TAKE BACK CONTROL? WELSH INDEPENDENCE IN AN AGE OF BREXIT

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged alun cairns, Brexit, cardiff bay, devolution, EU, european union, river taff, Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, taff river, uk, uk politics, welsh independence, westminster.

By Jonathan Lee

I am a reluctant Welsh Republican. By this, I mean that I believe the realisation of an independent Welsh Republic will inevitably be the only way Wales can truly prosper and develop long term. But I’m uneasy about it.

I doubt the competency of our devolved government, while I question the motives and sincerity of the British government. I’m hoping that somewhere down the line, a government in Westminster will change my mind, but looking at the way things are going, the Tories’ vision of a dystopian, post-Brexit Britain doesn’t offer me much hope.Continue Reading

THE MEANING OF REES-MOGG

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged 1834 New Poor Law, anti welfare, Ben Bradley, Brexit, Brexiteers, conservatives, Davies, EU, featured, Fox, free trade, Johnson, Kehinde Andrews, left wing, malcom x, Mansion House, Maybot, MP, Oliver Twist, Phillip Davies, poor, productiveness of pain, rees mogg, theresa may, Tory, welfare, westminster, workhouse, Zac Goldsmith.

by Scott Mclaughlan

The latest official line on Britain’s European exit struck a more considered and conciliatory tone. Early this month at Mansion House the Maybot reassured her detractors: “there have been many different voices and views in the debate on what our new relationship with the EU should look like. I have listened carefully to them all”.

Meanwhile, behind the curtain, Eaton College’s answer to Mr. Twit lurks in the wings with rhetorical flush and imperial vision. Dr Fox preaches the utopia of “free trade” and Rees-Mogg casually offers up a well-thumbed copy of Oliver Twist for inspiration. The three Brexiteers, it appears, are in the driving seat.

A simple question remains: what exactly is it that they want, these Brexiteers?Continue Reading

JACOB REES-MOGG, JEREMY CORBYN, COURTESY AND CONVICTION

Posted on February 24, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Bernie Sanders, bigotry, British Raj, Donald Trump, featured, government, gramsci, high office, homophobia, ideology, jacob rees-mogg, jeremy corbyn, Labour, mask, monsters, Nesrine Malik, parallels, politician, politics, polls, popularity, roman catholic, Silvio Berslusconi, theresa may, Tory, uk, westminster.

by Justin Reynolds

Writing in the midst of Europe’s interwar turbulence, the Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci observed that ‘the old world is dying away, and the new world struggles to come forth: now is the time of monsters.’ Though contemporary parallels with Gramsci’s troubled world can be overplayed, these transitional times have spawned, if not monsters, an impressive array of fabulous beasts.

Donald Trump is President of the United States. Self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders almost won the Democrat nomination. Silvio Berlusconi is once again on the verge of becoming the leading powerbroker in Italian politics. Jeremy Corbyn emerged from the deepest political wilderness to lead the Labour Party.

If, as the Brexit negotiations intensify, Theresa May’s vestigial authority finally fades away, the Government may have little option but to take a chance with a charismatic leader able to hold it together through sheer force of personality. And it is no longer absurd to suggest that, just as Labour members insisted on Corbyn, the Tories might turn to his mirror-image, Jacob Rees-Mogg.Continue Reading

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged activism, capitalism, collective action, consumerism, corporate power, crisis, democracy, ecological crisis, ecology, economic crisis, economics, elites, featured, future, GE17, government, housing crisis, individualism, inequality, jeremy corbyn, Labour, mental health, momentum, neoliberalism, organise, Oxford Dictionaries, political apathy, political parties, politics, possibility, poverty, snap election, society, technology, tuition fees, uk, wage stagnation, westminster, word of the year, young people, youth culture, youth engagement, youth politics, youth turnout, youthquake.

by Bradley Allsop

Young people can’t catch a break. On the one hand, we’re scolded and ridiculed for our apparent lack of engagement with traditional political institutions, which is generally assumed to be a result of our ‘laziness’ or ‘apathy’, with our disillusionment and distrust with politicians that have continually failed us apparently precluding our ‘right to complain’. On the other hand, when we do engage politically, in those rare moments when we do seek to take an active role in our futures, we’re painted as thuggish, fragile or naïve. In short, the message we continually get is: “engage – but not like that!”

MANCHESTER AND THE SORRY STATE OF BRITISH JOURNALISM

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Arena, ariana grande, attack, boycott, clickbait, clicks, daesh, daily mail, Dan Hett, fake news, fake report, hacking, hillsborough, journalism, Katie Hopkins, leaks, Leveson, Liverpool, manchester, Martyn Hett, mass shooting, mental health, Piers Morgan, propaganda, PTSD, revenue, social media, sun, tabloid, terrorism, UK media, US, voyeurism, westminster.

by Zoe Harding

CW: article contains descriptions of the Manchester terrorist attack, racist discourse, links to images of war crimes.

The official threat level after the terror attack in Manchester is back down from Critical to Serious, and the country has started to move on. The news cycle seems to have been slightly shorter, as well; at time of writing the front page of the BBC News website is largely concerned with technical problems at British Airways and I-kid-you-not a cheese rolling competition.

I’d love to say that this particular terrorist incident didn’t incite the usual wave of hate and disgustingly inappropriate coverage that tends to follow such events, including random hate crimes, thundering headlines and political manoeuvring. I’d love to.

But The Daily Mail exists. And The Sun. And the political climate in the UK has become sufficiently toxic that even without those two, the response was nonetheless as unpleasant as any I’ve seen.Continue Reading

DON’T PANIC

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged daesh, daily mail, Don't Panic, Donald Trump Jr, Islamic State, islamophobia, media, Nigel Farage, sadiq khan, terrorism, the sun, westminster.

by Zoe Harding

First up, before we get into the piece, my condolences to the friends and family of those who were killed in Westminster and St Petersburg, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured. If you personally know anyone hurt or killed in the incident, you might want to leave this article for a few days.

With that in mind, everyone else: what the fuck?Continue Reading

ONE WAY TO REBUILD FAITH IN POLITICS? MAKE MPS TAKE THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY.

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national and tagged accountability, BlackRock, constituency day, corbyn, editor, employment, George Osbourne, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, integrity, Jamie Reed, journalism, London Evening Standard, meaningful vote, MP, Parliament, politics, tristram hunt, vote, westminster.

by Olivia Hanks

The news that George Osborne is the new editor of the London Evening Standard was met with widespread disbelief in Westminster. Jeremy Corbyn tweeted that the former chancellor was “taking multitasking to an extreme level – what a joke”.

There are so many angles from which to object to this appointment that it’s hard to know where to start. Firstly, the brazen conflict of interest has already led to speculation about whether Osborne will be forced to step down as an MP. A prominent MP becoming editor of a major newspaper is a serious threat to UK democracy (we seem to be averaging about one a day now), and is sure to diminish our reputation around the world.Continue Reading

ALLIANCES, AMBITIONS AND ARGUMENTS: WHY WE DON’T HAVE WIDESPREAD ELECTORAL PACTS

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged alliances, ambitions, american presidential election, arguments, british politics, by election, clive lewis, constituencies, election, electoral pacts, general election, greens, Labour, lib dem, local parties, MPs, national party, norwich, norwich south, progressive alliances, progressive parties, Richmond Park, Tory, voters, westminster, Zac Goldsmith.

by James Anthony

The concept of progressive political parties working together in some form to beat right-wing parties in elections sounds like a great, simple idea – and it certainly isn’t a new one. Standing down in a constituency to avoid ‘splitting the vote’ has been thought about and even practiced formally as early as 1903 in British politics in the hope of bringing down Tory majorities in elections. With the current Tory administration enjoying a majority in the Commons and very promising polling data, progressive forces on the left have again started talking about entering into some sort of alliance. However, it rarely seems to get put into practice, at least not nationally.Continue Reading

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti-capitalism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, Barry, Capel Celyn, capitalism, Celtic, clean energy, cymru, establishment, EU ref, flags, Gwynfor Evans, identity, imperialism, independence, industry, indyref, Ireland, jeremy corbyn, leanne wood, left, leftist, Llyn Celyn Reservoir, nationalism, nicola sturgeon, Plaid Cymru, politics, Scotland, snp, socialism, uk, unionism, Wales, westminster, working class.

by Tara Debra G

“Flags don’t build houses”, said Jeremy Corbyn last year, criticizing Scottish nationalism and the SNP. Well, no, they don’t, but neither does an unelectable party, so swings and roundabouts really. But he does have a point: nationalism as a political framework doesn’t inherently support leftist values, or the working class, or is particularly anti-capitalist.

In fact, the strongest argument I hear against Celtic nationalism from the English left is that it doesn’t solve the foundational economic equality at the heart of class oppression in the UK. I’m a Welsh nationalist and I agree. But the left shouldn’t care about Celtic independence because it’s intrinsically anti-capitalist, because it’s not that – the left should care because leftist ideals should encapsulate anti-imperialism.

5 WAYS WE CAN REALLY TAKE BACK CONTROL AFTER BREXIT

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Brexit, bristol pound, british politics, Community, conservatives, cooperatives, energy, energy cooperatives, EU, EU referendum, Europe, european union, international, inter|national, local, local communities, local currency, localism, neighbourhood plans, politics, power, renewable energy, theresa may, Tories, Vote Leave, westminster.

By Olivia Hanks

When a vote to ‘take back control’ has given us a new Prime Minister elected by no one – not even by her own party, let alone the country – it’s tempting to give up on it all in despair and just run around collecting imaginary monsters instead. Those, at least, we can control.Continue Reading

westminster

TAKE BACK CONTROL? WELSH INDEPENDENCE IN AN AGE OF BREXIT

THE MEANING OF REES-MOGG

JACOB REES-MOGG, JEREMY CORBYN, COURTESY AND CONVICTION

IT’S OUR ‘YOUTHQUAKE’ – WHAT WILL WE MAKE OF IT?

DON’T PANIC

ONE WAY TO REBUILD FAITH IN POLITICS? MAKE MPS TAKE THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY.

ALLIANCES, AMBITIONS AND ARGUMENTS: WHY WE DON’T HAVE WIDESPREAD ELECTORAL PACTS

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

5 WAYS WE CAN REALLY TAKE BACK CONTROL AFTER BREXIT

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