Socialist correspondent

Britain has left the European Union and exited from the year-long transition period on 31st December 2020. This is four and a half years after the vote to Leave and it is not over yet. The agreement between the UK and the EU leaves many issues unresolved and constructs a web of committees which will keep them in permanent negotiating mode. Although the UK has gained some formal autonomy from the E...

The Brexit deal has exposed Boris Johnson’s false claim that Britain would gain total control of its fishing after Brexit. In fact, the deal has only given Britain an increased 25% share of the fish within its waters. It’s a far lower figure than the Tory promise of 80%. Over decades the UK government and the EU conspired to develop a market in fishing quotas which benefited big business at the ex...

Brexit will leave British capital weaker and marks another significant step in Britain’s decline relative to other imperial powers over the last 100 years. Britain always had an uneasy relationship with the EU, with different allegiances and ambitions from France and Germany. Having said that the dominant sectors of British capital, whose interests were tied up with the EU, were not in favour of B...

Though defeated in a referendum in 2011, proportional representation (PR) is again being mooted as a way of engaging voters and making the electoral system more democratic. In fact PR would actually produce less of what the electorate wants with more horse-trading of policies. Most importantly it would dilute a clear class divide making radical change harder.

The second part of this obituary of Denis Goldberg deals with the period of his life following his release from prison when he was in exile and then his return to South Africa where he continued to fight for the ideals of freedom and equality for all. The personal and political challenges remained huge but Denis continued the struggle, inspiring many others with his message. In his words, “Underst...

Podcast 31 - How The West Spied On The World And Still Does by Socialist Correspondent

The right wing and liberal media are united in their attacks on so-called Russian interference in western elections. This has been so hyped that it is almost taken for granted, yet the evidence does not stack up. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report failed to substantiate allegations of Russian interference. It blamed the lack of evidence on spooks not having looked h...

Why has the United States has reacted with such ferocity in ramping up sanctions and bans on Chinese companies? Whilst China’s economy has grown and it has developed its political, economic and military power globally, it is still nowhere near being able to challenge the US’s superpower status. But what it is doing very effectively is developing world-leading digital companies like Huawei and Ant....

In the negotiations with the EU the Tories have come under fire for their confrontational approach on state aid rules, taking back powers from devolved governments and the threat of breaking international law. However the left needs to be principled in its critique of the Tories and not allow them to seize the ideological ground as defenders of sovereignty. Meanwhile their disastrous handling of t...

Its advocates idealistically hope that Universal Basic Income (UBI) will change the world, undermining the logic of capitalism. But there are flaws in how possible schemes would operate. Most do not propose to pay an amount of money that people could actually live on with inevitable negative consequences. Some groups would lose out, it would tend to subsidise low-wage employers as people would sti...

Slavery was essential to the development of capitalism and as such the continued power of big companies and financial institutions rest on that legacy. Even if they agree to reparations or token responses to the demands of Black Lives Matter and others, they continue to remain in power, still reaping the benefits of their brutal past.

This is the first of a two-part tribute to Denis Goldberg, hero of the struggle for the liberation of South Africa. It deals with his early life, how he became active in the fight against apartheid and the important contribution he made. It also covers the Rivonia trial, where Denis was sentenced with Mandela and others to life imprisonment, and with the twenty-two years he spent in prison. The ar...

The extradition hearing for Julian Assange continues as he battles against the US and British states' determination to make an example of anyone who brings their misdeeds to light - particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the process he has suffered many injustices and his treatment has been condemn by the UN rapporteur on torture and the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute.

The coronavirus pandemic has once again demonstrated the clash between capitalism's priority of safeguarding profits over peoples lives. But it has also revealed the deeper problem that working class people's lives were already precarious before the virus struck. We are not in this together.

Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party always faced huge problems some of which were almost insurmountable, but others could have been tackled more effectively. Whilst the election of Sir Keir Starmer is a huge setback nevertheless a lot has been achieved. The political landscape has shifted to the left and there there is a new generation of serious socialists beginning to emerge.

Since the height of the so-called pink tide in Latin America, reactionary forces, backed by the united States have been rolling back progress. there have been coups, constitutional/legal manoeuvres and coups. the challenges remain massive, but despite setbacks there is an upsurge in strikes and protests by working people, most notably in Chile.

In France the Gilets Jaunes protests have been going on for over a year and now there are massive strikes and demonstrations against Macron's pension "reforms". Virtually unreported by the mainstream media in Britain these movements are beginning to collaborate and represent wider demands.

It was the Brexit election and Labour could not escape this. though there were other factors, the main reason for its defeat was the loss of Leave voting constituencies in Wales and the North and Midlands of England. This was due to the failure to up-hold its promise to respect the outcome of the of the EU referendum in 2016.

The United States failure to achieve regime change in Syria has led to a shifting power dynamic in the Middle East. Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have become more assertive and alliances between them have changed in ways which do not serve US interests. The US sees Iran's emergence as regional power as a particular threat to its own position as well as to Israel and Saudi Arabi...

The Brexit crisis has come to a head with Prime Minister Johnson's confrontational tactics, which have served to unite the Remainer majority in Parliament. It is now intent on stopping a No Deal Brexit. Johnson has turned on his own MPs who dare to dissent, expelling recent former ministers and Tory grandees. A general election is now inevitable, but Labour would find one fought soly on Brexit dif...

Socialism has the interests of humanity at its core and can plan economic activity to serve those interests. However, we are in a world dominated by capitalist self-interest. In these circumstances, how can we campaign to prevent climate catastrophe? Labour's Green New Deal is a good start.

NATO was founded in the Cold War to advance the West's interests. 70 years on, despite the end of the Soviet Union it continues that purpose, expanding further and threatening "foes". It and its members have been implicated in recent wars which have brought misery to peoples and made our planet a dangerous place.

The major powers are once again competing over Africa. Like the earlier Scramble for Africa between 1881 and 1914 – when the European imperialists divided up 90% of the continent between them – this is about gaining valuable resources and controlling them against rivals.

May has been forced out at last, unable to sell her unpopular Brexit deal to parliament. The two leadership contenders to replace her both promise to carry through on Brexit, yet that is not what the ruling class wants. While this saga drags on in Britain, the EU continues to get on with other business, mainly jockeying for the top jobs post the EU elections and dealing with its own internal confl...

Hopes of ousting Donald Trump were buoyed by last November's mid-term elections in the US. The Democrats won sweeping gains and had their biggest margin of victory over the Republicans since Watergate. Encouragingly a number of new progressive Democrats associated with the Bernie Sanders campaign and the Democratic Socialists of America were elected. the fight is on to secure a progressive Democra...