I love a good time travel story – and I loved this one so much that I finished it in two days. (To be fair, it’s a short book.). The author works with two well-worn…Read more…
From Foxley to Facebook: Thinking the unthinkable about dictators
A few weeks ago Russia indicated that it might designate Facebook as an extremist organisation. To block such a thing occurring, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, clarified its position. It had recently changed its rules to…Read more…
From Foxley to Facebook: Thinking the unthinkable about dictators
A few weeks ago Russia indicated that it might designate Facebook as an extremist organisation. To block such a thing occurring, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, clarified its position. It had…Read more…
Review: A World Without Email, by Cal Newport
If only! Productivity expert Cal Newport makes a compelling argument against the way we use email now, and anyone who struggles with overflowing inboxes will learn from what he writes. But he…Read more…
To understand Putin, read Karl Marx
Seventy years ago at the height of the Cold War a book was published in the US entitled The Russian Menace to Europe. It made the case that “the major objective of Russian foreign policy…Read more…
In a divided world, the labour movement is united on Ukraine
Last week, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO), passed a resolution strongly condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine. The resolution was not passed unanimously. The…Read more…
Why banning RT is a bad idea
A few years ago, when I was working on the Bernie Sanders campaign, one of our volunteers came to me with an interesting proposal. It turned out that he worked in London for Russia Today…Read more…
Review: How Civil Wars Start – And How to Stop Them, by Barbara F. Walter
Barbara Walter’s book has a promising beginning. An academic who has been studying civil wars for some time now, she tries to come up with an explanation for why civil wars happen. A lot of…Read more…
DSA needs to learn the lessons of SDS
Sixty years ago, the United States was still in the grip of the McCarthy era. The Attorney General would regularly update his list of “subversive” organisations. Communists and other…Read more…
ITUC: Kick Putin’s union out
According to its website, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) is “a national trade union centre independent of the state, political and business structures.”…Read more…
ITUC: Kick Putin’s union out
According to its website, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) is “a national trade union centre independent of the state, political and business structures.”…Read more…
Review: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, by Avi Loeb
Avi Loeb is the head of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University and is one of the world leaders in his field. He believes that ‘Oumuamua, an object detected in 2017 as it flew through…Read more…
Review: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, by Avi Loeb
Avi Loeb is the head of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University and is one of the world leaders in his field. He believes that ‘Oumuamua, an object detected in 2017 as it flew through…Read more…
Yes to Nato
There is a saying that generals are always ready to fight the last war. The same may be said of political leaders. The difference is that they are ready to stop the last war, and…Read more…
Yes to Nato
There is a saying that generals are always ready to fight the last war. The same may be said of political leaders. The difference is that they are ready to stop the last war, and…Read more…
Review: Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis
Dick Tregaskis was a legendary American war correspondent who covered the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam. When he was just 26 years old, he accompanied Marines who landed on the island of…Read more…
Review: Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis
Dick Tregaskis was a legendary American war correspondent who covered the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam. When he was just 26 years old, he accompanied Marines who landed on the island of…Read more…
Review: Operation Mincemeat, by Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre is a brilliant storyteller – and this is a brilliant story. The story is a relatively simple one: With an Allied invasion of Sicily imminent in 1943, the British decided to…Read more…
Review: Operation Mincemeat, by Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre is a brilliant storyteller – and this is a brilliant story. The story is a relatively simple one: With an Allied invasion of Sicily imminent in 1943, the British decided to…Read more…
For Lithuania’s workers, enough is finally enough
When the Soviet Union came crashing down three decades ago, among the very first republics to declare independence were the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This made sense…Read more…