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George MonbiotThe Guardian |
We now face, on all fronts, a war not just against the living planet and the common good, but against material reality. Power in the United States...
Imagine, as many people do, an all-seeing eye in the sky, looking down on planet Earth. Imagine seeing what it sees. It watches, over the course of...
We were losing slowly. Now we are losing quickly. Democracy, accountability, human rights, social justice – all were rolling backwards as money...
This is what happens when successive US governments fail to tackle inequality. While millions of people live in poverty, a handful grow unimaginably...
Dear US voters, in the spirit in which I would beg a dear friend not to get a facial tattoo, I’m writing to ask you not to vote for Donald Trump....
How could this happen in the 21st century? This question could apply to many issues, but this one sends you reeling. A brilliant and lively young...
This will be Keir Starmer’s HS2: a hugely expensive scheme that will either be abandoned, scaled back or require massive extra funding to continue,...
The sentences were handed down just as Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. As homes were smashed, trucks swept down roads that had turned into rivers...
Over the past three weeks, I’ve been watching one of the greatest natural spectacles on Earth, here in south Devon. At a certain station of the...
Labour’s first stage of government resembles a vast forensic excavation. As it works through the Conservatives’ midden of horrors, it discovers an...
Let’s talk about perceptionware. Perceptionware is technology whose main purpose is to create an impression of action. Whether it will ever work at...
I’ve been thinking about a famously orange-skinned former presenter of trashy TV programmes, who lives on a luxurious coastal estate. He has a...
There are several services and assets I would like to see nationalised. But at the top of my list is neither water, nor trains, nor development land,...
For many years, certain car manufacturers sought to obstruct the transition to electric vehicles. It’s not hard to see why: when you have invested...
A functioning society depends on equality before the law. If crimes are not treated equally and dispassionately by the justice system, we lose trust...
“Fight, fight, fight,” senior Tories urged for years. Now they express shock, and condemn the results, when people prove stupid enough to have...
Who is government for? It’s a question we should never stop asking. The answer that keeps coming back is “not the majority”. For example, the...
On a calm and beautiful morning off the coast of south Devon last week, I was watching a small pod of dolphins from my kayak. I had spotted them from...
How do you know when protest tactics are working? When governments ban them. The oppressive laws introduced by the previous government – the Police,...
Never let your opponents define the terms of a debate. All too often, Labour has allowed the Conservatives and the billionaire press to demonise the...
Soon after Labour forms a government, it will find itself in a new world. It now seems likely that Donald Trump will win the presidency of the United...
We are about to return to normal politics. After 14 years of Tory corruption and misrule, a Labour government will put this country back on track....
How does it happen? How does an organisation end up doing the opposite of what it was established to do? This month marks the 200th anniversary of the...
It’s a story of the good, the bad and the absent. There are some strong green policies in Labour’s manifesto. It will greatly increase investment...
All governments betray the hopes of their supporters. But Labour is getting its betrayal in early. By ruling out a wealth tax and other measures that...
Everything hangs on them but little changes. For weeks or months, elections dominate national life. Media reports and public conversations are...
It’s not hard to spot the extremists inflaming public passions in Britain and disrupting our lives. They play an active role in politics, and...
I’m a patron of a small local charity that helps struggling children to rebuild trust and connection. It’s called Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship,...
The news should have stopped us in our tracks. Astonishingly, however, it was scarcely reported here. The latest map of mental wellbeing published by...
There’s a sensible rule in British politics: it should not be funded by foreign donors. Democracy is meaningless if a country isn’t run at the...
So that’s how they do it. I’d been wondering how, when more sewage has been entering our rivers than ever before, some of the water companies have...
When the traditional ruling class was obliged to concede to demands for democracy, it gave away as little as possible. We could vote, but it ensured...
We draw our moral lines in arbitrary places. We might believe we’re guided only by universal values and proven facts, but often we’re swayed by...
A large and impressive study of children’s progress into adulthood found that those who display bullying and aggressive behaviour at school are more...
This is what democracy looks like: hundreds of people queueing in the rain, seeking to take back control of a political system that treats voters like...
It’s a benefit of Brexit – but only if you’re a manufacturer or distributor of toxic chemicals. For the rest of us, it’s another load we have...
It’s the greatest medical scandal of the 21st century. For decades, patients with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) have...
There’s a flaw in the plan. It’s not a small one: it is an Earth-sized hole in our calculations. To keep pace with the global demand for food,...
Step back a pace to see how weird this is. Last week, the prime minister of the United Kingdom joined a protest against one of the UK’s four...
I’m as likely to be selected for the national gymnastics team. But bear with me awhile, to imagine that, like David Cameron, I’m about to be...
The national care service, abolishing the House of Lords, a wealth tax: one by one, the Labour party has identified its best proposals and destroyed...
Why are peaceful protesters treated like terrorists, while actual terrorists (especially on the far right, and especially in the US) often remain...
Many explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges...