As someone who was strongly pro EU and had written several articles for Left Futures, as well, as participating in local activity on the issue, I feel a bit gutted, and like most people got it wrong. While things looked a bit desperate three weeks ago it appeared that the murder of Jo Cox […]
Posts under ‘Nationalism/Unionism’
Englishness and Welshness in the Battle of Britons
Jun 15th, 2016 by Mark Perryman.Mark Perryman previews England v Wales as competing versions of nationhood The traditional ‘Battle of Britain’ match is of course England v Scotland, the very first recognised international football match dating back to 1872 and the most intense of rivalries ever since. The last time two ‘home’ nations met in a major tournament it was […]
On politicians, patriotism and dog whistles
May 17th, 2016 by David Pavett.Tristram Hunt MP thinks that to gain a majority in England Labour needs to “more obviously show its affection” for the country. In an Observer article of 15 May he argues that the Labour Party has lost contact with its working class constituency. Its former working class voters have gone to UKIP, he says, because […]
Jez there can be a Corbynite Labour Party in Scotland
Sep 21st, 2015 by Cailean Gallagher.Since the leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn has made it his priority to turn Labour into a democratic socialist party with the support of social movements. To this end, British-wide meetings have been organised by groups such as the Labour Campaign for Free Education, whose party guide for newcomers is in circulation. But socialists are also […]
The Not-So-Strange Death of Scottish Labour?
Jul 2nd, 2015 by Michael Muir.When the time comes to construct the pantheon of Scottish Labour leaders, Ken Macintosh MSP will surely stand shoulder to shoulder with Jim Murphy at its highest point. To Murphy’s visions of speedy boarding for veterans and booze at football games, Macintosh has, in the past few weeks, added two radical insights of his own: […]
After the debacle: why Welsh Labour should work with Plaid Cymru
May 17th, 2015 by Nick Davies.The election result was terrible for Wales. If five years of self-defeating, poverty creating state-shrinking austerity from the coalition was bad enough, five more years of the Tories governing alone will be worse. The assault on the public sector threatens thousands of Welsh jobs, the £12 billion in ‘welfare’ cuts will make life even more […]
The defeat of Scottish Labour – post rational politics or shifting plates?
May 15th, 2015 by Neil Findlay.So it wasn’t a tsunami, earthquake, tidal wave or landslide – it was all of them and as many other cataclysmic metaphors as you want to throw in. Scottish Labour was obliterated at the polls with majorities in the 10’s and 20’s of thousands wiped out at a stroke with only Ian Murray left clinging […]
Labour’s SNP Lessons
May 14th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The cataclysm came and Scottish Labour was obliterated. There are calls for Jim Murphy to go, calls that should be heeded for the good of the party. Yet what exactly happened in Scotland? We’ve visited some of the reasons, but there are wider points Labour needs to take on board from the SNP’s success that are […]
The SNP offered hope, the Tories spread fear and loathing
May 10th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.We now know what happened, but why did it happen? How was it that an election campaign characterised by two different approaches, one upbeat, one defeated-looking; one that had momentum and enthusiasm and the other little more than desperate personal attacks, climaxed as it did? The result, which was unexpectedly very bad for Labour, is going to […]
The new sectarian politics of Scotland and the demise of working class unity
Apr 30th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Yesterday, canvasing the streets of Stevenston in North Ayrshire, a former Labour voter told me that the only way forward was for Scottish Labour and the SNP to merge. He meant it not as advice but as explanation of why he could not vote Labour. Some are hostile to Labour, others just confused. And even many of those […]