The general election campaign has only caught fire when the issue of Iraq has been raised. On the doorstep and on the streets, people are angry about being lied to, angry at Tony Blair’s arrogance and angry at the soaring cost of the war — both in terms of lives and money.
If the polls are accurate, Tony Blair is on course to form another New Labour government after the general election. So what difference can electing one or two Respect MPs make?
Challenging world poverty is the promise in Labour’s manifesto. "Put the Iraq war behind you and join us to help Africa," is their pitch. But Tony Blair’s ties to George Bush, his partner in crime in Iraq, destroy any hope of this.
Vote Labour or wake up with Michael Howard in office on 6 May — that’s the cry from New Labour. Accordingly, a poll on the morning the election was called showed a Tory lead.
On paper the events in Kyrgyzstan seem to be another of the "democratic revolutions" that the US has been calling for across the world. But Washington has been less than enthusiastic about events in this former Soviet republic.
We caught a glimpse of the real face of the Project for the New American Century last weekend when Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, sent a sharp warning to China.
A government that gives in to multinationals at home cannot curb their ravages abroad. That is the central reason why Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa is little more than a PR exercise.
This paper had added its name to the international appeal for the release of the Il Manifesto journalist, Giuliana Sgrena. On Saturday we shared the joy at the reports of her release. That quickly turned to shock and anger as news came of the ambush of the car taking her to Baghdad airport.
The centrepiece of chancellor Gordon Brown’s "Marshall Plan for Africa" came under fire from the World Development Movement (WDM) last week. Far from helping the world’s poorest, it will actively undermine the campaign to end global poverty.
The government’s assault on public sector pensions should shatter any illusion that it will deliver for workers if it wins a third term. Trade union leaders made great play of a deal they struck with Labour’s leaders at the national policy forum in Warwick last July.
The launch of Labour’s election pledge card has shown just how low the party has sunk in its craven tail-ending of Tory and tabloid racism. The card was originally set to carry five pledges—as in 1997 and 2001. These would broadly cover education, health, the economy, crime and the family—also in line with previous elections. But at the last minute, a sixth pledge was added—"Your country’s borders protected." Labour has promised "ID cards and strict controls that work to combat asylum abuse and illegal immigration".
THE INVASION of Afghanistan in 2001 was a special case and had to be supported, claimed "liberal" warmongers at the time.
