A letter published in the Guardian on February 3rd The answer to John Harris’s question (We can build great council … MoreRead more…
BSG review of the year
Happy New Year greetings to everyone who have stood with us over the past 17 years in our fight for justice for blacklisted union members in the construction industry. This New Year message is a quick round up of the big stories from 2025, and looks forward to what to expect in 2026. Looking …
Draft notes for my talk at the London launch of “The August Uprising, 1924” – 4 December 2025
Why I wrote this book — and why this story matters. At first, this is not obvious. Spoiler alert: The August 1924 uprising in Georgia did not succeed in overthrowing Soviet rule. It took another…Read more…
Opening statement from the Blacklist Support Group to undercover policing inquiry
IN THE MATTER OF THE UNDERCOVER POLICING INQUIRY IN THE MATTER OF TRANCHE 3 Opening statement on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group Undercover police officers infiltrated and spied on trade unions. They reported on union meetings, union activists, union campaigns, and industrial disputes. Their intelligence reports were added to Special Branch Registry Files, …
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Israel’s new best friends
It may sound hard to believe today, but there was a time when a lot of people really liked Israel. Large groups of young Europeans, mostly from the Nordic countries, would come over to the…Read more…
Serendipity: the historian’s secret weapon
This appeared in Historia today — my 4th article for the online magazine of the Historical Writers Association (HWA): https://historiamag.com/serendipity-historians-weapon/
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Spycops inquiry chair faces legal challenge by blacklisted union activist
Legal papers applying for a Judicial Review have been submitted against the chair of the undercover policing inquiry by blacklisted union activist Dave Smith. The application, to be decided on by a High Court judge, is hoping to overturn the “unreasonable” and irrational” decision by Sir John Mitting not to allow Smith to give oral …
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The one person Starmer should have sacked
In the course of Labour’s first year in office, Keir Starmer has been very energetic and effective in one particular area: he’s very good at getting rid of people who fall out of favour for…Read more…
Electronic music history
For a few years now, I’ve been doing shows on electronic music history as DJ Discordian on The Thursday Night Show. They’re all on Mixcloud, but I decided to do a kind of timeline with the shows in historical order: Electronic music genealogy Starting with my early electronica show, the shows cover everything from industrial … Continue reading “Electronic music history”Read more…
“Anti-Israel” does not equal “left-wing”
I was talking the other day to a young man who was patiently explaining to me that to be “left” is to be “anti-Israel”. There was no difference at all in his mind. And he…Read more…
Ninotchka
To mark my birthday, we invited several dozen friends to join us yesterday in watching the 1939 film classic “Ninotchka” starring Greta Garbo. We rented out a local cinema for the occasion. Here is what…Read more…
Zohran Mamdani
If elected in November, Zohran Mamdani will be the third democratic socialist mayor of New York City in the last 35 years. His predecessors included David Dinkins, a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC)…Read more…
Review: What the Night Brings, by Mark Billingham
The publication of a new Mark Billingham novel is always a cause for celebration and this one is no different. Well, it is different, actually. It marks the return of Billingham’s iconic London police detective…Read more…
Review: In the Heart of the Fire, by Dean Koontz
I must be the last person on the planet to discover Dean Koontz, who has sold something like 450,000,000 books. (I’m not making that up.). This one is a novella, part of series about a,…Read more…
Review: Hitler’s Private Library: The Books that Shaped his Life, by Timothy Ryback
There are a few things that Hitler and Stalin shared, despite the obvious differences. Both men began their lives deeply committed to their faith, and considered life as clergymen, before turning on the church. Both…Read more…
Review: The Wehrwolf, by Alma Katsu
Alma Katsu writes horror as well as espionage thrillers, and this one started with a really good premise: imagine if the Nazis with their “Werwolf” resistance movement at the end of the Second World War…Read more…
Review: Shaken, Not Stirred, by Alma Katsu
The final volume of the novella that began with The Spy Who Vanished, this is the weakest of the three. It’s much more of a shoot-em-up, with an unsatisfying ending, in my view.
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Review: On Enemy Ground, by Alma Katsu
This novella (or short story) is the sequel to The Spy Who Vanished about a “Russian James Bond”. Not as good as the first, but still well-written and engaging.
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Spycops scandal: All police files must be released, victimised site workers say
Campaigners are calling for the release of all police files relating to the spycops scandal, after recently disclosed Special Branch documents prove that undercover police reported on union members speaking at meetings to request solidarity. One such file (400/84/165, excerpt reproduced above), until recently subject to a Restriction Order, was compiled by an undercover police spy …
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Last month, I visited Kyiv. This is what I learned.
Here are all the articles I wrote about my visit to Ukraine, published around the world in socialist and labour publications: Australia: Green Left Weekly Canada: Our Times (link coming soon) Germany: Jungle World Germany:…Read more…