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Labour Leadership, Strategy 7th April 2021

What one Easter media visit reveals about what Keir Starmer’s office lacks – and what it needs to change fast

After three days of discontent, Keir Starmer finally publicly apologised on Easter Monday for his visit to Jesus House. Perhaps it would be easy to leave things there. But it would be a mistake. The fallout from his visit to the anti-LGBT church, and the party’s failure to shut down the story, revealed weaknesses across the board in the Opposition leaders’ office…

Interviews, Miscellaneous, Possibilities, Realities, Strategy 21st March 2021

WATCH: Open Labour/Social Review Conference Event: The Left’s Approach to Media

Column, Liberation, Realities 14th March 2021

Saturday Night on Clapham Common

I went to the vigil on Clapham Common last night with two of my best friends. On our way there we talked about a friend of ours who had reported an abusive partner to the police, and was met with something close to polite disinterest. We talked about someone else we knew who had taken her abuser through the courts, all the…

Realities, Within Westminster 28th February 2021

How Boris Johnson keeps getting away with it

Picture Credit: Andrew Parsons If you ever feel dissatisfied with what’s on offer in the British party system, consider how it began. Party politics first crystallised in this country out of a fevered atmosphere of hysteria around the so-called “Popish Plot”, where a man called Titus Oates, largely forgotten now but one of the great charlatans of world history, claimed there was…

Labour Leadership, Realities, Strategy, Within Westminster 17th February 2021

No, Keir Starmer should not reshuffle Anneliese Dodds

Image Credit: Wiki No, Keir Starmer should not reshuffle Anneliese Dodds. This is a silly idea and you shouldn’t be considering it. Let’s begin with the most important fact on this whole thing: Dodds is a good shadow chancellor. To start with, she has the correct background to do it, something that many politicians don’t; she has experience as an MEP; she…

Beyond Westminster, Realities, Strategy 14th February 2021

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Unions

I love trade unions. I really do. I’m sure we’ve all heard the clichés: we have unions to thank for weekends, working time restrictions, maternity leave, sick pay and the minimum wage. They’re clichés because they’re true. I’m a rep for my union branch, and it’s one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done. I’ve helped win concessions from employers, defended…