Left To Burn

By Left To Burn In the second part of their conversation, Battleground Publisher Natalie Sarkic-Todd and Roma Foundation for Europe President Zeljko Jovanovic dive into the details, discussing the obstacles that Roma face in EU member states and how they’re working to overcome them. Particularly noteworthy is Jovanovic’s explanation of the importance of Roma voters in recent elections in Hungary a...

By Left To Burn In the first of a two-part series, Battleground Publisher Natalie Sarkic-Todd interviews the president of the Roma Foundation for Europe , Zeljko Jovanovic, about the foundation’s efforts to empower the Roma community. In a wide-ranging conversation, they explore the reasons for the marginalisation of Europe’s largest and youngest ethnic minority, opportunities for youth education...

By Left To Burn Few political problems became as acute during the Gaza War as European Holocaust remembrance. Particularly in Germany, where commemorating the Shoah became instrumentalised in anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic policymaking and leftist Jews were arrested and charged with Antisemitism for protesting the conflict. Nowhere in Europe has this approach to the Nazi genocide become more no...

By Left To Burn First, it was the Sukkot War. Then, it was the Iron Swords War. Now it’s the War of Redemption. No name has stuck to the conflict that erupted on 7 October 2023, which the Trump Administration and the majority of the world’s media have declared is now over. William Noah Glucroft and Joel Schalit discuss failures to brand the war in Gaza, and how it reflects the savagery of the Isra...

By Left To Burn Award-winning Afghan filmmaker, producer and director, Roya Sadat , opened the Brussels International Women’s Film Festival 2025 with her latest film,  Sima’s Song . She spoke with Battleground publisher Natalie Sarkic-Todd about her own story, her filmmaking career and the importance of women’s voices. Sadat founded the International Women’s Film Festival in Herat, Afghanistan, no...

By Left To Burn Gaza is everywhere. Few Jewish holidays highlighted its presence more than Yom Kippur this year, when Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, carried out a car ramming and stabbing attack at a Manchester synagogue. William Noah Glucroft and Joel Schalit deconstruct the violence and the international battlefield of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Get full...

By Left To Burn If only it were about trauma. But, Bibi being Bibi, the premier can’t help himself. Endlessly mining the 11 September attacks to cover for his 7 October failings, Netanyahu turns Israel into America, granting himself the military power he lacks without Washington’s help. In today’s show, William Noah Glucroft and Joel Schalit examine Bibi’s political rhetoric and its impact on Jewi...

By Left To Burn It’s all about framing. In the lead-up to the second anniversary of 7 October, William Noah Glucroft and Joel Schalit break down the major themes of the Gaza War, their significance for Israelis and Palestinians, and the conflict’s impact on European politics. Doubtless, they’ll have some additional items to discuss on October 8th. Today, the series kicks off with a conversation ab...

By Left To Burn In the fourth edition of Gaza War Blues, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and journalist William Noah Glucroft discuss the European Union’s reluctance to restrain Israel, despite mounting evidence of genocide, and how this reflects the bloc’s drift rightwards. Is this the populist EU everyone feared in the lead-up to the 2024 European elections, or a reflection of its impo...

By Left To Burn You can’t control everybody. In today’s show, Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit speaks with longtime contributor Wieland Hoban about his civil society organisation, Jüdische Stimme ( Jewish Voice ), being labelled as extremist by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and what it says about government efforts to define Jewish politics after the Holocaust....

In the third edition of Gaza War Blues, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and journalist William Noah Glucroft return to the Mideast conflict, and why the European Commission failed to follow through on its threat to suspend its 2001 Association Agreement with Israel. It’s not a new story. For Schalit and Glucroft, the pendulum inevitably swings back to the United States and Brussels’ lack...

Fleet Street used to be a world unto itself. Nowadays, it's a playground for lawyers and the professional services class. The hacks are long gone, but the media industry continues to define the national conversation. In this episode of Left To Burn, Josh White talks to media critic Mic Wright about his new book Breaking: How the Media Works, When It Does and Why It Doesn't . Wright paints an unfla...

In the second edition of Left To Burn’s series on the European Union and the Gaza War, William Noah Glucroft and Joel Schalit discuss the EU’s support for Israel and how it cemented an increasingly unpopular Netanyahu government’s grip on power. As Jewish journalists, Schalit and Glucroft hope for the best but expect the worst, and lament a crisis that could have been contained by better Western l...

Better late than never. But it should have happened a long time ago. In the first of a three-part series for Left To Burn on the EU and the Gaza War, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit speaks with Brussels journalist William Noah Glucroft about a rise in European efforts to contain the conflict and whether Europe has what it takes to bring the war to a close. Unsurprisingly, Germany plays a...

British populists are divided over a feud between Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and MP Rupert Lowe. Farage has had Lowe suspended for criticising his leadership. But Lowe isn’t just any MP. Elon Musk backed him as an alternative leader to Farage in January. Lowe built his reputation hyping Muslim rape gangs and promoting the mass deportation of migrants. In this episode of Left To Burn, Josh White...

In the second of a four-part series about Wieland Hoban's brand new Battleground book, German Apartheid Politics: Memory, Democracy and Genocide , Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and the author discuss Germany's much-criticised Antisemitism commissioners, and how they fit into an increasingly racist, religious and political environment in which Antisemitism gets practised in new and unrecognised ways...

Twenty-five years into the new century, Britain is more broken than ever, with the far right on the rise. The Tories have failed, and Labour is failing. The old consensus has collapsed, yet Keir Starmer still leads it. Meanwhile, all the energy is with Reform UK and its charismatic leader Nigel Farage. In this episode of Left To Burn, Josh White starts a new series on the politics behind this regr...

They love us too much and want every minority to do the same. The question is why. Wieland Hoban and Joel Schalit, with the first of four conversations about Hoban’s new Battleground book, German Apartheid Politics: Memory, Democracy and Genocide . Get full access to The Battleground at thebattleground.substack.com/subscribe

By Left To Burn The good news is that the election is over: the UK is set to have its first Labour government in fourteen years. However, the Conservative Party has not suffered the annihilation pundits predicted. The election result may be a stonking majority for Keir Starmer, but millions of voters stayed at home. Meanwhile, independents and small parties did far better than expected. In the mos...

By Left To Burn It's the last week of the UK election, and Labour will most certainly win. However, British democracy is in crisis, and the party lacks a grand vision for change. What could this mean for the country? If Keir Starmer fails to deliver, the UK could see the far-right Nigel Farage in power in 2029. Josh White, on his fears for the future. Get full access to The Battleground at thebatt...

By Left To Burn Nigel Farage has broken through TikTok, reaching thousands of young voters. Reform UK offers them easy answers about the economic and social malaise they’re facing in a post-industrial society with no community and no hope. There is now a campaign to establish a Reform UK Youth wing, what we might call the Farage Youth. The backers are Identitarian Zoomers who want to return to a m...

By Left To Burn Britain looks like it's on the brink of a new era: the end of Tory misrule, a new Labour government and an emboldened far-right party. Nigel Farage is indeed back and campaigning to make this an immigration election. While Labour is set to win, Farage will be waiting in the wings with his eye on 2029. Josh White, on why the UK’s 4 July election might just be the dress rehearsal for...

By Left To Burn Prime Minister Nigel Farage. It’d be a nightmare come true. Given the ideological influence he’s had over the last decade, it’s never been out of the question. Considering what failures Tory premiers have been, Farage might just be the strong leader the British right has been looking for. Josh White, on the Brexit architect’s candidacy in the UK election and what it portends for a...

By Left To Burn The bad news is that the UK election campaign has begun, but the good news is it will soon be over. Rishi Sunak is hoping he can limit the damage to his party by calling a July election, but defeat for the Tories looks certain. Josh White, on the end of an era in British politics and the crisis of the Conservatives. Get full access to The Battleground at thebattleground.substack.co...

The Tories are over. Whether you ask voters or pollsters, or even party apparatchiks, it’s not a question of if but when. Everyone agrees, and everything bears the death spiral out. The question is what the party might still do to stay in power. Josh White, on the crisis of the Conservatives, and why Rishi Sunak is profoundly unsuited to his role. No life preservers for this oligarch. If it weren’...