The Hamas pogrom and civilian casualties in Gaza are expanding a profound faultline between the “Kibbutzim Left” and the “Nakba Left.” The first says that the creation of Israel was legitimate and that its collectivist communes and Labour Governments were beacons of hope. The second focuses on displaced Palestinians in
In the run-up to the 22 November election for the Dutch Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, pollsters predicted a tight result. Several parties were competing to become the biggest and potentially deliver the new prime minister after 13 years of Mark Rutte’s hegemony. Very few predicted the landslide win by the
The UN’s International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls on 25 November is a time to face reality: the atrocities of Hamas gunmen in on October 7 included the widespread rape of women and girls. With most of the rape victims subsequently murdered, a full account may
Next year’s general election is likely to centre on domestic issues rather than Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, not least as it is hard so far to see any substantive policy differences with the Conservatives on this issue, beyond a possibly performative demand that the government do more of
A turning point in Polish politics – to what extent can progressives be optimistic about the defeat of the Law and Justice (PiS) party? The recent general election in Poland marked a critical juncture in both the country’s and the EU’s political landscape. The central question revolved around the continuity
It is hard to look at world events today and feel hopeful. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the Hamas orgy of violence on October 7th (again) bring to mind Irish poet WB Yeats’ words from 1919’s The Second Coming: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed
Barnet, where I am a councillor, is one of the most diverse boroughs in the country, including being home to the largest number of Jewish people of any local authority in the country . On 7th October when the horrific terrorist incursion into Israel by Hamas occurred, we were braced
Rishi Sunak wants to put the UK on the world stage with his AI Summit this week, but there remains a crucial missing ingredient from the government’s script: workers. And it is not a new omission. The government has chosen to make the summit about existential risks and global standards.
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,
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
