JOHN REES looks at why the June 20 international anti-war conference is such a vital initiative
Latest editorial
From the SDP to the Independent Group: the importance of politics from below
KEITH FLETT wonders how Labour's centrist split intend to function with no membership, structure or policies
oy Jenkins (left) and Dr David Owen at the launch of the new Social Democratic Party, March 1981
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
A FEW days after the Independent Group (TIG) of MPs formed in the Commons, the Liberal Democrat strategist Mark Pack tweeted “who will be TIG’s Bill Rodgers?” It was an interesting question.
Despite having spent a year in formation with meetings at luxury hotels the breakaway MPs appeared without a proper name, no policies, no membership and no structure. Their cheerleaders in the media argue all these will appear over time.
The SDP which was formed in 1981 was a rather different and more substantial matter. On its founding day the Limehouse Declaration was published outlining its basic principles. Its roots went back much further than that though.
Similar stories
Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT
![Majority members out campaigning in Newcastle [Pic: Majority]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-07/20majority.jpg.webp?itok=9Ft2_tTD)
JAMIE DRISCOLL explains how his group, Majority, plans to empower working people to empower themselves
The charter emerged from a profoundly democratic process where people across South Africa answered ‘What kind of country do we want?’ — but imperial backlash and neoliberal compromise deferred its deepest transformations, argues RONNIE KASRILS
While Hardie, MacDonald and Wilson faced down war pressure from their own Establishment, today’s leadership appears to have forgotten that opposing imperial adventures has historically defined Labour’s moral authority, writes KEITH FLETT