Tony Blair, by any sensible yardstick, is a douchebag. Recently, The Guardian, under the headline “Toxic”, detailed Blair’s “downward spiral”. This included the revelation that he may have been having an affair with Wendi Murdoch, the now ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Blair was once good pals with Murdoch
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Politics and its Discontents: A New Motto For The Liberals and The NDP?
Many political observers and bloggers, including me, have lamented the fact that outside of style, little separates the policies of either the NDP or the Liberals from those of the Harper regime. Given their timidity when it comes to policy proclamations, the biggest clue to their abandonment of a progressive
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The Economics Of Social Democracy – Social Europe Journal
The Economics Of Social Democracy – Social Europe Journal. By John Weeks In a recent article in the Social Europe Journal Shayn McCallum develops in some detail his interpretation of the “political economy” of social democracy. Central to his approach is the work of Karl Polanyi, and specially the famous Chapter 6
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Norwegian voting patterns are a warning to leftwing parties elsewhere
Henning Finseraas and Kåre Vernby Low levels of citizen participation in politics have long been seen as a serious democratic problem, and a possible relationship between turnout and election outcomes is a prominent topic of discussion in political science. The most frequent claim is that left-of-centre parties benefit from higher levels of
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform
Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform. Leo Panitch on Syriza’s radical approach to ‘reform’ in Europe. Filed under: Austerity, Capitalism, Social Democracy, Socialism Tagged: Europe, Syriza, the Left
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Five Theses on the French Left
Reblogged from thecurrentmoment: As an antidote to the snide gossip that passes for analysis of French politics at the moment, and in line with our broader reflection on the state of the European left, here are five theses on the French left that we hope might go some way to
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Nothing Left? In Search Of (a new) Social Democracy
http://www.social-europe.eu/2014/01/a-new-social-democracy/ Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: social democracy, the Left
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Hakan Bengtsson offers some useful discussion about the challenges facing Sweden’s social democratic system – as the same factors being used to prevent the development of a more equitable society in Canada and elsewhere are being cited as excuses to tear down the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Nick Pearce offers an interesting discussion of conception of equality that should be placed at the core of social-democratic thinking – with one goal in particular standing out as demanding further attention: (S)social democrats would be more self-consciously political in pursuit of their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The CP reports on Suzanne Legault’s much-needed warning about the Cons’ secrecy in government: In a closed-door session with dozens of bureaucrats Thursday, Suzanne Legault cited a series of novel measures she says are damaging an already tottering system. “I am seeing signs
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Theorizing Social Democracy
I’ve started reading The Theory of Social Democracy, by Thomas Meyer. The book was initially published in German in 2005 and was published in English in 2007, just before the financial meltdown and the onset of the Eurozone crisis. Meyer is professor of political science at Dortmund as well as
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The Norwegian National Election: Europe’s Most Leftist Government Defeated by Right-Wing Coalition | The Bullet No. 883
The Norwegian National Election: Europe’s Most Leftist Government Defeated by Right-Wing Coalition | The Bullet No. 883. The red-green coalition government in Norway, whose political platform when it took power in 2005 was called the most progressive in Europe, experienced a bitter defeat in the country’s parliamentary election on 9
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why Is Tom Mulcair Opposed to Tax Increases?
A recent online article suggests that Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is opposed to increasing federal tax rates. I find this quite surprising. According to the August 8 article: Mulcair seemed surprised when he was asked if taxes would go up under an NDP government. “You’re the first person who’s
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Socialist’s Lament
Let’s be clear about one thing: the New Democratic Party of Canada was never a socialist party. For all the hands wrung and tears shed over its newly amended constitution, the NDP, since its formation in 1961, has always been a social democratic party like any other, and social democracy
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Socialist’s Lament
Let’s be clear about one thing: the New Democratic Party of Canada was never a socialist party. For all the hands wrung and tears shed over its newly amended constitution, the NDP, since its formation in 1961, has always been a social democratic party like any other, and social democracy
Continue readingThe Deadly Myths of Globalisation
What follows is the introduction to a talk I gave at the 3rd Innis Christie Lecture & Symposium in Labour and Employment Law. My sister was educated at the Dalhousie School of Law and I was Lucky enough when visiting her to attend a lecture by Innis Christie. I am
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Happy Crashiversary! Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
Four years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s time to take stock of things by asking a stock political question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Where you stand on the answer depends on where you sit. Many people, businesses and communities are still struggling to
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
This is Stephen Lewis’s stirring eulogy at Jack Layton’s funeral, one year ago tomorrow. * “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” Arundhati Roy Read the full text on the Globe And Mail.
Continue readingCHAPTER 8: The Miserable Metrics of Neoliberalism
Conclusion to Chapter 8 Consistent with the main line of argument in this thesis then, is the proposition that labour market flexibilisation is the other side of the neoliberal policy coin; namely, price stability and conservative fiscal policy all locked in via the globalisation of production and finance. In this
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Meilinomics I: The Little Boats
The following is an excerpt from Dr. Ryan Meili’s new book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy. There’s a family that comes frequently to the West Side Clinic; we’ll call them Lucas and Annie. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t see them
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