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![]() Andy BeckettThe Guardian |
All governments disappoint us in the end. Some policies fail, divisions open up, ideological dead-ends are reached and national problems are left...
In some ways, the counterprotests across the UK against the far right have been a straightforward, much-needed good news story. A great array of...
When Labour wins a general election by centrist means, some on the left of the party always have mixed feelings. They welcome the crushing of the...
Can a political party win too much power? In many ways, it’s a strange fear to raise about Labour, yet the Conservatives have been doing it for...
In many ways, Keir Starmer’s makeover of the Labour party has been a deeply conventional project. Since the 1950s, a decade his buttoned-up style...
To win power, opposition parties need to say something compelling about the status quo. This isn’t necessarily as easy as just advocating...
It’s not every day that you see Keir Starmer’s increasingly ruthless electoral machine in a state of confusion and disarray. But its chaotic...
For supposedly one of the biggest losers in Labour’s history, Jeremy Corbyn has certainly won a lot of elections. Two leadership contests by huge...
During the final, beleaguered stages of the last Labour government, one of the stern young party functionaries who used to cluster protectively around...
Unlike Boris Johnson, did you remember to take ID when you went to vote yesterday? Did you remember to take the right kind? Or, like one in seven...
Under capitalism, prices are supposed to be the centre of everything. They are the key agreement between buyer and seller. They are the one clear and...
An old spectre is haunting Britain yet again – the spectre of Thatcherism. Although she became Tory leader almost half a century ago and was sacked...
Why are so many voters so unsatisfied with Britain’s main parties? In the opinion polls, despite Labour’s strong lead, their combined support is...
In Britain and other supposedly calm democracies, the ascent of leftwing politicians can arouse unusual fears of violence. Many conservatives and...
Where should politics happen? For most MPs, accustomed to the Palace of Westminster’s inward-looking spaces and rituals, the answer is obvious. In...
On the ever more common journey from the centre right to the far right, there are two contrasting routes conservative parties can follow. One is to...
In our punitive politics, the Labour party is almost always on probation. You can see it in Keir Starmer’s sometimes jumpy public manner, in the...
For Tory moderates – assuming some still exist – these ought to be quietly promising times. Their party’s extremists have made a huge mess of...
The often messy end of a party’s long hold on power is one of the key rituals of British politics. Voters who made that party’s ascendancy...
Labour leaders looking to cite successful predecessors, at least in the most obvious electoral sense, don’t have many to choose from. Ramsay...
For millions of Britons, this feels more and more like a poor country. Essentials such as heating and regular meals are increasingly unaffordable....