A decade of Blair has left society more segregated, fearful and divided
Racial and ethnic diversity has always been less of a problem for most of Britain than it has for Blair. What most of us long regarded as a source of cultural strength, the New Labour leadership has always deemed an electoral weakness. Driven by crude majoritarian impulses, this government has not only refused to lead a more hopeful, progressive national conversation about race, it has refused to even follow the one that was available.
A shot in the dark
Back in 1995, after Jennifer Gratz received a rejection from Ann Arbor University she asked her dad if she could sue. The university used a points system when selecting applicants, and those from under-represented minorities automatically received extra points. Gratz, a working-class girl from a Detroit suburb, assumed a black person got her place.
King Gordon's hollow court
Gordon Brown's ascent to the Labour party leadership without a challenge puts him at the helm of an organisation that is clearly rotting from the head down.
Labour Crowns King Brown
Nine months ago a leaked Downing Street memo mapped out Tony Blair’s exit strategy. “As TB enters his final phase he needs to be focusing way beyond the finishing line, not looking at it,” wrote New Labour
To understand political violence, we must first recognise its potency
Once again, those who believe a potential terrorist should be easily identifiable were disappointed. Like school shooters, the men fit the profile of dangerous people who are impossible to profile. They are not drawn from the underclass, nor did they lead segregated lives. They delivered pizzas, worked in stores and ran their own roofing business. The neighbours suspected nothing; their families are in shock.
Obama's white noise
As a skinny kid with a funny name who grew up with white parents and grandparents in Hawaii and for a while in Indonesia, Barack Obama is no stranger to racial insults.
Blair Bows Out
The process of the handover from Prime Minister Tony Blair toChancellor Gordon Brown has long been scripted. Act I began with the thrashedlocal elections–Labour lost councils all over the countryand the Scottish National Party became the largest party in theScottish Parliament. Brown wanted Blair to take responsibility for that.
Latinos on the move
It's a year since Latinos confirmed their political clout with a second wave of demonstrations to protest against impending immigration legislation. In the intervening time immigration legislation has stalled, a wall is being built along the Mexican border, and erosion of support for Republicans has effectively buried the "New Republican coalition", crafted by Karl Rove that was supposed to re-elect the right for a generation.
