For MARIA GOULDING, John Clare’s poetry is not only uplifting and restorative, but deeply relevant in our age of environmental uncertainty and social unease....
What Now for Scottish Labour?
Last December Labour returned only one MP in Scotland for the second time in three general elections and it’s been out of power in Holyrood for 13 years. The time has come for change, say DANIEL DEERY and CIAN IRELAND, or the party faces continued decline....
Coronavirus: Austerity, Crisis and the NHS
Why has the UK failed so conspicuously to cope with this pandemic? HILARY CAVE points the finger at decades of neoliberalism and 10 years of Tory-led austerity....
Listen in to New Labour History Podcast
A new podcast series of indepth interviews about leading figures from the history of the Labour movement is now available online, thanks to the efforts of host Paul Simpson, Academic Tutor in History at Sunderland University....
Coronavirus: Leeds United to Meet the Lockdown Challenge
JEANNINE SUDWORTH reports from Leeds where council, club and community groups are coming together to help the city’s vulnerable survive the Covid-19 pandemic....
Coronavirus: Surviving Interesting Times in Great Yarmouth
MIKE WADSWORTH reports from the Norfolk coast where a region that relies on tourism fears a visitor-sparked second wave of Covid cases if lockdown is eased too much too soon....
The Root of the Problem
MARIA GOULDING reviews The Overstory by Richard Powers – probably ‘the best novel ever written about trees’, a tale with a compelling political message for our lockdown times. The characters and narrative are engrossing, and the big themes are of urgent contemporary relevance....
Local Parties Call for Labour to Allow Online Meetings
A number of local Labour Parties are calling on the leadership to allow branches and constituencies to meet online for formal business while in-person meetings are not possible during the coronavirus pandemic....
Coronavirus: Street Level Aid Breaks Barriers in Hackney
MATTHEW BROWN reports from east London where Labour members have developed a ‘hyper local’ model of mutual aid that could help reconnect the Party with its communities....
Beyond the Boundaries
In his new book, the shadow justice minister and MP for Tottenham claims we need to reach across society’s tribal lines to create inclusive and dynamic communities. BARRY WINTER reviews David Lammy’s Tribes....
Coronavirus: ‘Sheer Goodness’ Shines Through in Beverley
STEPHEN DEAS reports from East Yorkshire where an outbreak of neighbourliness and co-operation are helping the market town of Beverley endure the lockdown. ‘There are lessons for all in this, including socialists.’...
Making Socialists in Great Yarmouth
East Anglia is hardly known as a bedrock of the early ILP. But as MIKE WADSWORTH illustrates in his portrait of the Great Yarmouth branch before the First World War, local ILPers were as committed and passionate in their socialism as any of the organisation’s more famous figures....