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 New Year already having...
They did their best – the climate activists, NGOs, environmental scientists, most of the delegates and civil servants – but it wasn’t enough. Big Oil won the day. From the Azerbaijani hosts to the flock of corporate lobbyists, the...
As all eyes focussed on Labour’s first Budget in 14 (long) years, barely anyone saw fit to link it to events in Valencia, the Amazon or the heat dome over central Africa. Yet these are the bigger issues around which global politics, economics and...
You could almost touch the euphoria of an election outcome that comprehensively ditched the Tory government. Park any anxieties about what lies ahead. For Labour, 14 years has been a long wait in Opposition. So, the crooks are gone and the clean up...
Building a better Britain Let’s start with the language and analysis. The tidal wave of racist gatherings that swept across Britain was designed for riot, not protest. It isn’t enough to describe them in terms of mindless violence, working class...
rethinking Britain’s energy system There was a lovely news interview with Ed Miliband MP in which Britain’s new Secretary of State was asked about Labour’s policy over on-shore wind farms. Ed smiled and said “We’re...
Is it all too late? I hope not. But we are cutting it fine. In all recorded history, there has never been a more urgent need for an new societal vision. This is not just about redistribution from rich to poor. It...
Britain: a case study of how wealth corrupts Dennis Skinner once referred to David Cameron as ‘Dodgy Dave’. It may have seemed a disrespectful remark from an MP to the (then) Prime Minister, but Dennis was just telling...
“This is the new extinction and we are half way through it. We are in terrible, terrible trouble and the longer we wait to do something about it the worse it is going to get.” Sir David Attenborough I want to weep. The...
The headlines about illegal sewage disposals have been stark enough. They make the nation’s map look like a bad case of chicken pox. Now the owners of Thames Water have defaulted on the debts they owe. The situation...
The human slaughter in Gaza is an abomination. The only silver-lining is that this may be the global wake-up call we have needed for decades; challenging dishonesties we’ve turned a blind eye to and forcing a complete...
The dangers of Parliament’s retreat from reality Let me be absolutely clear. I do not support violence against the person under any circumstances. This doesn’t just apply to MPs, but to all public service workers...
“Tractors to the left of us, Tractors to the right. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.” This isn’t how Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ poem opens up, but residents of across Europe’s capital cities...
It is easy to become disillusioned. Wherever you look, identity politics is pushing equality politics to the sidelines. The individual has become more important than the collective. And even the collective is eroded by...
It will be 55 years this month since the Beatles’ iconic, rooftop performance on Saville Row. This was the end of an era, end of a dream. With any luck, this year will see the end of a nightmare.
COP28 has been a retreat from nativity into pantomime. For the real world, it drifted closer to tragedy. As the deadline approached, climate activists held their breath but fossil lobbyists held the pursestrings. A host...
The world breathed a sigh of relief at the ‘pause’ in the Gaza bombings. Most shared something of the relief expressed by families of the released hostages and of the aid getting into Gaza. Many connected with the...
Alan Simpson
Alan Simpson
