Trump – a final warning

This post is a final plea to anyone in America who is able to vote in the forthcoming presidential election to vote against Donald Trump. Do not let him get in, as this could be one of the most dangerous decisions the world has seen for decades. There are 50 days to go before the
Continue reading...

The great Brexit distraction

Over the last few months, our country – and increasingly, the rest of the world – has become distracted by the forthcoming referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU. This single-minded focus has been infuriating for a number of reasons – the main one being that this whole issue is an entirely fake
Continue reading...

Let’s get angry!

About a year ago I published a blog post lamenting the lack of real protest and action being taken against the (still extant) Government’s attempts to dismantle some of our most cherished and respected institutions – including the NHS, education system, welfare state and BBC. Since that post, the severity of the situation seems to
Continue reading...

Why tax is a moral issue

There’s been a lot in the press about tax recently.  The leak of data from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca confirms my view that tax is more of a moral issue than a practical one – and that paying tax fairly is a moral duty. Let’s start by defining what tax is.  It’s about
Continue reading...

That joke isn’t funny anymore

The possibility of Donald Trump becoming the world’s most powerful person may have seemed like a joke a year ago (at least, to anyone but him), but now the reality is dawning that it might actually happen. He looks like a shoe-in for the Republican nomination now and will certainly give Hilary Clinton a run
Continue reading...

Political scheming

A short post this time – just to flag up a very good article from Owen Jones in The Guardian about the  various ways that the Tories have successfully manipulated the truth in various issues over recent years. My favourite quote from the article is below: “Illusions are what the Tories excel at. They back Labour’s spending – down
Continue reading...

Where’s the fight?

The General Election result in May 2015 was a shock for anyone of a vaguely progressive bent.  It was more than just a shock though – it brought about a sense of profound dread as to what this group of Conservatives would do to our country and society once they had disentangled themselves from the
Continue reading...

Where next for progressive politics?

I’ve just caught up with a very interesting post by Neal Lawson on OpenDemocracy today. The article asks how the Labour Party should  move forward in the light of it’s devastating defeat in the 2015 General Election – not simply as a votewinning machine but as a true political force that can deliver a progressive,
Continue reading...

Listen, don’t change

I was at the Compass Change:How? conference today and was struck by a few things in a discussion we had about ‘why it’s so hard getting people to change’.  By this it meant getting members of the public to take action for a more progressive, sustainable (etc.) world. The first thing that struck me was
Continue reading...