JOHN REES looks at why the June 20 international anti-war conference is such a vital initiative
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‘Peterloo for the EU’? Really?
Socialist historian KEITH FLETT is unconvinced by film maker Mike Leigh’s assertion that the Perterloo marchers would have been anti-Brexit
ROGER McKENZIE highlights how health workers in DRC are struggling to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in a region already suffering conflict, aid cuts and a legacy of imperialist degradation
Associate Professor BUI QUANG TUAN explains how modernisation and growth are helping to unlock new foreign investment in the Vietnamese economy
New workplace rights are welcome, but the survival of the trade union movement will be determined not in Westminster but in workplaces across the country, argues JOHN CARSON
Nearly two decades after leaving office, the former PM is still trumpeting the same futile militarism and failed free market dogmas. The question naturally arises: why does anyone still listen to him, says ANDREW MURRAY
Very modest growth in membership serves to underline the need for a change of recruiting strategies, posits NIGEL FLANAGAN
MIKE LEIGH has made an excellent film about Peterloo — but linking the sentiments of the crowd on that August day 200 years ago with views on Brexit needs to be done with care, if, that is, it can be done at all.
This is what Leigh tried to do in a recent Guardian article however. He wrote that “Brexit is the epitome of democracy under threat” — to which some might reasonably respond that this equally applies to Remainiacs who wont accept the democratic result of the EU referendum under any circumstances.
It does suggest perhaps that Leigh’s grasp of how to make a great film is rather greater than his knowledge of history and particularly how historical events might weigh on the present.
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