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.

From “Feed the World” to Looking Away

Live Aid was forty years ago. Today, we are haunted once again by the images of starving children (and now, starving adults) in Gaza. But this time, it doesn’t seem to register. No concerts. No campaigns. No national reckoning. Why? Because the system can only process suffering when it’s stripped of politics. Ethiopia’s famine was framed as fate. Gaza’s is a siege, and Britain is complicit. That’s the difference.

A graphic poster with a textured, warm brown background. At the centre is the BRICS 2025 logo: a stylised, symmetrical burst of colourful triangles forming a tree-like shape, using vivid red, orange, yellow, green, and blue tones. Beneath the logo, bold black text reads “BRICS,” followed by “BRASIL 2025” and the Portuguese phrase “SUL GLOBAL INCLUSIVO E SUSTENTÁVEL.” The overall design evokes a mid-century political aesthetic with modern international symbolism.

When Principles Are Selective: BRICS, the Global South, and the Silence on Ukraine

BRICS condemns the bombing of Gaza and strikes on Iran with the language of international law, civilian protection, and sovereignty. But when it comes to Ukraine (a country invaded by one of its founding members) the silence is deafening. This isn’t a blind spot. It’s the logic of bloc politics. BRICS positions itself as a voice for the Global South, an alternative to Western hypocrisy, but it has its own double standards. Anti-imperialism loses its meaning if it only runs one way. The emerging multipolar order may be less Western, but it is not necessarily more just.

A vintage-style protest poster rendered in grainy halftone with a jaundiced beige and olive green palette. The image shows British soldiers in uniform, in a casual moment during a military inspection. Bold black text beneath reads: “SMILE FOR THE CROWN WHILE YOU OCCUPY THE STREETS.” The design evokes 1968 protest aesthetics with a stark critique of military presence and royal authority.

Who Is the Violence For?

This month, the British state made its position on violence unambiguous: while ex-generals and loyal newspapers led the charge, Parliament followed. The result was clear: Impunity for its own, criminalisation for its critics. In the same month it moved to quash investigations into war crimes in Northern Ireland, it voted to proscribe Palestine Action under terrorism law.

No One Is Above the Law—Not Even the SAS

The state demands loyalty from its killers, and contempt for those who ask why. To question the SAS is treated as heresy. To investigate them, as betrayal. But no one is above the law. Not even the men with night-vision goggles and state-sanctioned impunity. If the victims of British state violence are to be denied justice so that the myth of military virtue can remain intact, then we are not a democracy. We continue to be an empire that refuses to admit it.

A large crowd at Glastonbury Festival waves numerous Palestinian flags under a partly cloudy blue sky. Dominating the image is a prominently raised flag in the foreground reading “GLASTO FOR PALESTINE” in white letters across the Palestinian tricolour (black, white, and green horizontal stripes with a red triangle on the hoist side). The atmosphere is festive yet political, with a visible sense of solidarity.

Douglas Murray and the Fetish of Empire

Murray calls the IDF a “citizen army”, as if it were Dad’s Army with drones. In truth, Gaza is a laboratory, where missiles are tested, faces scanned, and children used to perfect the next export.

A bold graphic emblem features a red silhouette of Donald Trump’s profile against a black background. His head merges into a stylised red and orange mushroom cloud, symbolising nuclear explosion. The composition is symmetrical and stark, evoking propaganda poster aesthetics.

False Gods and Fallout: When Your Caesar Goes Globalist

Trump hasn’t changed, he’s doing what strongmen do: cutting deals, starting wars, appeasing generals. It’s Dugin who’s panicking. The fantasy’s collapsing, so he calls it a globalist takeover. The world isn’t ending. Just his script.

Shock and Awe, but for Who?

Israel’s assault on Iran wasn’t an act of self-defence or solidarity with the oppressed—it was a theatre of imperial dominance, applauded by the West, sold as morality, and carried out with the full force of a nuclear-backed settler state.