Category: UK

10 Apr

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Thatcher, the ALP & the dregs of neoliberalism

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If there’s one thing the entire Australian Left agrees on right now it’s that “Thatcherism was a very bad thing”. But beyond that, it may be appropriate to ask what exactly it is that people think was a bad thing. The answer to that question rests on one’s interpretation of what exactly was going on [...]

10 Nov

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A Left Flank dispatch from Europe: The ‘descent into chaos’ begins

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If the last week’s bizarre political contortions in Greece — first a referendum, then not, then a government of national unity, now more uncertainty — were not enough, the spread of contagion to Italy threatens even greater turmoil. As we arrived in London we were greeted by the Financial Times informing us that Silvio Berlusconi had (finally) [...]

Filed under: age of austerity, Europe, UK

20 Sep

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Limits of liberal critique: Murdoch, the media & the Manne Quarterly Essay

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Not so omnipotent anymore    Cross-posted from Overland Journal‘s blog and ABC’s The Drum.  The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its [...]

Filed under: Bob Brown, media, neoliberalism, UK

14 Aug

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‘Mama said there’ll be days like this’ — The UK riots, the labour movement and the Left

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Special guest post by KEVIN OVENDEN* What did people expect? Just over a year ago, during the general election campaign in Britain, I remember George Galloway on the stump warning that the last time the Tories came in to replace an already dead Labour government and pursue full-blooded, class war policies, Britain’s cities went up [...]

Filed under: age of austerity, class, racism, UK

13 Aug

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Intended or not, the consequences of riots are not always negative

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  Watts Riot of 1965 — how the rioters treated ‘their’ community then  This is the original text of an article commissioned by ABC’s The Drum, which was published yesterday and can be found here. The riots in the United Kingdom, mainly involving school age and unemployed youth, have provoked a backlash that seeks to paint them [...]

11 Aug

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Whoever expects a ‘pure’ revolution will never live to see it: The UK riots in perspective

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  Mark Duggan, whose killing by police sparked the riots Maybe it’s a sign of the times, but for mine the most depressing thing about the UK riots is how some on the Left feel the need to loudly proclaim their lack of solidarity with some of the poorest and most oppressed people in society, instead resorting [...]

Filed under: age of austerity, class, racism, state, UK