Just to note (hat-tip: Harry’s Place) the excellent news that the awful Carole Swords, mentioned in a previous post as a member of Viva Palestina and chair of Respect in Tower Hamlets, has been convicted of threatening behaviour. Here’s the delightful Ms Swords shouting “go back to Russia” at some passing Jewish people:
Author: robert.marchant
Why Mehdi Hasan is wrong about Islamophobia in the media
On Thursday I sent a tweet – slightly intemperate, I admit – drawing attention to a piece by the New Statesman’s Mehdi Hasan on Islamophobia in the British media, and the fact that I thought it was a problem on the streets, not in the press. Mehdi, to his credit, politely invited me to read the submission… Continue reading Why Mehdi Hasan is wrong about Islamophobia in the media
Smart people learn from their enemies
The furore over last week’s defection of former Labour staffer, Luke Bozier, to the Tories provides a convenient excuse for a closer look at the party that he has just joined. Not with a view to doing the same, you understand – it’d be a cold day in hell for most of us – but… Continue reading Smart people learn from their enemies
Democracy falters, in a country near you
All of us sometimes have mixed feelings about the EU but, in one area, even its harshest critics would have to reluctantly agree that it has succeeded. In its expansion eastwards it has helped consolidate democratic rule where there previously was none, aligned militarily and politically towards the West and away from an increasingly less… Continue reading Democracy falters, in a country near you
Abbott, Flynn and why we lefties think we can never be racist
My third piece for the New Statesman, about Diane Abbott and Paul Flynn is here. By the way, the original Centre Left piece about Paul Flynn, in case you missed it, is here.
Labour’s Groundhog Year
The New Year. Our thoughts and hopes for the future. A difficult year behind. Another one ahead. Sound at all familiar? In the film 1993 film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a character who realises that he is getting up to the same song playing on his clock-radio, I Got You Babe, every day and… Continue reading Labour’s Groundhog Year
Political blogging: why it’s good to critique your own team
During 2011 a number of people, often well-meaning, sometimes not so, have questioned the choice of some bloggers at Labour Uncut and elsewhere to analyse dispassionately and sometimes brutally, not just the Tories and the Lib Dems, but the Labour Party under Ed Miliband. The inference being that, as loyal party members who want a… Continue reading Political blogging: why it’s good to critique your own team
Hats off to Val Shawcross
If Andrew Gilligan’s blog is to be believed (I admit, a not entirely moot point), we learn, via the excellent Harry’s Place, that Val Shawcross, Ken’s running-mate in the London mayorals, has commented on the former’s lack of wisdom in his choice of friends the extremist Al-Qaradawi, and his comments to Jewish journalist Oliver Finegold… Continue reading Hats off to Val Shawcross
The best of 2011 – who’s Number One?
Just in case you missed them first time around, here were the best-read posts of 2011 at the Centre Left: 5. UCU and the siren call of “my enemy’s enemy” – written after the union’s extraordinary, Kafkaesque decision, on being accused of anti-semitism, to rewrite what anti-semitism means. 4. The New Politics (reprise) – Huhne’s Reagan… Continue reading The best of 2011 – who’s Number One?
2012: A year to fix the party
As our leaders sit back and take stock during the holidays, they might reflect, not just on the daily parliamentary grind against Cameron and the coalition, but of something else: of the time that opposition affords parties to deal with their own problems and, in dealing with them, help show their fitness to govern. They’re… Continue reading 2012: A year to fix the party