National

The next European elections will he held in 2014. Will McMahon argues that British socialists should stand for a socialist Europe, but that this cannot be achieved within the context of the current European Union. Prior to the 1992 General Election the ostensibly socialist journal New Left Review No 191 carried an article ‘The Ruins […] Read more »

A supporter of the Morning Star/CPB, under the pseudonym ‘Michael Ford’, has written the most substantial rebuttal of the proposal to found a new Left Party – “Left Unity’s Modest Flutter”, posted on the LU site. Here Phil Hearse examines Ford’s arguments. Weighing in at more than 9000 words Ford’s article assesses almost every conceivable […] Read more »

On 29th June Sheffield Left Unity held a successful launch event in central Sheffield. Patrick Black, a Sheffield LU member, reports on the half-day event, which was attended by 45 people.  The Launch was opened with a heartfelt speech by Bianca Todd (Left Unity National Coordinating Group and Northampton LU). Bianca spoke with great conviction […] Read more »

Mark Perryman explores what Andy Murray and the Lions tell us about sport’s impact on national identity “ The imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people” Eric Hobsbawm Eric Hobsbawm’s acute observation concerning the impact of sport on national identity has been carted out so often that it […] Read more »

I learned a lot in our last Left Unity meeting in Wandsworth, reports Micheline Mason. I learned about the Workers’ Party of Ireland from Paul; I learned about growing up under a military dictatorship in Ethiopia from Gelila, and from her I also learned how some Christians think about the term ‘left’ (i.e. on the […] Read more »

The latest GDP release from the Office for National Statistics was accompanied by a set of revisions to previous data. These now show that the downturn was more severe than had previously been estimated and that the British economy is even further away from recovery, says economist Michael Burke. Previously, ONS data had shown that […] Read more »

Will McMahon from Barnet Left Unity argues that if Left Unity and TUSC build a united electoral coalition for 2014 and 2015 it could lay the basis for a new mass party, and he poses some alternatives as to what that party might look like. Socialists face a major challenge in the next decade. While […] Read more »

In his “keynote speech” on Saturday, Ed Miliband attempted to make links between the ‘Labour Government’ of 2015 and the Attlee Government of 1945. John Penney, from Crewe Left Unity, was not impressed.    I had the misfortune today, since I  couldn’t attend the Peoples Assembly event in London, to listen on the TV to […] Read more »

I am writing to you with regard to the new bedroom tax, which as you are aware was imposed on 1st April 2013. As you know, there is a lot of concern about how the sick and disabled are coping, I fully understand that they have special needs and need help with regard to getting […] Read more »

Mark Perryman argues why the Left should take sport seriously Of course how fast an individual can run, how far they can chuck an object, how high they can jump hardly matters at all in the greater scheme of global justice and human rights. But that isn’t what is being claimed on behalf of sport […] Read more »