a worker's views
When the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, was I the only person to think how crazy is capitalism? So everything shuts down – or nearly everything. Essential work continues – food production, transportation, etc. In a planned economy there would not even be a hiccough. There are 30 million people who work in the UK. If … Read more
Ayesha Hazarika’s advice in her Evening Standard column echoes what many political commentators have suggested. From their point of view neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Boris Johnson are suitable prime ministers. But one of them is going to win, so you have to choose the one you least dislike. I am not convinced. For nearly forty … Read more
The Labour Party’s announcement that they will provide free fibre broadband to every home in the country by 2030 has hit the headlines today. It is an eye-catching claim. And Boris Johnson has boosted its socialist credentials by describing it as a ‘communist’ policy. Yet other capitalist commentators are not so sure. Is nationalisation a … Read more
I have been looking at several left-wing websites, hoping to find a rationale for the position I have decided to take. And I do not see it. They all want me to vote Labour. Some say put them in power to demonstrate to the working class they are not truly socialist. The argument goes that … Read more
When Jeremy Corbyn said a fair society would not contain billionaires, it did not seem controversial to me. The existence of an individual with access to one thousand million pounds (or dollars) can only seem acceptable to people who think gross inequality is a good idea. The usual culprits have sprung to the defence of … Read more
‘I am really proud of the parliamentarians. Some of them have taken a great risk, knowing that their own constituents are against some of what they voted for in parliament. And that’s what our system is about.’ Yasmin Alibhai Brown speaking on The Papers (BBC News channel) Yasmin Alibhai Brown is really proud MP’s are … Read more
The parliamentary opposition are running scared. It is not Boris Johnson they fear, it is the anger of the working class. Nobody is taken in by the parliamentary shenanigans. We can all see the opposition are afraid of calling a general election. They produce one excuse after another. The Labour Party blame the Illiberal Undemocrats; … Read more
I was in Wales at the weekend where I saw a Sunday morning political programme. All 8 of the parties putting up candidates for the EU elections were represented. I was struck by how blatantly anti-Brexit Jackie Jones (the Labour Party representative) was. She told the presenter voters who wanted to remain in the EU … Read more
Mathew d’Ancona is a columnist in the London Evening Standard and the Guardian. He is also a bigot. In the Evening Standard today he characterises the people on the other side of the referendum vote as xenophobes. It must be very comforting to this moral guardian of the nation to blame the ‘breakdown in … Read more
James McClean plays for Stoke City, and has chosen not to wear a poppy. In a home game against Middlesborough on Saturday he was the subject of verbal abuse from visiting fans, and some home fans, for his choice. McClean’s response was to use a quotation from Bobby Sands: “They have nothing in their whole … Read more