Opinion

Amidst the furore of the tragic Colman's closure in Norwich there's a white elephant in the room that has yet to surface; Brexit. Despite some of the production moving to Burton some of the production will be shifted by Unilever to Germany in a move that is likely to become commonplace for such companies who rely on the single market. The factory that has been the home of Colman’s Mustard for 160 years is to close, with Clive Lewis, Labour MP...

Out with the old and in with the new. That's Jeremy Corbyn's new year message to the country as he embarks on what is undoubtedly going to be a pivotal year in British politics. The Labour leader said the party would stake out the "new centre ground in British politics", saying the prospect of a "new Britain" was "closer than ever" and that he is leading a "government in waiting". It's a far cry from Prime Minister Theresa May's message, in which...

I’ve never been one to tamper with Wikipedia entries, but if I was the first thing I’d do is refer all traffic for the page “2017” to the one entitled “reap what one sows”. The page, which is depicted by John F. Knott’s “It Shoots Further Than He Dreams”, seems to adequately summarise what happens when populism meets realism –  a collision we have become all too familiar with this year. A year on since the US presidential election and...

By Robert Seiler On the face of it, Theresa May’s Brexit strategy has been reduced to accepting unilateral concessions (otherwise known as “sufficient progress”) in Brussels along with political defeats (otherwise known as “parliamentary sovereignty”) to her own party in the Commons. Beyond the headlines, the Prime Minister is also presiding over the slow but steady decline of British influence within the halls of European institutions. In some instances, that loss of sway is swift and sudden: Britain’s failure to...

Putting the record straight – Emily Barley on why holding the Dan and Alexander Adamescu case up as an example of Tories being soft on white collar crime is foolish given the background. In an article published on this website on November 30th, Robert Seiler made a number of claims about Dan and Alexander Adamescu, holding the case up as an example of right wing, eurosceptic Tories tolerating and even encouraging corruption and white collar crime. But the truth is,...

By Rupert Read I’m in London, to be with the family at Christmas. Every year, the lights are bigger and brighter. Is this progress? Thinking about the meaning of ‘progress’ is not easy to do in our society. Because it’s hard-wired into the hegemony of capitalist economics and of liberal technocracy that any technological change, any increase in GDP, anything getting bigger and brighter IS progress. By definition. In fact, we’re often told, if we dare to try to question...

Loneliness is an epidemic. The launch of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness report today marks a significant moment in our ambition to end this looming social crisis. Throughout 2017, the Commission has highlighted the impact that loneliness has on diverse groups. From older people to refugees, to young people to carers: it is clear that loneliness can no longer be ignored. The health impacts of loneliness - both physical and mental – are devastating. Loneliness is as bad for...

With the EU and UK making "sufficient progress" to move Brexit negotiations on to the next stage a clear picture of life outside the union is starting to emerge. So far Britain has conceded on the cost of the Brexit divorce bill, the Irish border, European Court of Justice rulings, a free trade deal, EU payments and many other terms of the break-up with little coming back in return. With the election pledges of the Leave campaign such as the NHS fallacy and...

A blog post about Tory Britain is going viral after it brutally exposed the hardships many have to endure on a day-to-day basis. The post, which signs off with "if you aren’t angry as hell, then there’s something very wrong with you", documents a chance meeting with a woman in Cambridge who has been forced into prostitution to cover her rent. It was documented a month after the same person passed a homeless girl in tears of rage and misery because someone...