Section: Politics

Same playbook. Different country

Mark Kieran

On November 10, Nigel Farage told the press about his phone call with President Trump. “Is this how you treat your best ally?” Trump asked him, furious about BBC coverage. And what did Trump do the second he put the phone down? He wrote to the BBC to threaten legal action. Think about that for […]

Time for real change: democracy and climate justice

Editor-in-chief

Do we truly have the kind of democracy in our country which is fit for the challenges of the 21st Century? Does our government fairly represent the views and aspirations of voters? How can we best tackle and mitigate the effects of climate change? All these questions, and more, will be up for debate in […]

The ‘dead cat’, or the art of political distraction

Conor McKenzie

It’s a simple but effective trick, coined by former Conservative strategist Lynton Crosby, and used to devastating effect by Nigel Farage every day. Here’s how it works. When you’re losing a debate on the issues that matter – say the economy, the NHS, the cost of living – you throw something so shocking onto the […]

How a misread statistic became proof of “too many black people” in TV ads

Emma Monk

Last weekend, an elected member of parliament (Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin) went on Talk TV and said, “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people, full of people who are basically anything other than white people.” Let that sink in. We have reached a point in the political discourse […]

Tell your MP: don’t rip up our rights!

Mark Kieran

Nigel Farage and now the Conservatives want to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – a treaty Winston Churchill helped create in the ashes of the Second World War. This isn’t just a point of principle. This is about retaining the fundamental rights we have to protect ourselves against abuses […]

“If you want to be hopeful, do hopeful things” Jane Fonda

Anthea Simmons

The campaign organisation HOPE not hate‘s Weekend of HOPE will see hundreds and thousands of leaflets delivered to houses in the UK and thousands of people will take to the streets with a simple message: communities are stronger together. We live in an era in which certain politicians and oligarchs are hellbent on dividing us […]

Heseltine sounds the alarm on fascist Reform UK – we’d do well to listen

James Patrick

The 92-year-old Tory grandee’s comparison of Reform UK to 1930s fascists isn’t hyperbole – it’s a warning from someone who knows what happens when democracies ignore the danger until it’s too late. There are few figures more influential in the modern Conservative Party than Lord Michael Heseltine. Serving in governments under three Prime Ministers, Heseltine […]

Paracetamol/Tylenol, autism, and the truth about risk

Emma Monk

What decades of research (and millions of children in Sweden and Japan) really tell us about acetaminophen and pregnancy. It’s been a couple of weeks since Trump and RFK Junior told the world that acetaminophen (aka Tylenol or paracetamol) use in pregnancy causes Autism. Thankfully, there was considerable pushback from doctors and scientists worldwide. I want to bring […]

Stopping the riots. What’s really behind Britain’s far-right violence?

Mark E Thomas

Across Britain, the rise of anti-immigration protests, the surge in far-right rhetoric online, and growing public support for exclusionary policies point to an alarming shift in perspective. Anti-immigration protests have grown louder, fuelled by far-right rhetoric both in public and online. In September 2025; over 100,000 people joined an anti-migrant protest in London while there […]

The Nathan Gill Russian bribery case: “Nothing to do with Reform”?

Emma Monk

The bribery started the day Nathan Gill quit UKIP and continued under Farage’s leadership. The press have barely said a word… Nathan Gill, once Farage’s ally and Reform UK’s Welsh leader, has admitted to eight counts of bribery and is likely to serve jail time. Yet you probably haven’t heard about it, because most of the press […]

Why Reform’s plans would hurt Britain

Jon Danzig

The Telegraph reported on September 22 that Nigel Farage’s Reform Party would expel hundreds of thousands of migrants if it gained power. Reform says it would scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain retrospectively, raise the Skilled Worker salary bar to £60,000 a year, require higher English, restrict access to most benefits and free NHS care for […]

New Report Raises Alarm Over BCP Council’s Use of Harmful Pesticides – 96 per cent of Chemicals Used are Toxic to Aquatic Life

Steve Harper

A new independent review of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council’s weed management programme has raised serious concerns about the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The analysis carried out by local environmental researcher Steve Harper, found that 49 of the 51 chemicals used by the council in 2024 – […]

Two futures for Britain

Mark E Thomas

Without bold action by the government, British citizens could find ourselves living in a formerly-developed nation In the book 99%, which was published in 2019, I made what felt at the time like a bold prediction: if policy did not change significantly, neither the US nor the UK would see their civilisation remain intact to the […]

The assassination of Charlie Kirk

Iratus Ursus Major

Political violence doesn’t stay contained. It cascades – and democracy pays the price Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah yesterday afternoon. The news started coming in as I was settling down for the evening, and it instantly felt surreal. Even typing this feels somewhat surreal. The BBC update that pinged on my phone felt like […]

Starmer! Stop parroting Farage! Letter to Anna Gelderd, MP

Editor-in-chief

Dear Anna, I am increasingly concerned by the daily parroting of Farage’s far right immigration garbage by Keir Starmer and other senior Labour figures. This is a race to the bottom that Labour will not win. Everyone I talk to is either unimpressed by it because they are either left wing and it’s against traditional […]

Labour’s moral cowardice

Richard Haviland

In the last week of August 2025, Nigel Farage learned what he must have long suspected: that there is nothing so disgusting that he can’t say for fear of being challenged by the Prime Minister. For this was the week that Nigel Farage finally said out loud what it’s long been obvious he believes. It’s […]

33 per cent of young people favour authoritarianism – now what?

James Patrick

Rejuvenating our democracy is the ONLY sensible solution Britain’s electoral system has driven a full third of young people towards authoritarianism. Only fundamental reform can reverse this dangerous trend, and restore faith in democracy. Last week, there was much to celebrate for 18-year-olds up and down the country. A-Level results were published on Thursday, and […]

From PlayStations to Spanish lessons: debunking the asylum “freebies” list

Emma Monk

The Daily Mail recently ran an article: “List of perks taxpayers are funding for asylum seekers”. The Conservative party then took that list, created a handy little graphic and then posted it on X: REVEALED: The huge list of freebies and perks channel migrants are entitled to once they land in Britain. Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is taxing […]

The racism dog-whistle has become a megaphone

Jeremy Hall

No longer is the right wing in British politics content with dog-whistle antics; we now have dog-megaphone politics.  One of the “best” vehicles used to stir up fear is immigration, and the master conjuror is, of course, N Farage. Last year he made much trouble for the police by riding piggy-back on the rumours that there was […]