@Rachael_Swindon

Labour's investigations into antisemitism raise questions about the nature and definition of what the party is attempting to root out In July 2019, the BBC broadcast the Panorama programme  Is Labour Anti-Semitic? , about the allegations made against the party. It included reporting about the Labour Party's own inquiry into the Liverpool Riverside constituency during the autumn of 2016. Panorama spoke to party member Ben Westerman, the only Jewish official on the complaints team, who it reported "was confronted with the very antisemitism he'd been sent to investigate". Westerman told Panorama that, after one interview had finished, he was asked by one of those present: "Where are you from... Are you from Israel?" BBC headquarters in central London: the broadcaster has defended the Panorama report Is Labour Anti-Semitic? (Reuters) Westerman is clearly upset as he recalls what happened. "What can you say to that?" he tells Panorama. "You'

Forgive me for interrupting your evening.  We’ve got a serious problem with Boris Johnson.   Yes, I know I’m stating the bloody obvious, but even the most ardent Johnsonite knows the writing is on the wall, even if they don’t want to admit it publicly.  Boris Johnson is a national humiliation .  This goes a long way back, before Coronavirus, before Brexit, before Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and even before his time as the Mayor of London.  You will read lots of words criticising Johnson. The mainstream media are comfortable criticising him now the threat of a Corbyn-led Socialist government has gone, and the billionaire owners are comfortable with whatever comes next. Whether it be a disingenuous toad such as Michael Gove, a hard-right hatemonger like Priti Patel, or even the new establishment golden boy, the man who stands for nothing, Gogglebox ‘favourite’, Sir Keir Starmer.  That’s the thing here. There is no radical alternative. Starmer believes he is progressive, but there’s nothin

GUEST BLOG: BY @Damian_From  Keir Starmer: where did it all go wrong?   Keir Starmer’s resume is impressive; a barrister, QC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, defender of human rights, knight of the realm and now the leader of the Labour party, just one step away from the top job.      Constantly striving for personal advancement, he is clearly a man on a mission, a mission he has yet to describe in any real detail since he became leader in April. Starmer prefers to talk in more general, value-based terms. In  this article in the New Statesman  Stephen Bush describes the leader’s conference speech and its lack of substance very well.     With a Tory government overwhelmed by events and ideologically opposed to the interventionist policies required to prevent further economic damage, the stage was set for Keir Starmer to seize the moment. He had the perfect opportunity to explain to the nation where the Conservatives had gone wrong and, more importantly, what he would do instead.