It has been a good week for the anti-racist left, and a fairly poor week for progressive independent publishing. Several months back I called on Zero Books – an independent publisher long associated with the left – to cancel their plans to publish a book on “Jewish Identity” by the notorious anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. This [...]
As you’re probably aware, various alterations were recently made to Facebook’s user interface. And, as is now commonplace when this happens, large numbers of people reacted pretty negatively. This was followed, almost as predictably, by a backlash from those who thought getting worked up about a few fairly superficial cosmetic changes was maybe a teensy [...]
Last week the Morning Call, a local paper in the united states, lifted the lid on conditions inside one Amazon’s US warehouses. The full story is here. What emerges is a picture that is truly infurtiating. Over the summer the company refused to open the warehouse doors, for fear of theft. Instead they kept a [...]
“Don’t speak of Europe in front of the children”. That was the message coming from Lib Dem minister Michael Moore on Monday. Speaking to a fringe meeting organised by Business for New Europe – a pro-EU business lobby group – he said that Europe was facing a crisis but moving towards fiscal integration. As such [...]
Owen Jones, whose recent book Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class has been making some waves, shares his thoughts with The Third Estate. The Third Estate: You’ve said before, Owen, that the reason you wrote this book was to get a debate going about class; do you think that’s been successful, is this becoming [...]
Few of us would shed a tear at the arrest of an investment banker. Yet there is something a little bit disturbing about this image. On the left you will see a man who, whatever you think of him, has so far been convicted of no crime. On the right, you can see a gaggle [...]
You may have heard the news that most rioters were convicted criminals. According to a ministry of justice report released today 73% of those who have appeared in court over the riots had previous cautions or convictions. This certainly appears to be good news for those who wish to partray last months disorder is merely [...]
In all the discussion about why we should be opposed to Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms, one of the points which seems to pop up most frequently (in this excellent article here, for example) is the potential conflict of interest that could exist when healthcare commissioning powers (and budgets) are handed to GPs. The argument is [...]
I feel Tony Blair may have been a little candid for his own good in yesterday’s interview with the Associated Press. It has long been asserted that when western premiers talk about “spreading democracy”, that this often serves as cover for far less lofty interests. Yet most power brokers tend to remain a bit more [...]
Billionaire Ratan Tata doesn’t care too much for British workers. For one thing they have a pesky habit of going home when their working hours are up. He said that in India “if you are in a crisis, if it means working to midnight, you would do it”. British workers were unwilling to stay after [...]
