Kemi Badenoch exemplifies the decades-long tradition in the UK of ‘pulling up the ladder’, practiced by class-ascendant immigrants on the right of the political spectrum ~ Daniel Adediran ~ Kemi Badenoch is the death’s head of the Tory Party. A withered husk,it is now completely hollowed out since its heyday in the 20th century and
The naïve ones believe that the economic system that is causing the trouble will also miraculously save us all. The cynical ones are just looking at their balance sheets.
In October 2021, Boris Johnson proclaimed that this “is the direction this country is going — towards a high wage, high skill, high productivity … low tax economy.” Ignoring the awkward fact that his government actually increased taxation to its highest level for 70 years, nothing was done to stop wages falling by a record
Will the energy crisis spark a wider revolt? The craft of being in power is a delicate one. To paraphrase P.T Barnum, you can piss off some of the people all of the time, you can piss off all of the people some of the time, but you can’t piss off all of the people
I’ve been thinking recently about the various themes that I’ve written about since starting this regular column for Freedom in 2016. I try really hard not to repeat myself too much but history has a way of making that pretty tough. These are the themes I think will recur time and again in 2022. (In)competence
As the political year ends, it’s worthwhile to reflect on the utter incompetence of Boris Johnson. I’m undecided over whether an incompetent government is worse than one that functions well. It’s probably best to judge them on what they do. The issue with Johnson is that his incompetence has cost thousands of lives. We could
Back in 2010, when the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government began, austerity was the order of the day. The deficit had to be brought down, we were continually told. Public spending was slashed, public sector jobs were cut, wages frozen. We were all in it together, according to then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George
Last week could have been a pivotal moment in British politics. It should have been. It could still turn out to be hugely important but where were the British public? It’s not entirely clear. After an astounding week in British politics, they seemed to shrug and turn away. Maybe the Dominic Cummings testimony to the
The UK political system is a history of scandal after scandal. If we look to just the recent past, we could mention the way Covid has been handled, the Grenfell disaster, MPs expenses, the Panama Papers, Windrush, Hutton, cash for honours, cash for questions, back to basics, Hillsborough, Orgreave, spycops… There’s a seemingly never ending
In a liberal democracy, it’s hard to imagine a more dangerous prospect than neoliberals running a country during a global pandemic. Over the course of the last year, my belief that the answer to major local, regional, national and international problems is anarchism, has been bolstered. Cooperation, mutual aid, and a sense of community have
The anarchist’s recent arrest continues a long story: ten years ago today, his prison hunger strike brought the country to the edge of insurrection on the anniversary of the 2008 uprising ~ Neil Middleton ~ The recent arrest of Nikos Romanos, following the widely publicised explosion in an Athens apartment, took place in the run-up
Political artists Andrei Molodkin and Santiago Sierra, and Wikileaks ambassador Joseph Farrell, talk to A/POLITICAL about the sham of Western liberty, Julian Assange, and how art can still transform pain into defiance ~ Becky Haghpanah-Shirwan ~ The heightened tensions of international politics are reflected in the work of Andrei Molodkin (Russia, 1966) and Santiago Sierra
Van Gogh soup protest and M25 blockade among cases in January hearing ~ Andy Meinke ~ In July, when five Just Stop Oil activists were jailed for a total of 21 years for a plan to block the M25 motorway in London, it was part of a huge jump in sentencing for peaceful protesters.
Walkout over pay and conditions expected on 19 December as company refuses to engage with union ~ Cristina Sykes ~ Hundreds of workers across Harrods’ retail, restaurant, kitchen and cleaning departments have returned a resounding 95% yes vote to strike action in the Christmas season.
It seems like in the year 2024, governments and the people supporting them have accomplished the impossible in terms of normalising death—but refusal persists ~ Juju Alerta ~ With a wild demonstration to enliven the St Pauli district of Hamburg, people from different countries gathered in the city in mid-November to exchange stories and discussions
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