Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
“Each decade we declare that we buried class- each decade the coffin stays empty.” Richard Hoggart, 1989 introduction to George Orwell’s Road to Wigan Pier. Lately, rather than sitting down to BBC Breakfast or Sky, I’ve been watching the previous nights American chat shows; Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel or Seth Myers, or news from CNN or […]
Back in 2005, politically, I, like many lefties in Scotland, felt our time was now. Scottish Socialism was the new Rock ‘n Roll. We had filled halls, built a huge reaction to the rumours and actuality of the Bush/Blair wars, and helped facilitate unprecedented street level dissent at the G8 conference, drawing the international media […]
Rest in peace, as your life was for, and gifted us peace, John Hume. Ungagged are reproducing this extraordinary speech by John Hume as a lesson in how to appeal to politics, and to how to adhere to the principle of non-violence in the face of hate and vicious division. Hume made this speech after […]
We were somewhere around Watford on the edge of up North when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, “I need a shit… the bowels are at last engaging… maybe you should drive…” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of lorry tractors […]
Available FREE on iTunes and Podbean The UK Christmas Election is highlighting how awful the binary sloganeering of the right really is – and how much the power of the Billionaire owned press and media still is killing democracy. Let this be your antidote. Help us continue to podcast, publish and campaign… a few quid keeps […]
OK…. I’m up for predictions. Predictions in the short term, and regarding the UK and Scotland first. One, more or all of the upcoming predictions may end up wrong, but regardless of that, there will be no revolution in the UK. Power will still remain with corporations and the land owning class who by way […]
On Labour’s travails A week, as they say, is a long time in politics and there must be many Scottish Labour members out there wishing the past week had never happened. It all started when John McDonnell made it clear that a UK Labour Government would not stand in the way of a second independence […]
Two mass shootings in 24 hours with a body count over 50. A third shooting two days later in Baton Rouge, Louisiana after an argument between two customers erupted into a shooting match inside a Wal-Mart. No one was killed there, but an innocent bystander took a bullet and landed in the hospital. Guess America […]
Jo Swinson has been elected as the leader of the Liberal Democrats. Usually I’d no more comment on the leader of the Liberal Democrats than I would the latest happenings on the degenerate Love Island, but we live in times that have catapulted the Liberals into public relevance and my consciousness. Partly, it’s because Corbynism […]
Valerie Zen is an opponent of Putin who lives in Moscow, who has been involved in several campaigns in Russia (she doesn’t like to describe herself as an activist) and is active on social media speaking up against the Russian regime. In this interview she tells me (Rachael Horwitz) about her thoughts on the current […]