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Resources on Gaza

For reliable and insightful information as Israel’s onslaught against Gaza continues, we recommend The Heathlander, The Democrat’s Diary, Lenin’s Tomb, Norman Finkelstein and the Electronic Intifada.

You can also take action for a ceasefire here, get involved with the campaign against the UK’s arming of Israel here, and join the UK’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign here.

Protests are taking place in central London and across the country on 3 January – more information is available here.

As Britain slips into recession there is one political party that is gleeful. Nick Lowles assesses how the BNP will benefit from the unfolding economic crisis.

In trying to push through a reform package that the Guardian has called a ‘Blairite revolution’, the National Union of Students’ Labour leadership is putting the NUS on a path to self-destruction, says executive member Hind Hassan.

This month marks 90 years since the end of the First World War. Neil Faulkner looks at what the official remembrance ceremonies show about the ideology of our rulers.

In the recent media propaganda about the threat of domestic “eco-terrorism” SchNEWS sees a possible government attempt to drive a wedge between the environmental movement and the general public, just as they did to the animal rights movement.

Unwary journalists who repeat US army claims about Syria and Iraq become tools in a propaganda war, warns Sharif Nashashibi.

On the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war, writes George Monbiot, it’s salutory to recall who slaughtered whom and for what.

The government’s decision to allow cancer patients to buy private drugs will mean a two-tier NHS, says Karen Reissmann.

The extraordinary media hype surrounding the election of Barack Obama is reminiscent, Media Lens observes, of similar delusions following Tony Blair’s electoral victory in 1997. As with Blair, Obama’s election has been portrayed as a transformational change of ‘historic’ importance, despite the fact that Obama is a thoroughly mainstream, even hawkish, candidate.

Conor Foley’s new book does an excellent job, writes Richard Seymour, of showing how the rhetoric of humanitarianism has been exploited to justify military interventions that have been far from humanitarian in their effects.

For the last six months, the British resident and Guantánamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed, who was seized in Pakistan in April 2002, has been engaged in a transatlantic struggle to secure evidence relating to his “extraordinary rendition” and torture, by or on behalf of the CIA. Andy Worthington reports.

Chris Marsden charts the terrain of the economic crisis in Europe and looks ahead to the problems in store.

Neil Gray discusses the proposed gentrification of the Clyde Gateway area which, with its tracts of derelict land and deeply impoverished population, lends itself to a ‘discourse of decline’. However, the state-sponsored regeneration proposal that builds on this discourse amounts to little more than a form of welfare for the rich.

Following an interview with Paul Wilson – author of an unfinished PhD on George Orwell and translator of the works of Vaclav Havel – Horatio Morpurgo argues that there is a need to constantly search for a ‘living language’ to counter the deceit and manipulation that has such destructive effects in the UK and around the world.

Stephen Spratt outlines a package of reforms for a deep re-shaping of the financial system, unlike the government’s plan of returning to ‘business as usual’ as quickly as possible.

While claiming to be addressing the environmental and climate impacts of its operations, the Royal Bank of Scotland has in fact been bankrolling intrinsically unsustainable coal developments to the tune of $15.93 billion in the last two years, including some involving notoriously harmful social and environmental practices. By PLATFORM

Andrew Simms argues that in order to meet the challenges posed by the ‘triple crunch’ of the credict crunch, climate change andrising energy prices, a green new deal is required. This would involve massive efforts to increase renewable energy, conserve what’s left, and find more fuel-efficient ways to get around and grow food, to give us security, meet our needs and, very possibly, give us better quality of life

Paul Mason’s ‘Live Working or Die Fighting : how the working class went global’ “is not a programmatic statement for new forms of socialist organisation”, writes Terry Brotherstone, but it is “certainly relevant to those who want to participate in creating them.”

Nicholas Jones says David Cameron and his communications director Andy Coulson (just named PR professional of 2008) need no lessons on how to woo the Murdoch press: Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell blazed that self same trail in the 1990s.

Any belief that Gordon Brown’s government is going to back workers rights took another blow as the government voted down a series of amendments to the Employment Bill that would have given limited rights to workers in industrial disputes, writes Simon Basketter.

The falling value and rising price of a degree is hitting some harder than others. Laurie Penny looks at what’s left of the egalitarian dream of universally accessible education

A shocking new report detailing Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children met with silence in the British press, illustrating once again, write Media Lens, that for the British media Palestinians are ‘unpeople’, lesser versions of humanity.

While the foreign secretary is keen to be seen in Congo, writes Victoria Brittain, another invisible humanitarian crisis receives none of his attention.

A recent article in The Times suggesting that the “clash” between Ramadan and the 2012 Olympics might pose a security threat is, writes Dave Crouch, a classic example of dog-whistle journalism, using reasonable language to send out a clear Islamophobic message.

In the face of a dramatic economic crisis, writes Julie Hyland, the government has effectively ruled out providing significant aid to the working population, gearing its palliative measures instead towards protecting big business.

There’s a right way and a wrong way for unions to confront job losses, argues Yuri Prasad, and this was highlighted last week by the crisis in the manufacturing industry.

Paul Donovan argues that anti terror laws are more about attacking basic rights than keeping the peace.

David Miller argues that corporate lobbying is subverting democracy and needs to be subjected to much tougher regulation.

High earners could pay more without feeling it and the poor would keep spending, argues Ruth Lister

Written by Andy Rowell for Spinwatch, Too Close for Comfort? is an investigation into the potential conflicts of interest arising from the activities of some Members of the European Parliament (MEP), their commercial interests and links to business lobby groups. Read the executive report here; a link is availablew to the whole report.

Ruth Tanner argues that now is the time to end British bankings’ complicity with the arms trade

Kartika Liotard exposes the shortcomings of the forthcoming European Regulation on openness in administration.

As signs of a split in the Cabinet over Heathrow expansion have appeared, Chris Ames argues that the case for expansion is anyway based on deception. Unfortunately, however, the proposal may yet prevail.

Alexander Billet reviews the Clash: Live at Shea Stadium. Whilst it may be a cynical profit-making move by Sony, the album nonetheless captures the tensions felt by a band which challenged the very capitalist system which they were able to use to achieve so much success.

Jeremy Gilbert argues that the left must not ask “what policies should government enact?” but rather should consider how alternative sources of power can be built up to challenge the dominance of financial institutions. Only with such sources of power intact can progressive policies be implemented.

Ben Hayes argues that recent EU legislation follows the recent trend towards repression of free speech and thought in the west.

Mark Steel discusses unemployment, vacancies and the government’s reactions to the recession.

It was not so long ago that Gordon Brown claimed to have abolished ‘boom and bust’.

Since starting Media Lens in 2001, we have learned that corporate journalists are very often ill-equipped, or disinclined, to debate vital issues with members of the public.

Seamus Milne reviews Conor Foley’s new book on the way in which the doctrine of humanitarian intervention has legitimised western aggression. Of particular interest is Foley’s account – based on personal experience – of the role of NGOs in contributing to this legitimation.

While The Bank of England admits that the UK is likely to fall into the world recession, Chris Marsden argues that it will be one of the worst affected countries

As the British government claims that its policies have had no effect on the current recession, The Morning Star is asking what state the UK will be in when it is over and who will pay for it.

Daniel Viesnik writes about the 1000+ mile International Walkd towards a Nuclear-Free Future from London to Geneva and discusses UK’s policies towards nuclear power.

Long before the EU was founded, Europe had a wonderful international railway system, linking nearly all countries and their capitals by direct long distance trains and overnight connections, where necessary completed by ferry links. In addition to this system small cross border connections guaranteed direct links between regions in neighbouring countries in continental Europe. The entire system was possible on the basis of voluntary co-operation between national railway companies and an international company for sleeping cars. It was an example of successful bottom up European co-operation.

The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, a public art project in a rundown district of Bristol, is attempting to harness the creativity of local graffiti artists to transform the area for local residents. Does it offer an alternative to the usual business-led model of urban regeneration? David Matthews investigates

The free-market model has been discredited, writes Seamus Milne, and now its champions are panicking at what might emerge in its wake.

Next month’s by-election in Glenrothes will be a big test for New Labour. George Connolly went to the constituency to ask residents for their views.

The requirements for reducing or eliminating poverty, in Europe and world-wide, are known and the money is there, but the weight of the financial lobby is such that political will at present seems non-existent, argues Susan George.

Hilary Wainwright says that the pull of national and local identities away from Westminster is a vital clue to understanding and preparing for the unravelling of New Labour.

How else to describe a ruling that deprives the Chagossians of a right of return so the US can use Diego Garcia for ‘renditions’, asks Duncan Campbell