While they’re standing in the welfare lines Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation Wasting time in the unemployment lines Sitting around waiting for a promotion. Don’t you know...
Barely a week into his Premiership, Andy Burnham had had to navigate an avalanche of political interviews, all expecting answers to issues we’ve ducked for decades. He did so with remarkable good grace and...
All of Andy Burnham’s instincts about putting the public sector at the centre of and recovery (and democratic renewal) strategy are spot on. The key questions are about how to make this deliverable. Everything...
Britain’s crisis and the solutions Even before votes in the Makerfield by-election are cast or counted, progressive voices are pinning their hopes on Andy Burnham returning to parliament and rescuing Labour...
Paulo Freire spent a lifetime in Latin America’s liberation struggles. He worked with communities brutally divided and oppressed by the rich and powerful. Literacy was his starting point but ignorance was the...
Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, in response to Trump/Netanyahu’s illegal war, has thrown the world into chaos. It triggered a cascade of crises that was long overdue. Sadly, we seem to be chasing all the wrong...
It isn’t often I end up singing Keir Starmer’s praises, but keeping Britain out of an illegal war on Iran deserves some recognition. It is a war everyone will lose. In one sense Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu...
Forget drugs. Forget democracy. The real issue behind Trump’s pillaging of international law and the kidnapping of President Maduro is a last ditch attempt to save the dollar. Labour’s reluctance to say that the...
Trump and the new world disorder Let’s be clear. Donald Trump is not a Hollywood version of Jack Sparrow. His motivations are closer to those of Boko Haram than to international diplomacy. Seize what you want. Kill...
How easy it is to be overwhelmed by trivia. In a faux collision between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, supporters of Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting fall out over who should lead the Labour Party. At the same time, Donald...
It is hard to understand the self-destruct buttons Labour seems intent on pressing at the moment. I don’t blame loyalists for springing to the defence of Keir Starmer’s lukewarm leadership. It is what you do when the...
A new politics of friendship Oh no! Just when Keir Starmer should be rebuilding parliamentary friendships he goes and picks a fight with them. And the crime of these Labour rebels? – defending disabled people from...
Cautionary warnings for a Labour government There’s always a price to be paid for failing to learn the lessons of history. For today’s Labour government, the danger lies in repeating the follies that went into New...
Politics in the Age of Implosion Bizarre as it may seem, Donald Trump and the TV series Adolescence might turn out to be the wake up call we’ve desperately needed. Trump is hell-bent on bringing globalisation to its...
The geo-politics of implosion These aren’t the changes Dylan was calling for. His was a ‘get out of the way’ message from a generation eager for more optimistic, transformative and inclusive change. There’s no such...
Jan 28, 2025 Political choices in Trump’s post-truth era In the court of Emperor Trump the oligarchs rule. At least they think they do. But as in any feudal system, even the oligarchs are just courtiers. Courtier power...
Britain entered 2025 amidst a welter of blizzards, flooding and abandoned public celebrations across the country. And we hadn’t even begun to talk about the government. It seems remarkable that Labour should enter the...
Alan Simpson
Alan Simpson
