The ‘Bedroom Tax’: A Two-Pronged Attack By Insa Koch

1 September 2013 — New Left Project

The ‘bedroom tax’, which was implemented on the 1 April 2013, has been widely criticised as a fundamental attack on the welfare state in Britain. It exposes many people to the risk of losing their houses, threatening to break up family homes and communities. But there is also another problem with the ‘bedroom tax’ which has been largely overlooked: in addition to undermining the welfare state, it fosters feelings of resentment which may well reinforce social divisions among the most marginalised sectors of society.

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Corruption, Accountability and Media Power By Justin Schlosberg, Tom Mills

15 July 2013 — New Left Project

Justin Schlosberg is lecturer in journalism and media at Birkbeck, University of London and the author of Power Beyond Scrutiny, a book examining how the British media cover cases of institutional corruption.  In an interview with NLP’s Tom Mills he discussed media power and democratic accountability in the UK.

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Authoritarian Neoliberalism Hits a Wall in Turkey By Özlem Onaran

6 June 2013 — New Left Project

Özlem Onaran is Professor of Workforce and Economic Development Policy at the University of Greenwich and until 2004 was based at Istanbul Technical University.  She discussed the social, political and economic context to the Gezi Park protests with Anastasia Giamali in an interview for the Greek newspaper AVGI. Continue reading

The BBC and Iraq Ten Years On By David McQueen

2 April 2013 — New Left Project

The tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq was marked in Baghdad with a wave of deadly bombings that killed at least sixty people and injured over two hundred. In Britain the anniversary brought on a wave of retrospectives and handwringing recollections by the likes of the BBC’s John Simpson. Simpson and other media pundits who gave credence to the government’s claims on WMD a decade ago have yet to apologise for their role in building the case for invasion. Continue reading

Who is Jonathan Sacerdoti, the BBC’s Go-To Man on Gaza? by Hilary Aked

16 November 2012 — New Left Project 

As Israel’s ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’ was beginning on 14-15 November a man called Jonathan Sacerdoti appeared four times as a guest on different BBC television news programmes, asked to comment on Israel’s actions in Gaza. On 14 November he claimed that Israel was acting with ‘restraint’; in the first of three appearances the next day at 09:41 he talked about Israel‘s ‘right to defend itself’; on BBC World later that day he alleged that Hamas was ’embedding itself in civilian areas’; and on the 19:30 news programme that evening he stated that most Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been ‘terrorist bodies’, ignoring the many civilians including at least 3 children killed by Israel in the past days and weeks. Continue reading

Who is Jonathan Sacerdoti, the BBC’s Go-To Man on Gaza? by Hilary Aked

16 November 2012 — New Left Project 

As Israel’s ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’ was beginning on 14-15 November a man called Jonathan Sacerdoti appeared four times as a guest on different BBC television news programmes, asked to comment on Israel’s actions in Gaza. On 14 November he claimed that Israel was acting with ‘restraint’; in the first of three appearances the next day at 09:41 he talked about Israel‘s ‘right to defend itself’; on BBC World later that day he alleged that Hamas was ’embedding itself in civilian areas’; and on the 19:30 news programme that evening he stated that most Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been ‘terrorist bodies’, ignoring the many civilians including at least 3 children killed by Israel in the past days and weeks. Continue reading

Clegg Predicting Riots

10 August 2011 — Via New Left Project

The ‘I told you so’ of the week:

In the run up to the 2010 General Election Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned of riots if the Tories were elected, stating that, ‘There is danger that having any government of any composition led by a party which doesn’t have a popular mandate across the country trying to push through really difficult decisions.  I think a lot of people will react badly to them.’

Black Bloc: A Misguided Tactic for June 30 By Maeve McKeown

28 June 2011 — New Left Project

On March 26, a movement that has existed for several decades but has largely been absent from UK politics, known as ‘Black Bloc’, emerged from the shadows and scared the living daylights out of Middle England.  They blitzed central London, smashing the windows of the Ritz and the high street facades of corporate giants, threw paint and smoke bombs, and ran rings around the police.

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Libya Newslinks 19-20 May 2011

20 May 2011 — williambowles.info

20 May 2011

19 May 2011

A Humanitarian Intervention? by Richard Seymour, Edward Lewis

20 March, 2011 — New Left Project

Richard Seymour writes the blog Lenin’s Tomb and is the author of The Liberal Defence of Murder and The Meaning of David Cameron. Following the onset of military intervention in Libya, he spoke to NLP’s Edward Lewis about the motives underlying the operation and whether or not it can be justified.

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Labour victory in Oldham – the bigger picture By Luna 17

14 January, 2011 — New Left Project

Labour has increased its majority in Oldham East and Saddleworth. Yesterday’s by-election saw the party comfortably see off the Lib Dem challenge, taking 14,718 votes compared to the Lib Dem candidate’s 11,160 votes. This can safely be interpreted as what pundits call ‘a bloody nose’ for the coalition government. It has happened at a time of shifting fortunes nationally for the main parties.

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