Britain and the Making of Hồ Chí Minh
Britain’s history in Vietnam has been one of collusion with French colonialism and US war crimes. But there is another story of workers protesting, raising medical funds and flying the flag of the Viet Cong.
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Museum Without Objects
The ‘universal museum’ is a product of Enlightenment thinking, with museums such as the Louvre cast in an increasingly ludicrous position as guardians of global heritage. Is there another way?
Dreaming the Socialist Tripadvisor
As British cities are increasingly hollowed out by property developers, a tradition on the Italian left has seen the creation of ‘social centres’, where radical ways of being and thinking can take root. Can we replicate their success?
The Unjust Transition
If Labour carries on with its baffling refusal to save Grangemouth oil refinery, hundreds of workers will lose jobs, Scotland could face fuel shortages, and – once again in British history – an entire community could face collapse.
The Tariff Test
Trump’s tariffs look set to dismantle whatever remains of the ‘rules-based international order’. Rather than bowing down, Britain should take the opportunity to do away with the hypocrisy of that system and build a different kind of world economy.
The Wrong Crusade
The Labour government is waging a moral crusade in reverse by embarking on the biggest attack on welfare in a generation. It should tax high earners and multinationals instead.
As Good as It Gets
A ‘filthy leftist’ in the eyes of his opponents, Pope Francis, who has died aged 88, brought radical energy to the papacy – but his reformism had limits, and now his successor seems likely to push the Catholic Church firmly rightwards.
Bring Back British Steel
The Labour government can’t delude itself that the whims of the free market can support our country’s steelworkers — we need a plan for the industry to be brought under public control.
To the Lifehouse
A new book rediscovers lessons from Black Panther survival programmes, solidarity networks of crisis-era Greece and the Occupy Sandy disaster relief efforts — and asks whether impending climate catastrophe means we should stop waiting and start doing.
Your Worth Is Not Your Productivity
Labour’s swingeing cuts to benefits continue a long tradition of equating human worth with participation in paid employment — an unnecessary, immoral, counterproductive way to run a society.
Imagining the Progressive Restaurant
In a country where so many people live increasingly lonely, bland, and digitised lives, food institutions can — and should — be bodies that place communal enjoyment before the whims of consumerism.
Lennon, Ono, and the Leftists
Kevin MacDonald’s excellent new documentary shows John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the maelstrom of the early 1970s American counterculture in Nixon’s America.
In With the In Crowd
The Left tends to celebrate the crowd only in limited and conditional ways. A new book by Dan Hancox aims to reclaim the mass gathering for the 2020s.
The Government Is Failing Hillsborough Families Again
Last year, Keir Starmer pledged that the Hillsborough Law would be passed by the disaster’s 36th anniversary, which is today. Its delay is further evidence of his government’s priorities: protecting powerful interests against the threat of justice.
Radical Gaming
A new left-wing board game puts players in the role of maniacal plutocrats trying to take over the world. Its creator explains how it responds to the wider phenomenon of ‘gamified capitalism’.