Jan 4th, 2011by Jon Lansman
El País editor, Javier Moreno, has published an editorial setting out the reasons why his newspaper published the Wikileaks cables. It is a superb statement of justification and worth repeating in full, but further analysis is provided here.
Cynics will argue that none of what we have learned from WikiLeaks differs from the usual way in which high-level international politics is conducted, and that without diplomatic secrets, the world would be even less manageable and more dangerous for everyone. Political classes on both sides of the Atlantic convey a simple message that is tailored to their advantage: trust us, don’t try to reveal our secrets; in exchange, we offer you security. Continue reading →
Jan 3rd, 2011by Jon Lansman
Saturday 15 Jan 2011, 10am to 4:30pm
The LRC conference and AGM will take place at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1 (Nearest tube Holborn). The conference will set LRC campaigning priorities for the year ahead, elect a new National Committee and officers and will hear from national and international speakers.
Confirmed speakers include: Tony Benn, Christine Blower (NUT), Katy Clark MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, John McDonnell MP, Clare Solomon (ULU President), Matt Wrack (FBU)
Only paid up members of the LRC can speak and vote at the conference. Join the LRC online. Free creche is available all day, please email info@l-r-c.org.uk to register. Register for conference online. If you would rather pay by cheque, please download, complete and return the registration form for individuals or for delegates from affiliated organisations.
Jan 3rd, 2011by Owen Jones
Hate the Conservative Party by all means, abhor everything they stand for – but take a moment to look in awe at their endurance and resilience. There is no more successful political party on Earth. Although founded as a modern party in 1834, the Tories can trace their history as a political tradition back to the 17th century. In the early 1900s, many reformist left-wingers thought that the advent of mass democracy made the Parliamentary road to socialism almost inevitable. They would have been horrified if they had known that the Conservatives would end up occupying Downing Street for two-thirds of the 20th century. Continue reading →
Jan 3rd, 2011by Darrell Goodliffe
I was highly amused to read of the ‘threat’ posed by those dastardly union ‘barons’ to the Royal Wedding; it was correctly pointed out to me on Twitter when I tweeted my support that, given the fact that this event has already been deemed worthy of a Bank Holiday, this ‘threat’ is something of a hollow one. Copy writers for the right-wing press really need to be more assiduous in getting their facts straight before they pluck red scares out of of thin air. Having said all that I have to confess I wouldn’t have held against the unions if they had disrupted this event in any case. In fact, mass strikes and republican street parties seem like a grand idea when it comes to marking the occasion. Continue reading →
Dec 31st, 2010by Michael Meacher
The latest figures (from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) now show there are 3.7 million children in Britain today living in poverty. This is conventionally defined as living in households with a total income of less than 60% of the national median income, in other words with less than £230 a week to cover all their needs. If the adults are also included, the total rises to 13 million persons or 22% of the entire British population. These numbers are incredibly high in a society where the top 1% today get £150,000 a year (£2,885 a week) and chief executives in the top FTSE 100 companies take home an average £71,000 a week. So why isn’t this a huge issue? Continue reading →
Dec 30th, 2010by Jon Lansman
“Working people in the UK can help stop the Conservative-led coalition from taking a wrecking ball to the fabric of daily life.” That is the New Year’s message to some 3.5 million workers across both the public and private sectors from their unions, the GMB, Unison and Unite, who say that the government’s dangerous prescription of economic deflation and historically high cuts will not revive the economy but will instead bring it to its knees. Continue reading →
Dec 30th, 2010by Michael Meacher
The reason Labour is not already ten points ahead in the polls is that the Tories have propagated three fundamental myths – that the country’s in the state it’s in because of Labour over-spending, that the only way to redress this disastrous legacy was to cut the deficit, and that the focus had to be on spending cuts rather than raising taxes. All three seemingly plausible propositions are profoundly wrong. But the public believes them, and until Labour can thoroughly discredit these canards,they’ll continue to give the Tories the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that it’s not the Tories’ fault and there’s no alternative but to endure the pain to get things better. Continue reading →
Dec 23rd, 2010by Jon Lansman
Thanks in large part to UK Uncut, one of the most progressive developments of 2010 has been a new, widespread recognition of the true extent of tax cheating. Opposition to it has become a central plank of the anti-cuts campaign and finds a breadth of public support we should find reassuring. Since the last Labour government completely failed to properly address the problem, and the Coalition is, thus far, no better, we are grateful to the Tax Justice Network which has made it a priority for several years, and now issues this eight-point manifesto for eliminating tax cheating: Continue reading →
Dec 23rd, 2010by Darrell Goodliffe
Vince Cable certainly got more than he bargained for when he spoke to two Daily Telegraph reporters posing as constituents. He, now infamously, said he had a ‘nuclear option’ which involved walking out of the government and ‘bringing it down’. The first thing that struck me about this story was that even if the Daily Telegraph acted alone, without inspiration then there is clearly a ‘get Vince’ angle. He brought this on himself with his ridiculous hokey-cokey over the fees vote. Continue reading →