European Super League Furore Tell Us About Modern Capitalism?
Aaron Bastani
The brief life and early death of the European Super League captured the political possibilities of the coming decade: dissent will emerge from the most unlikely places, governments will involve themselves in ways once unthinkable and a gilded elite will be left increasingly unsure of its footing.
Analysis: The Suez Canal Block Told Us a Lot About Capitalism and Sovereignty
Aaron Bastani
The Ever Given is free, but the brief Suez crisis demonstrated how deeply interconnected our world is. Europe and North America would never have said the blockage was an issue for Egypt to resolve alone - after all the implications were global in extent. So why are climate change, displaced peoples, pandemics and public health any different?
Review: Can We Solve the Climate Crisis Without Ending Capitalism?
Aaron Bastani
Bill Gates has written a book on how to avoid climate catastrophe. He claims that capitalism, with a historic dose of state intervention, can help us rapidly decarbonise. He might be wrong, but in approaching ‘net zero’ as an engineering problem - rather than a political question - he offers an important perspective from which the left can benefit.
Long Read: Money Can’t Free Britney – But a Strike Could
Eleanor Penny
The pop star inhabits a gilded version of the same cage that traps all wage labourers. She also has the same tools to escape, writes Eleanor Penny.
Opinion: How Harry and Meghan Quit the Royal Family to Join the US Aristocracy
Ash Sarkar
Meghan and Harry's defection to the states shows that as the world’s ruling classes go, the British elite is rather second-rate, writes Ash Sarkar; for a hot, rich, mixed-race woman who’s married to a prince, there are more attractive options than enduring the petty cruelty of palace apparatchiks.
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.
Novara FM: I Am Not My Work
Why are we told we should love our work? Sarah Jaffe joins James Butler to explain why work will never, and can never, love us back.
Downstream: The Influencer Industrial Complex. Interview With Moya Lothian-McLean
The last few years have heralded the rise of the influencer: social media users who have, in essence, found a way to get paid for being themselves on the internet. But has this commodification of the self poisoned the public sphere? Or are we witnessing the end of gatekeeping – and the beginnings of a […]
Novara FM: Capital, Care and Crisis
Emma Dowling joins James Butler to discuss care in the shadow of capital.