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SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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‘Keir Starmer’s Attempt to Out-Farage Reform on Migration Will Only End Badly’
The Prime Minister’s ‘unutterably depressing’ decision to follow Nigel Farage into the gutter of inflammatory anti-migrant rhetoric is a terrible error, argues former UK diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Why We Must Call the National-Populist Far Right by Its Name’
The centre left should stop being afraid of accurately describing and countering the global far right threat we now face, argue Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar
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‘As Trump Wrecks the Global Order, Big Business Must Decide Which Side It’s On’
Where are the voices defending the huge benefits that globalisation has brought to the world, asks Matthew Gwyther
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‘The Cold Electoral Cynicism Behind Keir Starmer’s Blue Labour Strategy’
The Prime Minister’s advisers believe that when push comes to shove most progressive voters will have no real choice but to vote Labour, and they may be right, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Why Tony Blair’s Intervention on Net Zero Is the Most Irrational Contribution to Climate Discourse in Some Time’
There can be no “third way” to tackling the existential threat of man made climate change, argues Russell Warfield
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Local Elections: ‘Keir Starmer’s Rightward Shift Is Laying the Ground for Nigel Farage’
Labour’s embrace of economic and political orthodoxy is forcing voters to look elsewhere for change, argues Keir Starmer’s former adviser Simon Fletcher
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Nigel Farage Is Killing the Conservative Party and Starmer Must Change Course to Avoid the Same Fate
Telling voters that the Reform leader is right, but they shouldn’t vote for him anyway, is no more likely to work for Labour than it has for the Conservatives, argues Adam Bienkov
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The Beginning of the End or ‘Trump 2028’? 100 Days of an Unprecedented Presidency
There may be a far more sinister motive for Donald Trump to go as far as to try to violate the constitutional ban on running for a third term, writes Washington-based Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Trump’s War on Academic Institutions Is Even Worse Than You Think’
This is the greatest assault on academic freedoms in generations, argues Emma DeSouza
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How a ‘Populist’ Media Has Mainstreamed the Far Right
Right-wing daily papers in the UK do not represent ‘public opinion’ – they simply reflect the radical right views of those ‘who own and run them’, argues Julian Petley
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Power, Visas, and the Politics of Exclusion: How Borders Are Being Used to Silence Dissent
Borders are now being used not just to prevent the passage of people, but of ideas too, argues Iain Overton
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How the BBC’s Flawed Impartiality Scuppered a Podcast About a Heating System
Former BBC producer and reporter Patrick Howse explores the latest worrying sign of the BBC’s flawed interpretation of ‘impartiality’
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‘Peter Mandelson’s Fixing of Keir Starmer’s Visit to Spytech Firm Palantir Raises Serious Questions’
Palantir was represented by a lobbying firm founded by Mandelson, Iain Overton and Max Colbert report
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‘Reform UK and the Rising Threat to Muslims and Minorities in Britain’
The rise of Reform should worry all of those who value justice and equality and the democratic fabric of this country
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‘Keir Starmer’s Weaponisation of Foreign National Crime Statistics Risks Stoking Violence and Empowering the Far Right’
Ranking crimes by nationality risks stoking a repeat of last summer’s racist riots, argues Minnie Rahman, who urges ministers to focus on fairness and rehabilitation instead
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‘We Are Witnessing the Slow Death of Two Party Politics’
UK politics is approaching a tipping point where the failing duopoly that has governed Britain for many decades finally comes to an end, argues Neal Lawson
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Trump’s ‘Devastatingly Incompetent’ Attempts at Negotiating an End to the Ukraine War
In his latest dispatch from Kyiv, Chris York details how Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’ just isn’t working
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‘The Supreme Court Trans Verdict Is a Victory for Uncertainty, Division and Harassment’
Far from bringing “clarity”, this verdict will only create confusion, while putting trans people at risk, argues Helen Belcher
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‘The Media Is Silent About Female Asylum Seekers – Yet Fixated About Men Arriving in the UK’
There’s a reason news outlets never focus on the many women seeking refuge in the UK, argue Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia
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‘Donald Trump’s Disappearance of Abrego Garcia Is the Canary in the Coal Mine for American Freedom’
The United States is rapidly descending into authoritarianism under the Trump administration, argues Matt Gallagher
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‘What Is the Point of Labour Winning the Next General Election if It Governs as Reform-Lite?’
The political strategy being pursued by Keir Starmer and his advisers means that whichever party comes first in 2029, Nigel Farage wins, argues Neal Lawson
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Trump’s Persecution Projection: the Tyranny Escalates
Alexandra Hall Hall exposes Trump’s increasing attacks on free speech and his weaponising the judicial system against former officials who have been critical
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‘The Free Speech Debate Has a Lot to Do With Race – But the Media Won’t Tell You That’
The ‘sheer hypocrisy’ of the UK’s right-wing media in celebrating Trump’s ‘free speech ultimatum’
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‘The Culture War is Dead: Long Live the Culture War’
Julian Petley explains why the University of Sussex ‘freedom of expression’ case is so concerning
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‘Trump is Recycling the Kremlin Playbook In Order to Take Over Greenland’
The ‘many similarities’ between the Trump administration and Putin’s autocratic regime
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How The Media Is ‘Economically Exploiting’ Survivors of Image-Based Sexual Abuse
Five things you probably didn’t know about the crime better known as ‘revenge porn’
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How Nazi Race Science Conquered the White House, and is Coming for Your Democracy
One of the major ‘Dark Enlightenment’ influencers has stepped into the light, talking of the ‘negro problem’. Nafeez Ahmed explains how the Silicon Valley broligarchy has resurrected Nazi-inspired eugenics ideology and is already putting it into action
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‘The Anti-Democratic Tyranny of the Office For Budget Responsibility’
A decades-long trend of outsourcing democratic decisions to unaccountable institutions like the OBR is leading Britain towards ruin, argues Neal Lawson
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‘A Trump Trade Deal Would Open the UK’s Doors to the Big Tech Robber Barons’
The only deal the US President and his oligarch beneficiaries are interested in is one that would allow them to feast on our public services and consumer rights, argues Nick Dearden
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Donald Trump’s Claim That Marine Le Pen’s Conviction is a ‘Witch Hunt’ Doesn’t Hold Up
Friends and opponents of the far-right French politician need to be honest about what her barring from the next Presidential election is really about, argues Olly Haynes
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Russian Interference: Some Good News for Once – Journalism Can Make a Difference
The Labour Government has finally been true to its word on a ‘foreign agents registration’ scheme, six years on from Byline Times campaigning for it
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‘Elbows Up, Britain’: Canada’s Boycott of American Goods Spreads to the UK
How British voters could hold the cards when it comes to resisting President Trump’s global trade war
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Blue Labour on MAGA Square: Maurice Glasman’s Journey to Trumpism
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar look at the nationalist populist drift of Labour’s anti-progressive tendency
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‘Trump’s Betrayal of America’s Closest Allies Should Be a Wake Up Call for the UK’
The UK Government’s attempts to bridge the divide between Europe and the White House are rapidly running out of road, argues Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Rachel Reeves’ Unimaginative Spring Statement Missed Its Moment’
The Chancellor could have turned this crisis into an opportunity for a radical shakeup of Britain’s relationship with Europe and the world, but instead reverted to economic orthodoxy, argues Simon Nixon
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The False Economies of Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement
There is nothing “responsible” about forcing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty, while putting even more strain on those public servants who will have to pick up the pieces, argues Adam Bienkov
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‘Keir Starmer’s Government Should Stop the Austerity Denial About These Cuts’
The uncomfortable truth about Starmer and Reeves’s economic project is it is grim for living standards, public services and recipients of welfare, and should be opposed by all, argues his former senior adviser Simon Fletcher
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Spring Statement: ‘Rachel Reeves Must Remember What Labour Is Actually For’
Unless the Labour party reconnects with its founding economic mission, they will merely lay the ground for a Nigel Farage Government, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Israel’s Genocide in Gaza is the Fatal Flaw in Starmer’s European Alternative to Trump and Putin’
If we are to build a broad consensus in Europe against Trump, we need to bring Palestine into equal focus with Ukraine, argues Martin Shaw
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‘How Our Tough-On-Crime Media Is Harming Unborn Babies’
The media is often more interested in what led to mothers being jailed than in the safety of the babies they’re forced to have behind bars, argues Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia
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‘All the Ways Kemi Badenoch Is Completely Wrong About Net-Zero’
‘Pointing out the distortions, inaccuracies and outright lies is so easy that it’s almost a bore,’ argues Russell Warfield
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‘Why the Democrats Must Start Fighting Back Against Trump and Musk’
Former Obama and Clinton staffer Tom Malinowski tells Alexandra Hall Hall why the Democrats’ reluctance to push back against the Trump administration is only making things worse
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‘The Sullivan Review Treats Trans People as an Inconvenience Whose Experiences Can Be Dismissed as Invalid’
The Government has accepted a skewed report authored by people with ‘no skin in the game’, argues Helen Belcher
