BEST LEADERSHIP FORWARD: WHERE’S THE OPPOSITION?

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged andy burnham, Angela Rayner, AOC, conservatives, corbyn, David Lammy, education, election, featured, hartlepool, keir starmer, Labour, labour party, lid bem, local election, new labour, party, politics, polls, sadiq khan, tony blair, uk, uk politics.

by Sunetra Senior

To mount successful opposition, Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, must embody an Evolved Left.

The ambiguous outcome of the recent by-election at North Shropshire has been telling: screaming even. Starmer is a leader of airs over recognisable reformative action. A microcosm of the calamity of the general election in the summer, the traditionally Tory stronghold in the North of England was lost to the Liberal Democrats as opposed to Labour, despite it being fertile territory for the latter in the wake of recent Conservative catastrophe: the explicit exposure of corruption, incompetent handling of the pandemic and the creeping economic fallout of Brexit, have seen the Tories floundering in the polls. Starmer’s red party should enjoy a stronger lead. A piece for Open Democracy states: “After the Conservatives, the biggest loser from this by-election is Labour. The party shed more than half of its vote share, from 22% to 10%, and was pushed into third place.” This is a deepening of the disillusionment from the nation-wide local election held earlier this year. Labour failed to make substantial gains, while also unable to regain Hartlepool as the party’s traditional heartland. For someone who made ‘winning’ a lynchpin of his manifesto as announced at the annual Labour conference in Autumn, Starmer’s performance has been persistently poor.

EDUCATION AFTER THE PANDEMIC: REFORM AND RENATIONALISATION

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged A-Level, assessment, BBC Bitesize, coronavirus, Covid-19, data, digital technology, education, entertainment, exams, featured, GCSE, higher education, internet, jeremy corbyn, Labour, Lenin, lockdown, mental health, National Education Service, NHS, online counselling, online education, pandemic, policy, politics, primary education, privatisation, schools, secondary education, student mental health, teachers assessment, tony blair, Youtube, zoom.

By Howard Green

Tony Blair, upon his election into government in 1997, famously declared that his top three priorities were “Education, education and education”. At the other end of the century, Vladimir Lenin proclaimed that education that didn’t teach about life and politics was indeed a “hypocrisy”. Education has been a central focus of politics for over a hundred years, and today is no different. As the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted conventional ways of learning for many, the modern British educational system needs short term and long term reform if it is to adapt to the issues of the 21st century. With the advent of Zoom lessons and online assessments, now is the time to explore the full potential of digital technology as the new frontier of education.

COLONIALISM, CORRUPTION & CHAOS: THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF IRAQI YOUTH

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, anti-war, ba'ath, Baghdad, bias, british politics, civilian death, CPA, daesh, displaced, featured, illegal war, iraq, iraq inquiry, Iraq occupation, Iraq War, ISIS, islamophobia, legal action, media, middle east, Mohammed Halbusi, Muslim, Paul Bremer, refugee, Saddam, saddam hussein, shia, soliders, tony blair, weapons of mass destruction, WMD, Zahra Ali.

by Sarah Edgcumbe

During early October 2019, in the space of just nine days, Iraqi state forces killed over one hundred young people and injured thousands more. Thousands. In just nine days. As anti-corruption protests broke out, the state deployed live ammunition almost immediately. In some places, snipers positioned themselves on rooftops, picking off young Iraqi citizens who had nothing left to lose except the hope that they would one day experience a government that provides for their basic needs rather than greedily shovelling oil revenue into its own pockets.

The catalyst for these protests was the sacking of Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, who led the fight against ISIS as part of Iraq’s elite counter terrorism unit, and who was widely acknowledged as the liberator of Mosul. As soon as his transfer to an administrative role was made public, speculation arose that ‘his refusal to back a specific political party made him unpopular among officials in Baghdad’, and that he was ‘removed from his post because he broke sectarian barriers in Mosul.’ The sacking of al-Saadi was widely perceived as emblematic of the corruption that has characterized successive post-U.S invasion administrations, resulting in widespread protests against corruption, unemployment and poor public services. Continue Reading

THERE’S MORE TO STUDENT ACTIVISM THAN #PEOPLESVOTE

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Amatey Doku, Brexit, bursaries, class, defend education, featured, fossil free, Free Education, george osborne, grants, grassroots, guardian, higher education, history, marketisation, NUS, politics, Remain, solidarity, student activism, student movement, student politics, students, students' unions, The People's Vote, tony blair, tuition fees.

By Robyn Banks

Amatey Doku is right: student activism isn’t dead. In a recently published interview with the Guardian, the NUS Vice President of Higher Education proclaimed that students’ response to Brexit and their engagement with the People’s Vote campaign has shown that student activism is thriving anew, after years without a “unifying cause”. But what about the fight for free education that has been active on our campuses since 2012? For many activists in the last few generations of students, it was the issue that brought us together and gave us the skills to take the fight to the powerful. But for Doku, it was too “inward looking” to inspire a “genuine” movement.

“I LIKE MY REVOLUTIONS TO BE FUN” – AN INTERVIEW WITH BEANS ON TOAST

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged activism, alternative, anti-capitalism, Beans on Toast, Bobby Banjo, Brexit, capitalism, Cushty, DIY, Donald Trump, Essex, festivals, folk, Frank Turner, free party, Giant Wafer Studios, Glastonbury, Independent Venue Week, inequality, interview, Jenna Jones, jeremy corbyn, Labour, live music, london, Manchester attacks, Matt Millership, music, music venues, musicians, Naomi Klein, No Logo, Norwich Waterfront, poverty, protests, renewable energy, royal wedding, She Drew The Gun, Skinny Lister, social media, songwriting, squats, tony blair, Tristan Ivemy, Wales, Will Varley, Xtra Mile.

by Rowan Gavin

Today, Essex-born folk singer Beans On Toast releases his ninth album, ‘Cushty’. Last night, I saw Beans play live for the ninth-ish time (if I’m honest, I’ve lost count, but the symmetry is pleasing). If you’ve been to a British festival in the past decade you’ve probably run into Beans as well – he’s the kind of musician who pops up everywhere. With a new album out every year since 2009, he’s perpetually turning up in your town on tour, or supporting one of his many musical friends, or appearing at festivals you didn’t know he was on the bill for.

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Anglia Ruskin University, class discrimination, course cuts, education, employer bias, employment, establishment, funding, funding cuts, government, higher education, House of Lords, job cuts, Lord Adonis, lower income backgrounds, politics, polytechnics, postgraduate study, rent, staff cuts, student accommodation, student debt, student loans, student welfare, tony blair, tuition fees, universities, vice chancellor pay, voters, working class.

by Robyn Banks

This week, former education minister Lord Adonis decided to reopen a debate that was seemingly long-dead. During a report to a House of Lords Committee, he stated that the decision to allow polytechnics to become universities 25 years ago was “a very serious mistake”. This problematic claim reveals the real views of someone who has lately been seen as posing significant challenges of the higher education sector’s issues.

DEBT RISING – HOW TUITION FEES ARE KILLING UNIVERSITIES

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Aberystwyth University, campus closures, ConDem coalition, course cuts, cuts, Durham University, Free Education, GE17, government, graduates, Green Party, HE funding, interest, Labour, Manchester Metropolitan University, marketisation, Parliament, student debt, student life, student loans, student loans sell off, students, teaching, tony blair, Tories, tuition fees, universities, university closures, university of manchester, votes, voting.

by Robyn Banks

Last week it was announced that the total student debt in the UK has reached over £100 billion for the first time. Whilst this milestone was inevitable, it is nonetheless an indictment of the current government’s claim that it is easy and convenient for students to pay off their debt under the post-2010 system.

THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION – LEFT US HANGING

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #GE2017, Amber Rudd, austerity, Brexit, Britan, caroline lucas, Chris Jarvis, coverage, democracy, exit poll, forecast, general election, greens, jeremy corbyn, John Bartley, Labour, leadership, libdems, manifesto, media, MSM, NHS, nick clegg, nicola sturgeon, Norwich Radical, paul nuttall, people, Plaid Cymru, PLP, politics, poll, prediction, propaganda, Scotland, snp, theresa may, Tim Farron, tony blair, Tory, uk, UKIP, vote, voter, voting.

by The Norwich Radical

The following piece was created, compiled and co-written by a number of Norwich Radical contributors, across a number of locations, devices, and even countries. We followed the exit polls, the first counts, the calculations and predictions as they became available across the media. We do not have any inside information, but have combined our experience and information during the night to produce this article in time for the morning readers.

There is no final result confirmed at the time of publication, but it has been confirmed that we have a hung parliament, as it is mathematically impossible for any party to claim an overall majority.

A BEGINNING, NOT THE END – THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #GE2017, austerity, Brexit, Britan, caroline lucas, Chris Jarvis, coverage, democracy, exit poll, forecast, general election, greens, jeremy corbyn, John Bartley, Labour, leadership, libdems, manifesto, media, MSM, NHS, nicola sturgeon, Norwich Radical, paul nuttall, people, PLP, politics, poll, prediction, propaganda, Scotland, snp, theresa may, Tim Farron, tony blair, Tory, uk, UKIP, vote, voter, voting.

by Chris Jarvis

In a couple of hours, polling stations will close, and the fate of the United Kingdom will have been decided. Throughout the night the gentle trickling of results will sprinkle their way in, as the aftermath of the most fascinating election for a generation will begin to unravel. Psephologists will debate the relative merits of their predictions, political spin-artists will argue their respective parties have actually done quite a lot better than they expected, and the hacks (myself included), will drift further into the early hours, wearing out their laptop keys.

Right now, we know that the election campaign has been riddled with ups and with downs. We’ve seen Labour climb steadily in the polls, narrowing the Tory lead from over 20 points to single figures; two atrocities claimed the lives of 34 people; campaigning was suspended twice; the Tories launched a manifesto into a whirlwind of negativity; UKIP’s support collapsed; and Labour proposed a political programme further to the left of any Government in four decades. Any one of those alone would make this election remarkable. Combined they make it unique.

REVIEW: STATE AND SOCIETY, BY MARTIN PUGH

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged academic, bank reform, book, Britain, corporate, corruption, economy, election, general election, history, imbalance, inequality, jeremy corbyn, job loss, margaret thatcher, martin pugh, politics, privatisation, reading, review, selling, state and society, statistics, stats, student, tax, tax reform, theresa may, tony blair, uk, undergraduate, working class.

by Toby Gill

When Theresa May announced her snap election, I was travelling across Japan. At the time I was spending a lot of time on a variety of very slow trains (the famous bullet trains were somewhat beyond our budget). This gave me a lot of down-time to ponder my electoral choices, and consider which way I should vote. It also gave me a lot of time to read the latest tome of modern history I had picked up: Martin Pugh’s State and Society; a social and political history of Britain since 1870. It is not a politicised book; it markets itself as a rigorous work of academic history, designed to introduce new undergraduates to the period – a task it performs superbly.

However, this is a politicised book review.Continue Reading

tony blair

BEST LEADERSHIP FORWARD: WHERE’S THE OPPOSITION?

by Sunetra Senior

EDUCATION AFTER THE PANDEMIC: REFORM AND RENATIONALISATION

COLONIALISM, CORRUPTION & CHAOS: THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF IRAQI YOUTH

THERE’S MORE TO STUDENT ACTIVISM THAN #PEOPLESVOTE

WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

DEBT RISING – HOW TUITION FEES ARE KILLING UNIVERSITIES

THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION – LEFT US HANGING

A BEGINNING, NOT THE END – THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION

REVIEW: STATE AND SOCIETY, BY MARTIN PUGH

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