Amnesty lost its way long ago
This article appeared today in the Jewish Chronicle. Imagine Israel without guns or ammunition, without Iron Dome, as helpless before the armed fanatics of Hamas as Jews had been for centuries. Of course we can’t…
How to stop Hamas’s terror-blitz on Israel
The Islamist terror group Hamas cannot conquer Israel; in fact, it can’t even run the Gaza Strip. Unable to provide anything useful for the Palestinians, it engages in endless and pointless confrontations with Israel. The…
Labour needs a new leader – and not one of the usual suspects
This article appeared in Solidarity. After Labour’s abysmal showing in the Newark by-election, which closely followed on its poor showing in the European elections, it is becoming increasingly clear that the party faces defeat yet…
Life with a Chromebook: The first month
About a month ago, my very expensive and much-loved MacBook Air died a sudden and painful death. The screen fractured, initially displaying some thin vertical lines that I could ignore, and then becoming completely useless. The…
Two months without a mobile phone
It’s now been two months since I published my blog “Why I’m throwing my mobile phone away“. I thought this might be a good time for an update. Since I wrote the article, I have…
Unions and smartphones: Time to get it right
In recent weeks, I’ve gotten a few requests for information about a survey LabourStart did a couple of years ago. It’s odd because we’ve not done anything to publicize this. So I asked one of…
Welcoming China’s unions back into the family?
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity. At the end of March, the International Labour Organisation’s Bureau for Workers Activities (known as ILO-ACTRAV) and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) signed a…
Should male circumcision be banned? A socialist view
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity and is a response to this article by Camilla Bassi. Camilla Bassi’s “basic socialist demands” regarding male circumcision have no foundation in Marxist tradition, give legitimacy…
Russia, Ukraine and the International Left
“The policy of Russia is changeless … Its methods, its tactics, its maneuvers may change, but the polar star of its policy — world domination — is a fixed star.” — Karl Marx, 1867 That…
Why I’m throwing my mobile phone away
“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” – Dr Emmett Brown, Back to the Future (1985) I hardly ever use phones. Like many people, I do most of my communication either face to face,…