“A train which is due to leave at eight will normally leave at any time between nine and ten, but perhaps once a week, thanks to some private whim of the engine-driver, it leaves at half past seven.” George Orwell, [...]
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Category "January 2015"
Charlie Hebdo – Unity in condemnation and solidarity
All socialists should join in the condemnation of the murderous attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hedbo and the linked shootings that followed. Our condemnation should be unequivocal. Nothing can justify them. The attacks were carried [...]
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The working class as the desperate class?
Review of "Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain" by Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin. 2014. Abingdon: Routledge. This meticulous study of UKIP’s rise provides something that until now has been lacking: an academic yet accessible [...]
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Capitalism, High Camp…and the straightening out of homosexuals
There is a striking correlation between advanced or wealthy capitalist countries and the capacity of homosexuals to live free of state repression and legal sanctions. There continues to be an uneven situation across the US, but in most states of [...]
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Thinking the unthinkable: the coming revolution in local government
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you [...]
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Review: The French Revolution
BOOK REVIEW: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BY ERIC HAZAN (Verso 2014) Books on the French Revolution would fill a large library, and the history of histories of the Revolution is a fascinating subject in its own right. But in the end, all [...]
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Review: Leviathan
Leviathan Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Russia 2014 Reviewed by Colin Piper Dmitriy lives in a dilapidated old house with his wife Lilya and son Roma. His family have lived there for 3 generations but the mayor wants the land and the [...]
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Challenging the Climate of Hostility- working with Foreign National Prisoners facing deportation.
In 2013 Home Secretary Theresa May announced that her new immigration bill would create a “Hostile climate for illegal immigrants.” Her particular target was foreign national prisoners, (FNPs), an unpopular group, demonised by politicians and the media. The Immigration Act [...]
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The Tree of Liberty
The Tree of Liberty by Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) Heard ye o' the tree o' France, I watna what's the name o't; Around the tree the patriots dance, Weel Europe kens the fame o't. It stands where ance the Bastile stood, A prison built by [...]
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Review: Foxcatcher
Directed by Bennett Miller Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman Principal actors: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, and Vanessa Redgrave Foxcatcher is a thriller about the real-life relationship between the philanthropist John Eleuthère du Pont and the Schultz brothers, Mark [...]
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