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: conservatives
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.
Opinion: Hancock’s Resignation Shows Just How Much Johnson’s Government Can Get Away With
Samuel Earle
Boris Johnson was once described as approaching public life “as a game in which he commits sackable offences as a way of demonstrating his unsackability.” It now seems he’s instilled his entire cabinet with the same sense of fun, writes Samuel Earle.
Analysis: Arise Sir Dido, Britain’s Newest Culture Warlord
Sandeep Sandhu
Would-be NHS chief Dido Harding's attack on foreign-born health service workers is a tactical and dangerous erasure of British history, ripped straight from the Tory culture war playbook, writes Sandeep Sandhu.
Opinion: The Tories’ Covid-19 Strategy Pits Young and Old Against Each Other
Ameya Tripathi
The government is using its widely condemned 'focused protection' strategy to stir up a culture of fear between generations in a cynical and dangerous bid to retain political power, writes Ameya Tripathi.
Opinion: Cummings’ Inquiry Hearing Was a Chance for Centrists To Do What They Do Best: Rehabilitate Rightwingers
Jamie Medwell
The man who just a few months ago was public enemy number one is now a harmless whistleblower. It's a frightening sign of how willing the centrist media is to let the right off the hook, writes Jamie Medwell.
Analysis: It’s the Housing Market, Stupid: How Property Became the Battle Line of British Politics
Samuel Earle
How are millionaire property developers and retired homeowners finding common cause in the Conservatives? The answer isn’t shared cultural values, argues Samuel Earle – it’s a shared investment in the housing market.
Opinion: Attacks on the Arts Are Part of the Tories’ Culture War
Chardine Taylor-Stone
Earlier this month the government announced plans to cut funding for arts subjects at universities by 50%. Why? Because attacks on the arts play into the Tories’ confected culture war between salt-of-the-earth folk with ‘proper’ jobs and the ‘metropolitan elite’, argues Chardine Taylor-Stone.
Analysis: After Big Losses, Labour Must Change Tack or Risk Irrelevancy
James Meadway
In the wake of a humiliating local election defeat, Labour must not only stem and reverse its losses, but find a way to relate to its new and emerging supporter base, writes James Meadway.
Analysis: Proportional Representation Won’t Solve All the Left’s Problems, But We Should Back It Anyway
Ell Folan
The loss of key council seats last week has renewed Labour activists' interest in proportional representation. While PR alone won't keep the Tories out of power - and Labour must focus on policies not systems if it wants to win - it is still worth supporting, writes Ell Folan.
Opinion: It’s Win or Die for Scottish Labour. So Why Is the Party Fighting to Lose?
Finn Smyth & Coll McCail
Today Scotland elects a new parliament. Thanks to years of self-sabotage, Labour may lose this historic heartland once and for all.
Analysis: Labour Is Bracing Itself for a Rough Ride Next Week. What’s Actually Going to Happen?
Ell Folan
On 6 May, every voter in Britain will give their verdict on year one of Keir Starmer’s leadership. It’s unlikely to be good news, writes Stats for Lefties founder Ell Folan.
Opinion: By Stoking Britain’s Culture War, Boris Johnson is Playing the Long Game
Samuel Earle
While most voters don’t know what the ‘culture war’ even is, the Tories are making it the centrepiece of their governing strategy. Samuel Earle argues Johnson, like Thatcher, is playing the long game – and total control over the terms and conditions of political debate is the goal.
Downstream: ‘Dodgy Dave’? the Facts on the Greensill Saga. Interview with Gabriel Pogrund
Political scandal no longer seems to cut through, but is the unfolding saga around Max Greensill and David Cameron an exception? On this week’s Downstream Aaron Bastani is joined by Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund to discuss the implications of a story which is only set to grow.
Downstream: Why the Tories Keep Winning. Interview With Sam Earle
Excluding Tony Blair’s back-to-back victories, the Conservative Party has governed the UK for all but 18 of the last 100 years. While the media often presents elections as Labour’s to lose, the truth is that Britain is a one party state which occasionally lets the other side have a go in the interest of fairness. […]
Opinion: Define, Divide and Rule: The Race Report Shows the State is Not Interested in Racial Liberation
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.
Analysis: How We Win: The Media
James Schneider
To win the 2020s, we must tell our story. At every opportunity, socialists must make clear, emotional and positive arguments to build support for our solutions, cut through government spin and disarm the culture wars.
Opinion: So Long As Our Voting System is Rigged, the Tories Will Always Win Elections
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.