Britain

History of the British Chartist movement: People power versus privilege

‘Perish the Privileged Orders’: A Socialist History of the Chartist Movement By Mark O’Brien New Clarion Press Revised Edition 2009, 119 pages Review by Alex Miller If you believed the corporate media, you might think that the greatest threats to parliamentary democracy in a country like Britain have come from Kaiser Wilhelm’s armies in World War I or — today — from Al Qaeda and Islamic jihadists. In fact, the greatest enemies of representative democracy in Britain over the centuries have been the British ruling classes themselves.

John Pilger: The celebration and justification of war

Staring at the vast military history section in the airport shop, I had a choice: the derring-do of psychopaths or scholarly tomes with their illicit devotion to the cult of organised killing. There was nothing I recognised from reporting war. Nothing on the spectacle of children’s limbs hanging in trees and nothing on the burden of shit in your trousers. War is a good read. War is fun. More war please.

The dangers of nuclear power

Everyone Can be a Hero By J. R. Birch Inside Outsider Publications, 2010, 293 pages In The Iron Heel, Jack London used a narrative from the future to present the dystopian and utopian possibilities that existed in his time. Everyone Can be a Hero, a new independently published book for older children and teenagers, uses a similar device.

Mark Steel: The logic of anti-immigrant racism

Over the last few years it’s become one of our quaint English traditions that on any day following the announcement of immigration figures, certain newspapers display headlines such as “TEN MILLION OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT POLES TO SWARM INTO BRITAIN LIKE PLUMBING LOCUSTS!!! And they plan to BUGGER OUR KITTENS!!!”

Britain: Left alliance formed for EU elections

A new left alliance has formed in Britain to stand in the European Union elections set for June 4.

The race to rescue the bankers

The next move, presumably, will be to nationalise the country’s gambling debts.

Scottish by-election deals Labour savage blow

The British Labour Party and beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown were dealt a new, savage blow in the Glasgow East by-election, which Labour lost to the Scottish National Party (SNP), according to a July 25 British Independent article.

Britain: More nails in New Labour's coffin

Following disastrous performances in the English local council elections and the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in May, the ruling Labour Party suffered more humiliation at the hands of the electorate in the June 26 by-election in Henley-on-Thames.

Britain: 'Humiliating victory' in war on civil liberties

On June 11, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s proposals to extend the time that police are allowed to detain “terrorist suspects” without charge narrowly scraped through a vote in the House of Commons. The MP vote was 315 to 306 to back Brown’s proposal to extend the limit on detention without charge from 28 to 42 days.

Britain: New Labour crashes in Crewe

The New Labour government headed by PM Gordon Brown sank deeper into crisis after it lost the Crewe and Nantwich by-election — occasioned by the death of the sitting MP Gwyneth Dunwoody — to the Conservatives on May 22.

Britain: Gay couples win parenting rights

According to a May 22 Sydney Morning Herald report, "Britain has forged landmark new rights" for gay and single women when the House of Commons "unexpectedly" voted against proposals that would have would have required fertility clinics to consider a

Britain: Strongman Brown comes unstuck

In the May 1 local council elections in England and Wales, the ruling Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, suffered its worst election defeat in 40 years.