The UK is an authoritarian country

Britain is often portrayed as a champion of “freedom” and “democracy” both by our government and its faithful servants in the media, as well as anyone else who clearly does not know any better. Mostly we are told that we are a free and democratic country because we “stand up” to dictatorships, a point bolstered…

When liberals choose reactionaries

Something terrible has happened in Sweden. In the general election on September 11th, the far-right Sweden Democrats became the second-largest party in the Riksdag, and the largest party in the Swedish right, which collectively won enough votes and seats to overtake the left bloc. This means that despite the ruling Social Democratic Party being the…

On the function and future of the British monarchy

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, has passed on, having died peacefully in her summer home in Balmoral and surrounded by loved ones. Her eldest son is now King Charles III, and his reign ushers in the end of what has been called the “Elizabethan era”, that is to say the…

Life after Boris and the prospect of a Labour government

The old cruelty of Boris Johnson has passed. Let a whole new wave of cruelty wash over the land, courtesy of the new Prime Minister Liz Truss and her cadre of reactionary ideologues. Having trounced leadership rival and reluctant realist Rishi Sunak by about 20,000 votes, Truss has begun the task of building a government…

Don’t blame Gorbachev, the USSR was doomed with or without him

On August 30th, the news broke that Mikhail Gorbachev, the last premier of the USSR, had passed away after a long illness. Up to this point he was the last living leader of the USSR, and the man who long held the dubious honour of being the last man in charge when the world’s largest…

What is a socialist to make of China? – Part Two

Introductory Remarks for Part Two In the previous post, I sketched out a Marxist analysis of China and how to look at it in the grand scheme of things. In Part One I concentrated on issues related to economics, class, climate change, imperialism and foreign policy. My aim for that post was to illustrate that…

On the cultural homogeneity of the MCU

In my previous post on The Northman some three months ago, I criticised that film’s detractors for wilfully mischaracterising the film’s content because it dared to challenge the prevailing MCU depiction of Norse mythology and Viking society. It was not my intention in that post to put focus on Marvel’s hegemonic grip on “popular culture”,…

Austerity at home

Of the many famous adages from Karl Marx, one of my favourites—and one that I think should be taken more seriously in one’s analysis—is one found in The German Ideology, in which Marx and Engels describe the role of the ruling class in forming the dominant ideas of a given culture. They wrote: The ideas…

Is there a Marxist case for universal basic income?

If you were to tell someone five years ago that the government was going to give you a free cheque every month to do with as you pleased, and without means testing, most people would ridicule or dismiss you. Today, universal basic income (or UBI) is now one of the most widely discussed policy proposals…

No, the rise of fascism is not a distraction

Lately there has been a rather disturbing trend amongst certain “anti-establishment” commentators. In the wake of the January 6th hearings, held by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and broadcast live on primetime TV, there are voices which seek to portray these hearings as a distraction from “more important” matters such as…