No wonder polling shows a second referendum would yield a Remain vote. We are in a mess
There’s no other way to say it: Brexit is a mess right now. So it’s not a great shock that the public would prefer to remain in the EU rather than accept Theresa May’s deal or a no-deal Brexit, according to a recent poll.
This pro-EU stance is likely to be bolstered on Saturday with a mass demonstration in favour of a people’s vote. The upcoming march will be a long cry from the soggy, bedraggled mess that was the Brexit Betrayal march. Not least because those who called for this one might even bother to take part.
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Fubar Radio: Hosting a Discussion on Austerity
I was a guest host on Fubar Radio where I discussed the impacts of austerity. Guests included Stephen Canning, Mike Galsworthy and Sophie Walker. Here I argue that the divisions on social media are not new. They are reflected in the way the Sun acted over Hillsborough.
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Chris Williamson has (finally) been suspended from Labour - but that's not enough
“Bringing the Party into disrepute” is a complex, catch-all phrase. Hard to truly define, butyou know it when you see it. And in Chris Williamson MP we have seen it for quite some time.
This week matters came to a head. In the space of 48 hours we have seen Williamson attempt to host an event in Parliament with a woman who has been suspended from the Labour Party under investigation for antisemitism before telling an event in Sheffield that the Party has been“too apologetic” about the same topic.
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The Independent Group Stands Against the Labour Party, But What Does it Stand For?
Like a lot of Labour members, I’m a tribalist. Being a member of the Labour Party is part of my identity. Sometimes that hurts – when the Jewish community marches against my party it leaves me feeling physically sick with upset at the hurt Labour is causing. When the leadership fails to lead on Brexit, it leaves me in pain at the hardship we will enable in future.
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The Lessons of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan are Vital to the UK as we Stumble toward Brexit
To her shame, Emma Burnell didn’t know very much about the events of the Maidan revolution in 2014.That changed this week as she took part in an immersive theatre experience that had her waking several times in the night thinking of the lessons we should have learned and didn’t.
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Who funds you? Think tanks are all being tarnished by secretive right-wingers
Journalists have started digging into what really goes on in think tank world. Many of the right-wing libertarian bodies working in London operate according to a shady funding mechanism. Now, anytime they pop up to speak, the standard response is: Who funds you? But it's not just the right's think tanks which are held in suspicion. Increasingly, the entire industry is being considered suspect. And if we let the whole sector be tarnished, we hand a victory to the dark populist voices in our national debate.
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Fubar Radio with Tom Copley AM, Reuben Young and host Femi Oluwole.
Discussion on Brexit, Right to Buy and political culture.
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Review: Counting Sheep
I am blown away.
Rarely does taking part in a piece of theatre speak so directly to the core of my being, but Counting Sheep is one of the most exciting, moving and provoking pieces of theatre I have ever seen.
Set in Ukraine around the 2014 revolution we are introduced to the action by Mark – a Canadian of Ukrainian heritage who is visiting the country as a travelling musician. He gets swept up in the revolution and through him so too does the audience.
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The person who should be really worried about Corbyn’s Brexit ambiguity? Jeremy Corbyn
Theresa May put her worst day behind her pretty quickly. Being thumped by a margin of 230 votes would cause most of us to have no confidence in ourselves, never mind asking anyone else to. But by immediately winning a confidence vote the next day May has had a chance—briefly—to change the narrative.
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Labour can't go on tabling no confidence motions forever.
Theresa May achieved something this week that had long been felt impossible. Both Remainers and Leavers passionately wanted the same thing – for her deal to fail.
And fail it did, spectacularly so. There will have been sore throats from all the chanting and sore heads from the celebrating that both sides were doing. The problem for everyone is that they woke up with that sense you get after a truly epic night out that you don’t quite know what happened, what exactly you did or what to do about it.
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After Amber Rudd’s admission, Buffy is finally being acknowledged for its influence – even in the most unlikely of places
Amber Rudd has described Buffy Summers as her feminist hero. Quite right too. While it’s hard to agree with Rudd that she’s an “early feminist” (Mary Wollstonecraft might have something to say about that) she’s definitely a fantastic role model for anyone who wants to look up not just to a hero but to a champion.
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We can’t let the Labour Party split into two lesser versions of itself
Once again the Labour Party is spending a summer at war with itself. The disgust at antisemitism that has been rightly vocalised by Jeremy Corbyn, Tom Watson and many others has not stopped the issue becoming a political football in Labour’s vastly overheated National Executive Committee elections.
Many Corbyn supporters, the vast majority of whom share the disgust at antisemitism, still feel bruised after the attempted ousting of Corbyn in 2016 and vindicated by the party’s better-than-expected showing at the general election. They know that the Venn diagram of those who are outraged and upset by antisemitism has a lot of overlap with those who will never accept Corbyn as a leader. Some have therefore understandably – if wrongly, in my view – seen this issue purely through those old lenses.
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Why Don't We Just Leave Labour? Because it's Our Life
“Why don’t you just leave?” This is a question frequently faced by Labour members who are sceptical of the leadership and direction of the party.
A decade ago it was asked of those now in charge, who felt similarly out of step with New Labour. They stayed; things changed. Many see a lesson there.
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Owning the Future: The Left's Relationship with Europe
As part of my ongoing role as Co-Chair of Open Labour, I co-edited a pamphlet of the future of the relationship between the EU and the UK. This looked specifically at how the left should approach the future of cooperation with our nearest trading bloc.
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No, Jared O’Mara wasn’t disciplined for being working class
claiming it had treated him “like a criminal”.
No part of the saga is satisfactory for anyone involved. The Labour Party and O’Mara have both shown themselves to be lacking in understanding of what his offence means. Both in relation to those he insulted then, and why it matters to those of us in the party who remain determined to wipe the scourge of misogyny from the party and wider society.
O’Mara does have some legitimate complaints and has clearly had a dreadful time. I wouldn’t wish his emotional distress on anyone. The lack of support he received is a stain on the party and its processes.
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