Loach's new film, Spirit of '45, is an impassioned account of the unity that built the post-war welfare state, contrasted with the dismantling we are witnessing today. Oliver Huitson talks to him about the film, welfare, Thatcher, the unions and the modern Labour party. Can we recapture the spirit
As Fairtrade Fortnight commences it is important to demystify the economic arguments surrounding fair trade. Is it the case that promoting social justice in the supply chain can serve to undermine the long term prospects of poor southern producers?
Critics fear that the renewed UN Millennium Development Goals starting in 2015 will fail to include democracy and human rights. But maybe the UN Declaration on Human Rights is still useful.
Many have accused Occupy's 1 / 99 narrative of brushing aside the realities of actual wealth distribution in Britain. Most recently, Craig Berry of the TUC has presented a case that it is time to drop the 'slogan'. Activist Kerry-Anne Mendoza hits back, arguing that it is vital as a global group i
We need to consider both the amount we pay for the NHS and also what we mean by the "culture" problem - the culture in question is commercial culture. Why then are we reorganising the whole NHS on commercial lines?
Since last weeks big report from Cutcher & Reynolds, the section 75 legislation introducing compulsory tendering to NHS services has hit the headlines but the battle is far from over. Here's a quick roundup of what's happened.
In the wake of the Italian elections, this excerpt from ‘Stagioni del populismo italiano’ examines populism in Italy’s political past and present. How did Guglielmo Giannini’s Qualunquismo movement influence the most recent forms of populism: those of the former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi,
Iraq, a decade after the US-led invasion and one year after the end of the US occupation, is grappling not merely with an escalating sectarian crisis between the Shia-led government and an increasingly disaffected Sunni minority, but with an intensifying ethnic crisis fomenting in an increasingly
The battle between consensus politics and majoritarian politics has not only brought Nepalese politics to a standstill, but has extended a turbulent political transition into an uncertain future.
It isn't enough that we aren't Thatcherites and free-marketeers, visions of the sort of Scotland we want to build must escape the confines of current conservatism and move beyond oppositional formulations. Scotland must be a positive proposition.
A new grassroots network launches this week with the twin aims of scrapping Trident and persuading the UK to join other governments in multilateral negotiations to achieve a global treaty banning nuclear weapons. If we get our strategies right, the peace movement can win this one, says Rebecca Joh
To protest against what they see as unjust exclusion, some Israeli citizens have given their vote to Palestinians who couldn't make their voices heard in the January 2013 elections. One of these activist citizens explains why his action could help Israel become a 'real' democracy.
