SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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Lee Anderson’s Culture Wars: How the Conservative Party is Flirting with Far-Right Hate to Appeal to its Base
Max Colbert documents the weaponisation of xenophobia among Tory politicians, with evidence suggesting the Government is encouraging extremism rather than countering it
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‘Blaming Dead Women’
When men kill women, there still seems to be a desire to pin the blame on her, writes Sian Norris
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Open Letter to the Owner of GB News from a Ukrainian Refugee: Stop Peddling Russian Narratives
Journalist Maria Romanenko calls on Sir Paul Marshall, a major shareholder in the British TV news station, to avoid Kremlin propaganda
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‘The Sun, Clarkson, Meghan and IPSO – Prepare for Another Shaming Episode of Non-Regulation’
The public is being strung along – again. No matter how outraged you were by the vicious words used against the Duchess of Sussex, nothing will change and the press will do it again, writes Brian Cathcart
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Putin’s Energy Attack: Surviving a Warm Winter Battle is Not Winning the War
Though gas prices have fallen they are expected to rise again this Summer, so Europe can waste no more time diversifying its energy market, says Mark Temnycky
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How a 50-Year US Rule Risks Denying Abortions to Ukraine’s Rape Victims
The Helms Amendment turns 50 this year, but the US foreign policy is a neo-colonialist relic that denies women around the world access to their human rights, reports Sian Norris
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Who Watches the Watchdog? The CJR’s Russia Problem
How the investigation into The Nation magazine’s pro-Russia bias was canned by ‘press watchdog’ the Columbia Journalism Review
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‘The Boris Johnson Loan Scandal Shows how Cronyism Corrupts Public Life’
BBC Chairman Richard Sharp’s hidden involvement in arranging a £800,000 loan for the former PM exposes the gilded upper circles of politics and media in the UK, writes Adam Bienkov
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‘Is Ukraine on the Path of Shock Therapy?’
Victory for Ukraine is not just about defeating Russia but avoiding the path Putin’s country has taken with its economy, write Gerhard Schnyder and Simon Deakin
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‘Small Boats – Lazy Minds’
None of the solutions to the Government’s concerns about migrant boats crossing the Channel require the UK’s withdrawal from the ECHR, writes Brad Blitz
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The Weakness of Strongmen: Do We Want Charisma or Competence?
Matthew Gwyther looks at the public’s contradictory ideas of leadership and how women are (on the whole) confounding them
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‘Does Boris Johnson Deserve a Pass Because of Ukraine?’
Former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall assesses the former Prime Minister’s recent trip to the US in support of Ukraine and what it says about his political motives
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‘Put a Ring on It and Knock Her Up’: The Proud Boys Credo of Far-Right Misogyny
A script read out at the start of every Proud Boys gathering reveals the paradoxes of being a woman in the far-right, and the misogyny inherent in nationalism. Sian Norris reports
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Stalingrad: The Second Time as Farce
As Putin threatens the West at a commemoration of the decisive World War Two battle, Paul Niland says the Russian President’s red lines are drawn in the sand
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Power and Exclusion: The UK Church Failing the LGBTQ+ Community
Revd Joe Haward reflects on how hardliners in the Church are stifling progress on LGBTQ+ rights – but homophobia and transphobia are not confined to evangelical congregations
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Wagner Crimes: How the UK can Take the Lead on Stopping Putin’s Mercenaries
Wagner Crimes: How the UK can Take the Lead on Stopping Putin’s Mercenaries
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‘Brexit – Three Years On: The Lie So Etched on Britain’s Body Politic’
Jonathan Lis explores whether telling the truth about leaving the EU would take the entire establishment down too
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‘Britannia Chained: Brexit has Left the UK in a State of National Decline’
Three years on from Britain’s exit from the EU, the deep impact on our economy and national standing is now undeniable, writes Adam Bienkov
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Brexit – Three Years On: Reconnecting the UK with Europe
In a new report for the Compass think tank, Jon Bloomfield explores how post-Brexit Britain can build a better relationship with the EU
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Lying Again? The Many Questions for Boris Johnson Over his Support for Ukraine
With the former Prime Minister again dominating the news with claims of alleged nuclear threats from Vladimir Putin, former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall puts his record on Ukraine under the spotlight
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‘Damn Rees-Mogg’s Politics of Civility’
The Conservative MP’s promise to bring back ‘civilised political debate’ in his new GB News show is an insult to the people harmed by this Government, writes Iain Overton
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Concerns that Government’s Finance Bill Benefits Big Money and Harms the Planet
The Financial Services and Markets Bill risks wrecking the UK’s commitment to net zero, writes Thomas Perrett
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Rishi Sunak’s Government is Sinking Into its Own Swamp
The Prime Minister promised a break from the chaos and corruption of Boris Johnson’s administration. After three months, his MPs fear little has changed
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Leaping Over the Lords
Labour’s announcement that it would abolish the UK’s unelected second chamber is a headline-grabbing idea with little thought of the problems involved, writes AC Grayling
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The Rise of Fringe Science, Contrarian Doctors, and the Threat to Public Health
Dr David Robert Grimes looks at the partisan polarisation and obsession with scientists rather than science that makes us prone to medical misinformation and anti-vaccine propaganda
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‘Calls for a ‘Negotiated End’ to Putin’s War is a Simplistic Solution to an Unthinkable Reality’
No Ukrainian citizens can be left living under the Russian President’s fascist rule, writes Paul Niland
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‘The Sharp End of the Stick: Latest BBC Scandal Shows how Hard it will be for the Corporation to Recover’
To survive, the broadcaster’s governance needs to be completely overhauled, writes former BBC producer and journalist Patrick Howse
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Undocumented Immigration: Two Very Different Approaches
Brian Latham looks at the very different attitudes to migration in Southern Africa compared to the UK
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Russians Living in an Alternative Reality
Mark Temnycky shows how the greatest victims of Russian disinformation are Russians themselves
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Russian Economic War: How Putin’s Dirty Money Corrupted the West
Pekka Kallioniemi assesses the Kremlin’s effective use of energy and financial dependency as part of its playbook shaping European politics
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‘The Brexit Lies that Literally Made Us All Poorer’
Iain Overton examines the lack of consequences for the Brexiters that promised us sunny uplands
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‘Violent Misogyny in Policing – Violent Misogyny in Society’
It’s not a bad apple, it’s a rotting orchard, writes Sian Norris – as a Met police officer admits to being a serial rapist
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‘Beware One-Sided Political Narratives about NHS Reform’
Consultant David Oliver analyses the claims about spending, waste and inefficiency in healthcare and proposes a ten point plan to restore services to their 2010 level
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‘The Conservative Party: No Common Good’
The Conservatives have abandoned their post-war commitment to any meaningful social contract, argues Chris Painter, and are reduced to discredited market dogmas and neo-imperial fantasies
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Britain Needs Wide-Ranging Media Reform – Now
It’s not just Harry and Meghan, we are all paying the price for a dysfunctional, corrupted established media – opposition politicians must take action, writes Brian Cathcart
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‘War in Ukraine: Lessons from Georgia’
The West can better help Ukraine by learning from its mistakes with Georgia, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Playing the Blame Game: The Conservatives Love a Good Culprit’
It’s always someone else’s fault – according to the party that has been in power for 13 years (although not according to its cheerleaders), writes Iain Overton
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The Death of Edwin Chiloba Has Sent Shockwaves Across Kenya’s LGBTQ+ Community
Sian Norris reports on the response to the brutal killing of the young LGBTQ+ activist and what it tells us about homophobia around the world
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A Letter to Nowhere: ‘Like Many Disabled People, I’m Fearful’
Penny Pepper pens an open letter to her Conservative MP, explaining why the NHS crisis is personal and political for those ‘living in the real world’
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‘Enemies of the NHS are Softening It Up for Destruction’
Opponents of free universal healthcare hope the current crisis will open the door to killing off the NHS altogether, writes Adam Bienkov
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Clashes over the definite Left
Anthony Barnett explores what he sees as the global emergence of a radical, progressive politics – especially in the United States
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Veterans Complaining About Prince Harry’s Account of Military Action in Afghanistan Should Look in the Mirror
Iain Overton points out that many of those condemning the Duke of Sussex have made more capital out of their former military careers than he has ever done
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‘Crisis? What NHS Crisis?’ It’s Been 12 Years in the Making
Consultant David Oliver looks at the chronic depletion of NHS investment, pay, training and staffing levels which have led to the current emergency
