Following Charlie Kirk’s murder, there’s been a lot of media discussion about ‘the right way’ of talking about politics, which I find hard to connect with Kirk’s career. It’s not just that I disagree with his view of the world, but that I disagree with his way of doing politics, prioritising the pursuit of victory... Continue Reading →
Many members of the modern Republican party are willing to say things that are blatantly untrue. In fact it often seems a requirement rather than a flaw. This tendency does not just apply to matters surrounding Donald Trump, but the discussion of basic political terminology, as Rand Paul proved when being interviewed on The Daily... Continue Reading →
One of the many downsides to Brexit is that it will leave the UK in a weaker position when negotiating trade deals with other countries. According to the Financial Times, Japanese negotiators are demanding more favourable terms from the UK than they agreed to in the recent Japan-EU treaty. American Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross... Continue Reading →
When the phrase 'class warfare' is used nowadays, it's usually to criticise the messages of left-wing parties. Earlier this year Jeremy Corbyn proposed that demographic data on the ethnicity and social backgrounds of employees should be publicly available, and the Daily Mail reacted by accusing him of declaring "class war". In 2014 Tory MP Henry... Continue Reading →
Obama-Trump voters are a counter-intuitive phenomenon, given that, on a superficial level at least, the two presidents have very different styles. Obama had the positive vibe ("Yes we can"), whereas Trump spent a lot of time on the paranoid, racist fantasy that Obama was born in Kenya. Speaking in October 2016, Noam Chomsky pointed out that... Continue Reading →
On June 26th the socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated the long-time incumbent Joe Crowley for the right to run on the Democratic ticket in New York's 14th district. Her surprise victory prompted discussions about whether Ocasio-Cortez' socialist, grassroots-led campaign can be replicated in parts of the country. These discussions immediately turned Ocasio-Cortez into a major name... Continue Reading →
Karl Marx's central theory was that in modern capitalism there exists two main groups of people (or classes) and there exists a 'class struggle' between these groups when their interests overlap. The proletariat are the group who have nothing to sustain themselves but their labours, while the bourgeoisie are the group who own the 'means... Continue Reading →
Earlier today stories emerged that, in addition to the possible unexploded bomb that was intercepted en-route to Democratic party donor George Soros, similar suspect packages were posted to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s homes. It appears that similar devices were also sent to former Attorney General Eric Holder, possible presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and Debbie... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth Warren has spoken about how tales of the family’s Native American heritage played a part in her childhood, saying that "Being Native American has been part of my story, I guess, since the day I was born." The evidence suggests that Warren always saw her Native American history as part of her identity, not... Continue Reading →
In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report titled Report Card for America's Infrastructure, giving America a D+ in terms of the quality of national infrastructure. The 2013 ASCE report made the case for investment, saying that "Capital investment needs for the nation’s wastewater and stormwater systems are estimated to total $298... Continue Reading →
Back in 2015 I played a small part in a campaign to oppose the slow closure of Hartlepool's hospital. I played no significant organisational role in the 'Save our Hospital' campaign but attended a few events, meetings and online discussions. One common argument that recurred was that the campaign "shouldn't be about politics". As part... Continue Reading →
We live in a deeply political age. Fascism is on the rise in America, Hungary, and more subtly in many other places. Political debate is increasingly post-truth, with people being manipulated by puppetmasters to disregard inconvenient facts. Global warming is reaching a critical point, possibly having major practical effects already. There is the serious possibility... Continue Reading →
Happy Sisyphus 