I want to talk to you about power. Not political power, or entrenched patriarchal power, but the everyday kind you get from the socket in the wall. Because I heard something very disturbing indeed recently – the UK almost ran out of gas, at the worst possible time. Now at the time I heard […]
Economy & Finance
UNIVERSAL CREDIT EQUALS MISERY FOR ALL.
A version of this article first appeared in The Scottish Left Review The roll-out of the Tory government’s flagship policy is woefully behind schedule. However by this time next year all of Scotland and the UK will be covered, with individuals and their families in work age benefits having to apply. It is the […]
Universal Chaos
A shocking government briefing paper written by David Webster of the Child Poverty action Group has come to light exposing the failings of the Tories flagship Universal Credit system, including skyrocketing sanctions against pregnant women, and people with mental health problems. The scheme, which the government agreed in its universal credit white paper (pdf) was […]
Judge Tories on their Record
Theresa May is in hiding, too scared to appear in public, refusing televised debates, public appearances or questions from the electorate, asking that we judge her on the Tories record instead. So let’s have a look at that. May has been PM for nine months, and during that time she has consistently insisted she is […]
Twenty Three
The Trussell Trust reports food bank use is at an all time high, with over a million 3 day emergency food parcels given out to families in the UK over the last year. Thirteen million people live below the poverty line in the UK, with individuals going hungry every day for a range of reasons, […]
Fifteen
One of the best bits about the festive season is the winter feast – gorging on chocolate and christmas pud, stodgy spuds, Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes to build up some fat that we will lament in January, but that will keep us warm in the cold months ahead. For some, the reality is […]
Rise Up and Abandon the Creeping Meatball
Remember what Jean Shepherd said about creeping meatballism being the passive acquiescence of people who surrender to the demands of the consumer culture and collaborate in their own manipulation? In the Great Satan back in the 1960s, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and three of their friends founded the counterculture-oriented Youth International Party whose slogan […]
The Greatest Financial Scam Of All Time
First published June 7th 2014 Well, somebody has to say it, so it might as well be me. Privatisation is very probably the biggest financial scam of all time. It dwarves anything else I can think of. LIBOR? Fiddling small change. The original Charles Ponzi? Amateur! There has been renewed talk of privatisation recently, […]