The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
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Groupthink, the war in Yemen and the strange popularity of Alistair Burt
The former Foreign Office minister drew praise from politicians and journalists alike as a ‘genuinely decent’ man after resigning. IAN SINCLAIR isn’t sure he deserves it
Alistair Burt speaks in Parliament
In the wake of Ann Widdecombe’s murder, JOHN GREEN wonders whether the government will really get to grips with the root cause of these attacks on our MPs
The new PM’s opening addresses offered hope, council homes and reform — but little detail on how any of it will be delivered, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
Despite the screeching from the right-wing media, Burnham’s speech chimed with the public mood - and socialists should take advantage, says Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO
Scotland's Labour leader cannot continue to evade responsibility for the party's decline, argues LAUREN HARPER
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
“I’VE never encountered any group more driven by group-think and rank-closing cohesion than British journalists,” US writer Glenn Greenwald tweeted in September 2015.
In addition to the media, the recent response to Alistair Burt MP resigning from his position as minister of state for the Middle East over the government’s handling of Brexit shows this herd-like behaviour also infects sections of civil society and apparently progressive politicians.
“Many disagree with UK policy in the Middle East but he has a reputation for even handedness,” tweeted the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour. “Big blow to FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office].” Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor echoed these thoughts, noting Burt was a “well respected foreign office minister.”
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IAN SINCLAIR examines the curious memory lapses across liberal media when it comes to British government crimes
History shows from Iraq to Libya, and now Iran, that regime-change fantasies rarely deliver stability — but they always deliver human and economic cost, says MARYAM ESLAMDOUST
As the government quietly upgrades the role of Britain’s special forces, their growing global footprint and near-total exemption from democratic oversight should alarm us all, says ROGER McKENZIE
On January 2 2014, PJ Harvey used her turn as guest editor of the Today programme to expose the realities of war, arms dealing and media complicity. The fury that followed showed how rare – and how threatening – such honesty is within Britain’s most Establishment broadcaster, says IAN SINCLAIR