Will Israel’s right to defend itself continue to the last Palestinian? (The image shows the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem) Eamon Dyas “Israel has a right to defend itself” has been the constant refrain of western leaders to justify every Israeli response to expressions of Palestinian resistance since the state was established. In recent years that refrain from western leaders has usually been linked … Continue reading Israel’s Right to Defend Itself
A contribution to a debate Peter Brooke In a recent interview on BBC radio, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister who is supposed to have offered the best deal Israel ever offered to the Palestinians, spelled out, in rather awkward grammar, what he regards as the ideal two state solution: 'I will never lose eye … Continue reading A STATE FOR ALL ITS CITIZENS
Martin Seale The speech by the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to the 2023 Labour conference shows that a Starmer government could rapidly become dysfunctional. In her speech to the 2023 Labour Party conference, Rachel Reeves stated “Today, I make this commitment to you, and to the country: Out of the wreckage of Tory misrule, Labour … Continue reading Labour’s Economic Model – Trust the Private Sector
Labour suspends MP over calling for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. A note from Eamon Dyas The phrase Andy McDonald used at a pro-peace rally was: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty." The expression … Continue reading Andy McDonald Suspended
Notes on the News By Gwydion M. Williams Israel Against Zionism? A War of Populations? Snippets Benedict Arnold Not a Traitor? Property Only With Privilege Climate Change Costs An end to Feed-the Rich? Poor People’s Burden Democratic Secession – Either Admirable or Forbidden Kiev Facing Defeat? China Purges Israel Against Zionism? Israel and its supporters … Continue reading Newsnotes
A Man of no Principles This Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign Public Meeting took place in 2015. Keir Starmer was one of the speakers, and he was at the time Labour candidate for Holborn and St Pancras. Principles are based on strong belief and do not change with fashion or expediency. Keir Starmer is not a man of … Continue reading Starmer once supported Palestine
Sahra Wagenknecht is currently taking steps towards forming a new left party with a strong working class orientation and splitting from Die Linke. In this extract she covers a range of topics that will be vital to the new party. Space does not permit us to add more but it is worth pointing out that, contrary … Continue reading Sahra Wagenknecht Newsletter
Palestine Links—November 2023 GAZA: 3,195 children killed in three weeks surpasses annual number of children killed in conflict zones since 2019 (Save the Children, 29 October 2023) I run the UN agency for Palestine refugees. History will judge us all if there is no ceasefire in Gaza (Philippe Lazzarini, Guardian, 26 October 2023) Joe Biden’s … Continue reading Palestine Links
Early Day Motion on Gaza — House of Commons 17th October 2023 Early day motions are short proposals that give MPs a chance to express an opinion, publicise a cause or support a position. They are rarely actually debated, and are only publicised in writing. Motion text This House utterly condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and taking … Continue reading Gaza Motions in Parliament
A law against Boycotting Israel (The map shows the Golan Heights, taken from Syria in 1967). Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories are to be made illegal by a new bill going through Parliament, led by Michael Gove. According to the proposed law, public bodies are forbidden to disapprove … Continue reading Anti BDS Bill
Great news for the RMT and other campaigners: Plans to close rail ticket offices in England scrapped The BBC article belowsquotes the Labour Shadow Transport Secretary saying Labour will nationalise the railways and have a unified system, but the programme does not specify how they will do that. The piece also keeps silent the RMT … Continue reading Ticket Offices—A Victory
Putin’s speech at the Valdai discussion club—Extracts Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, made a significant speech at the Valdai Discussion Club. We reprint extracts of particular interest to our readers, although the whole, including the question and answer session is of great interest.[1] In these extracts it is possible to see Putin’s no-nonsense approach … Continue reading Putin Speech at Valdai
How dissent is managed in a ‘liberal democracy’. Much is made by politicians and political theorists of the need for ‘active citizens’ in a liberal democracy. The education system is supposed to prepare citizens to scrutinise claims, analyse arguments and check sources of information. We can all then ‘hold to account’ those who aspire to … Continue reading Passive Democracy—Editorial
In the context of a debate on the situation in the NHS, we publish an article by Phil Bevin to open the discussion. Why the NHS is dead: our health service was Killed by Labour and the Tories and it’s too late to save it By Phil Bevin The NHS is dead and this is something … Continue reading Debate : the NHS
Phil Bevin begins his article as follows: "The NHS, once a single organisation that provided comprehensive healthcare free to all, at the point of need, is dead, and the Labour Party is an accomplice to its murder." The Kings Fund says that in England "there were an estimated 570 million patient contacts with GP, community, mental health, … Continue reading The NHS is not dead
Brendan Clifford (The image above shows Ernest Bevin to the right of Churchill, 8th May 1945) The NHS was established as a Communist service for a capitalist economy, made possible by the proceeds of Empire. It was a realisation of the safety net envisaged by the manufacturing capitalist, Joseph Chamberlain, in the 1880s. Chamberlain was convinced that … Continue reading The NHS—socialist order and capitalist freedom
Labour Affairs (The image above shows an ad for the privatisation of British Gas in 1986) We can look at the question of the NHS through historical trends. Since Thatcher, trends have taken three directions. One towards a small state and a greater part played by the private sector. The second is the principle that … Continue reading Historical trends and the NHS
(The image above comes from the International Development Committee) Michael Murray Introduction The UN requires that countriesallocate 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the purposes of the economic development and welfareof developing countries. TheInternational Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 lays down how the UK will meet this requirement … Continue reading Tory and Labour U-turns on Aid to Developing Countries
Labour Affairs 