Starmer must face down the self-righteous clowns on his back benches Opinion Keir Starmer’s attempt to select compliant MPs has backfired, producing a rebellious and ill-informed parliamentary party that has already successfully vetoed its own government’s economic policy, says Paul Ormerod A fundamental feature of the social and economic world is that intentions are not the same as outcomes. Morgan McSweeney and his colleagues exercised very close [...]
Today’s date echoes through history – Starmer should be worried Opinion The fourth of July may be synonymous with freedom in the United States, but around the world it has a very different meaning. In Britain it marks the anniversary of Starmer’s election victory, but he’ll probably be hoping to put this disastrous year behind him, says Eliot Wilson The United States of America was established [...]
Starmer’s had a bad year – here’s what he must do next Opinion Following a chaotic and deeply damaging row over welfare cuts, Keir Starmer can’t afford any more cock-ups, says Douglas Beattie A year ago the general election campaign was closing and the country was about to vote for the first Labour government in 14 years. A year on, many at the top of the party accept [...]
Churchill myths and bad history are no reason to defend the ECHR May 29, 2025 Defenders of the European Convention on Human Rights, from John Major to Keir Starmer, have peddled the fallacy that Winston Churchill was the brains behind it. He was no such thing, argues Yuan Yi Zhu Six decades after his passing, the legend of Sir Winston Churchill remains undiminished. Almost all of his contemporaries have faded [...]
Recent Conservative governments have been more left wing than Attlee December 17, 2024 Here’s a Christmas quiz: Which has been Britain’s most left-wing government? According to Paul Ormerod, it’s not the one you think…. The extended Christmas holidays loom. One way of filling the time is to think about crucial questions such as who is England’s greatest ever batsman, which football club side is the best the world [...]
Why Labour MPs shouldn’t call themselves socialists May 31, 2024 Labour is not, and has never been, a socialist party. It is a social democratic party whose mission is to save capitalism from itself, not replace it with a new system, says John McTernan Is Keir Starmer a socialist? Is Rachel Reeves a social democrat? At the start of the general election campaign, Labour’s leader [...]