Politics

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Like everyone, I know people I agree with and those I don’t. To weigh up how to interact with them, I always go with the “do you prefer them inside the tent pissing out or outside the tent pissing in”. Well for Cameron and Corbyn today the choice was taken from them. For Corbyn it was because after a mammoth reshuffle three Shadow Minsters resigned anyway and in Cameron’s case his tent washed away during...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As of yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 6th Jan 2016) business executives have made more money than the majority of people will make during the whole of this year according to the High Pay Centre. The research has discovered that fat cats have already passed the average UK salary of £27,645 a mere two working days into the New Year. The High Pay Centre, an independent think tank, reported that FTSE 100 chief executives receive an average...

Caitlyn Jenner was briefly a saint to the left thanks to her global coming out as a woman. When Bruce became Caitlyn the world became just a little more accepting of transgender people and for that she deserves credit. However, many on the left, especially social justice advocates, have snapped back now it’s become clear that Caitlyn shares the same political beliefs as Bruce – and those beliefs are conservative. Bruce Jenner was a Republican whose views on social issues,...

It was a disaster waiting to happen. In a highly publicised press conference, Tommy Robinson and Quilliam announced that the former had seen the error of his ways and decided to part with the English Defence League, a hard-line anti Islam group. Many prominent organisations and personalities had expressed scepticism at the time, dismissing it as nothing but a PR stunt to bolster the images of both Quilliam, a counter extremism think tank founded by former members of the radical...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The final PMQs before the New Year had an extra-terrestrial vibe and I don’t mean the Tory backbenchers from Cocoon. It began with the PM praising UK astronaut Tim Peake, and everyone who was watching at home. Well we did Dave, you turned your head 180 degrees, like a lizard, and flicked your tongue at the screen. Corbyn wished everyone a happy Christmas even “Tim who wasn’t on this planet,” which inevitably set the Tories...

Callum Towler, Stephen Adams and Owen Black chat about the worrying rise of far-right politics following the Paris attacks. Should Donald Trump be banned from the UK? Do ISIS thank their lucky stars for characters like Farage and Le Pen? Is western liberalism dying in the face of terror? And how can the left reverse this surge? Alternatively, you can also listen via Soundcloud here  Follow us @callumtowler @stephenjcadams1 @owenblk And please leave your thoughts below.

The government has been blamed for the rise of highly questionable pension  schemes which have led to a £2 billion 'liberation scandal'. A nationwide campaign group  says the government is “ultimately responsible” for the potential loss of billions of pounds of savers’ pensions by refusing to “fix a broken system” that is pushing victims to the brink of suicide.  Since April the over-55s have had the freedom to cash in their retirement pots.  Whilst 25 per cent will be free...

Donald Trump likes Katie Hopkins. This is not a world-changing surprise. Trump discovering Hopkins is like two idiots in Nickelback t-shirts meeting each other at a music festival and instantly getting along. You could say they like each other because they agree on almost everything (Trump will probably denounce fat people at his next rally) but the connection is much simpler than that: Donald and Katie are bullies. Trump and Hopkins are overgrown playground bullies who spend their time mocking...

It makes me feel a bit sick thinking about the celebratory mood in Isis bunkers right now; them flipping open their laptops and delighting as schisms escalate, and Western democracy turns in on itself. Watching on with glee as Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, spews xenophobia from a podium, while Marine Le Pen’s National Front ascends into the mainstream of French politics. Toasting to a job well done now far-right populism grows ever more vehement, and ever more persuasive; as...