anti capitalist musings

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Close-up of a British two pence coin, copper-coloured, showing a heraldic lion in a crosshatched frame with fleur-de-lis corners and the words “TWO PENCE” at the top.
Labour Government

Rachel Reeves and the 2p Trap

The chancellor’s proposed income tax shuffle is clever accountancy but toxic politics — a pledge-break disguised as fiscal discipline, and proof that Labour has trapped itself in rules it cannot escape.

An illustration of a red fish (Herring) in profile against a pale background, with the words “RED TERROR” in bold black capitals beneath it.
Charlie Kirk

Red Herring, Not Red Terror

David Frost calls it a new “Red Terror.” The truth is plainer: it’s the Right’s wars, coups and crackdowns that have spilt the deepest blood in politics.

Donald J Trump

The Invention of the Narco-Terrorist

Trump’s latest “kinetic strike” killed three unknown Venezuelans he labelled “narco-terrorists.” The phrase is not law but incantation, a word that strips away humanity and legitimises killing. From Vietnam body counts to Obama’s “signature strikes,” America has always named its enemies into existence, and into death.

Britain

Beyond Creeping Fascism

To call Robinson’s rally “populist” or “right-wing” is to miss the point. Fascism doesn’t require every marcher to be a coherent ideologue; it requires a mass, a scapegoat, and leaders prepared to turn grievance into violence. That is what we saw in London.

Screenshot of a Telegraph article by Camilla Tominey titled “The killing of Charlie Kirk shows just how poisonous Left-wing politics now is,” with the subheading “Speech has consequences – we have once more learnt that lesson from the horrifying events in Utah.” Below the headline is a photo showing two people in jeans holding a poster with a portrait of Charlie Kirk.
Camilla Tominey

Tominey’s doublethink

Camilla Tominey’s sainthood act for Charlie Kirk trades politics for piety. The Right already owns the machinery (press, finance, courts, police) and Kirk was part of the drive shaft. A death certificate doesn’t wash clean a career built on making violence respectable.

Britain

Flatlining Growth, Rising Crisis

The ONS reports zero growth in July. The papers call it “grim news” for Rachel Reeves. In reality, it is the latest entry in a long obituary for British capitalism — a system now sustained only by euphemism, stagnation, and decline.

Grainy black-and-white, newspaper style showing the silhouette of a police officer facing a crowd, holding up a blurred mugshot. Camera flashes from photographers in the background illuminate the scene, casting stark light and deep shadows, evoking a sense of public spectacle and mob judgment.

Back to the Mob

Publishing a suspect’s ethnicity isn’t transparency, it’s a gift to the mob, a state-sanctioned dog whistle that trades justice for headlines and hands Reform UK exactly the ammunition it craves.

The Patriarchy in Uniform: Reform UK’s Law and Order Is a War on Women

When Reform UK’s justice spokesperson declared she would “much rather see a great big strapping male police officer with a female,” she wasn’t just airing a preference. Pochin was laying out a worldview. One where women are too vulnerable to patrol alone, too soft for frontline work, and too inconvenient to be equal. As under Trump, so under Farage: the creeping politics of patriarchy, where power is always male, and women are tolerated only if they stay in their place.

A grainy, black-and-white brick wall with a faded Pride flag poster pasted in the centre. Spray-painted across the flag in bold red letters are the words “NEUTRALITY = COMPLICITY”. Below, in black stencilled text, it reads “TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS”.

Against the Ruling: Pride, Policing, and the Politics of Supposed Impartiality

Neutrality in the face of injustice is not impartiality. This is complicity. The court’s ruling isn’t about keeping police out of politics; it’s about appeasing a reactionary movement that wants trans people pushed from public life. Today it’s Pride. Tomorrow it’s the right to celebrate Eid, to march for Black lives, to speak up for Palestine. The message is clear: visibility is permitted only for the unthreatening.

Pencil drawing inside prison

No More Cells

They say prisons are overcrowded, as if the cages are too small. As if the problem is spatial. As if all we need is a few more acres of razor wire and reinforced concrete and the crisis will vanish. But prisons aren’t full because we lack space. They’re full because we lack imagination.

Painting of Stuart Hall produced by Ai

Forceful Irony: Policing & Power

Through the ideas of Stuart Hall, this post looks at the persistent problems of the Metropolitan Police and the complicated relationship between policing, power, and social inequality.