Why Secret London might ruin our city

“Not to find one’s way around a city does not mean much. But to lose one’s way in a city, as one loses one’s way in a forest, requires some schooling. Street names must speak to the urban wanderer like the snapping of dry twigs, and little streets in the heart of the city must [...]

An Interview with Ken Livingstone

A Progressive Agenda to Stop the Right in 2012
Saturday 30th January 10am-5pm
Congress House, Great Russell Street, WC1H
www.progressivelondon.org.uk/conference/progressive-london-conference-2010.html

An Interview with Ken Livingstone

They say never meet your heroes. You’re only ever gonna be disappointed. And having had some bad experiences in the past – a particularly awkward conversation with a very reluctant Mark Steel, and managing [...]

The revolution will not be theorised!

Two events, at each end of the last week here in London, have highlighted the real range of activities and viewpoints of the left community in this country. The 7th annual Historical Materialism Conference, held last weekend at SOAS and Birkbeck, offered a fantastic opportunity for over 700 attendees from around the world to discuss [...]

Why Social Housing Is A Sexy Political Issue: Part I

Over the next three weeks I will be taking an in-depth look at the problems and some of the proposed solutions to what I sincerely believe is one of the most pressing yet under-discussed issues of today: namely, social housing policy.  As the title suggests, I do realise that not many people flick through the [...]

Review: Prom 50, Fidelio played by Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

The proms don’t normally get much in the way of political coverage. In fact the last time they did was about a year and a half ago when Margaret Hodge decided to make some stupid announcement about them not being inclusive enough, so it was a real joy to have such a politically charged concert [...]

Progressive Rabbi Hauled Over The Coals In Move That Could Stoke Anti-Semitism

The rabbi of Britain’s oldest synagogue, Bevis Marks in the East End of London, has been suspended over his participation in a protest against banks charging high interest rates.

Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation

A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of the professional politician.

Save the Rise festival? Really?

In yesterday’s London paper the guest columnist, Mike Barnard, publicised the launch of a campaign to reinstate London’s rise festival. The background, for those who don’t know, is this: for about a decade, London – with financial support from trade unions – hosted a massive annual anti-racist music festival. When Boris came in he decided [...]

Citizens into Strangers? A Critique of Strangers into Citizens

“He thinks we’re all bloody bourgeois” scoffed Austen Ivereigh, as he puffed on his Montecristo in a trendy bar in King’s Cross, whilst reading aloud David Broder’s response to yesterday’s Strangers Into Citizens demonstration. “This looks like it was written thirty years ago,” he chortled to himself. Ivereigh is a founder of the Strangers into [...]

The Politics of Memory – Guest post by David Rosenberg

Twenty people gathered in London’s East End on April 19th for a typically low key but poignant memorial ceremony. The Friends of Yiddish were marking the 66th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – the vastly unequal battle that began on that day in 1943. Led by the youth, Jewish resistance forces in the ghetto [...]