Respect

Labour’s astonishing recent by-election defeat in Dunfermline, giving Gordon Brown a Lib-Dem MP in his own home constituency, should serve as a stark reminder that New Labour cannot presume to live for ever on the impotence of the opposition parties.

 

Electoral reform

Gordon Brown has told the Guardian that he would welcome a wider debate on the issue of electoral reform. This was one of new Labour’s manifesto pledges in 1997 which was kicked into the long grass once they were in office and most likely to be re-elected under the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Alan Thornett reports.

 

Asylum

The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) has announced a desperate cash crisis and imminent closure – very, very bad news for those desperate asylum seekers who rely on the organisation.

 

War drive

In promoting his recently published Quadrennial Defence Review, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke of a “generation-long war”, projecting thirty years of unceasing combat against radical Islam. The changes proposed to the US military plans involve more Special Forces and an ability to simultaneously undertake numerous flexible ‘irregular warfare’ missions. The message couldn’t be clearer; the US will plough on with the use of unbridled militarism as its key mechanism for sustaining its world position.

 

Portugal

Terry Conway from Socialist Resistance spoke to Alda Sousa from the Left Bloc in Portugal about the situation facing the organisation today. Sousa is a founder member of the Bloc and a member of its National Committee who lives in the northern city of Oporto. She was a MP representing the Bloc for five months in 2004.

 

Women

Having scanned the International Women’s Day website to see just what is going on around the world today, it all seems to have a rather different perspective from what I remember. The website is sponsored by HSBC bank.