Peter Kyle MP, the man who masterminded Labour’s breathtaking win in Mid-Beds, has called the result ‘a political earthquake’. But he’s wrong. It’s much bigger than that. An earthquake may shake the walls, knock over a few vases, and take down some buildings. The results from Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth are
Devastating and fast-moving events in Israel and the Gaza Strip – including a catastrophic explosion at a Gaza hospital on 17 October caused it seems by an errant Palestinian rocket – will leave many observers reeling and desperate. Yet we must try to assess why this conflict has erupted now,
Today is my final day as director of Progressive Britain and, coming just days after this year’s Labour Party Conference, it provides an opportunity to reflect. Our strapline since we rebranded in 2021 has been Imaginative Thinking to Rebuild Labour and the Nation. Its more that just a line though,
Not a lot of people know this, but Labour organised a special one day conference on Socialist Foreign Policy in 1986. It was part of Neil Kinnock’s efforts to encourage new thinking on issues that obsessed many members. Kinnock’s Labour was then gradually shifting its position from unilaterally banning the
As the Tories implode into a farrago of populist nastiness and broken promises, with Liz Truss as their spirit guide, attention turns to whether Labour is ready to govern. Labour’s conference in Liverpool is the last one before the voters make up their minds about whether they trust us or
If Labour wins the next general election, the political and economic landscape of the Middle East will look rather different than when Tony Blair arrived in Downing Street in 1997. Although already faltering, much optimism still surrounded the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. The reformist Mohammad Khatami
A key barometer for assessing Labour’s future electoral success is how it scores in areas where the Conservatives often do best, such as the economy or crime. Everyone expects that Labour will have greater support on health and education – and it’s essential for our political future this remains steadfastly
“We’ll now have a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach” Yesterday, in perhaps the most significant speech of his premiership, Rishi Sunak articulated his new net zero approach. Disguised as ‘realistic’ and ‘pragmatic’ it has instead added to confusion and uncertainty for businesses, investors and voters. Nobody is now sure
It was quite the return to Westminster after the summer recess. Record hospital waiting times, schools threatening to crumble around us and the Cinderella of public services – prisons – gave us a jail break. The escape in a chef’s uniform, under a catering van from HMP Wandsworth by Daniel
The 19th century French writer Victor Hugo wrote that “We see past time in a telescope and present time in a microscope. Hence the apparent enormities of the present.” We have so much more information at our fingertips today that it’s increasingly difficult to see the wood for the trees.
