Why democratic reform must be at the heart of Labour’s programme for government After December’s election defeat there is a clear need for all candidates to engage in a clear, honest and thoughtful assessment of Labour’s current electoral and political situation. The ongoing leadership contest must include a serious discussion of how to remake and renew Britain’s democratic institutions. We’ve so far…
When I was a teenager, I was – like many – ricocheting from phase to phase. One of these was a truly terrible atheist phase, where I made the following argument in Religious Studies class: ‘If Christians sincerely believed that Heaven was as good as they say, why would they all not just nuke everything, in order to get there more quickly?’ In…
As a left-wing, secular Jewish member of the Labour Party, I have recently been noticing a particular pattern of behaviour from Labour activists and members on social media. Like many party members, I have been avidly following the Democratic primary in the US, and like many party members, I’ve followed Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist, since his insurgent campaign for the…
Some political quotes stand the test of time. One of my favourites and most-quoted comes, unsurprisingly, from the late, great, Tony Benn. When faced with those with any kind of power, he encouraged us to ask five important questions: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you use it? To whom are you accountable?…
Prime Minister Boris Johnson – God, what an opening – has appointed perhaps the most revoltingly hard-right cabinet of my lifetime. Two of the contributors to the libertarian screed Britannia Unchained, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab, now occupy great offices of state. It is not enough for the left to define ourselves as simply anti- Boris: we need to articulate alternatives. Libertarianism…
In a recent interview with Jonathan Liew of the Independent, Jurgen Klopp discussed his political beliefs, ‘…how politics is described now, I am for sure on the left side of middle’. He also set out a vision of football as a unifying force socially: ‘What I like in football is that you can bring together so many people – not only in…
The NHS Constitution begins with the following statement: “The NHS belongs to the people. It is there to improve our health and wellbeing, supporting us to keep mentally and physically well, to get better when we are ill and, when we cannot fully recover, to stay as well as we can to the end of our lives. It works at the limits…
The current debate in the Labour Party about trigger ballots and open selections gives all members the opportunity to discuss not only how we select our candidates, but what kind of MPs we want. The Blairite revolution in the Labour Party promoted the idea that being an MP was a technocratic specialism for professionals with a privileged background. The gulf between the…
