Paul Mason
New Statesman
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Paul:
Why Marx is more relevant than ever in the age of automation
On the bicentenary of his birth, Marx continues to be a key thinker thanks to his surprising faith in the individual. → Read More
Labour must resist the siren calls of austerity
The party should enter the debate over the Autumn Statement prepared to fight and win an ideological battle. → Read More
Liz Truss’s tax U-turn is even worse for her than it looks
Her whole philosophy is based on incentives for the rich. → Read More
The case for public ownership of energy has never been stronger
Keir Starmer should recognise that renationalisation is best for consumers and the planet. → Read More
Western fatigue over Ukraine war risks handing victory to Putin
Russia’s renewed advance is a threat to the entire democratic world. → Read More
As UK inflation hammers the poor, we need a revolution in policy
Labour should back a plan to cap prices and rents, and cut profits not wages. → Read More
Labour’s mixed night shows it needs a progressive alliance to win an election
Keir Starmer’s party is not strong enough to form a transformative government without support from other centre-left forces. → Read More
The Conservatives’ net-zero strategy would doom the planet to climate chaos
Only public ownership and dramatic state investment can decarbonise the economy at the speed required. → Read More
Labour has no hope of defeating the Conservatives until it answers the Brexit question
The alternatives to a hard Brexit are well known and entirely possible to achieve. → Read More
Boris Johnson’s demand for higher wages is an opportunity for the left
The only way to deliver the high-wage economy the Prime Minister wants is to break with Britain’s capitalist model. → Read More
The UK’s energy crisis shows why we need a publicly owned system
A national energy company is the best way to promote energy security, equity and sustainability. → Read More
The biggest risk for Labour is taking no risks
Starmer should commit openly and enthusiastically to taxing, borrowing and spending in the name of justice. → Read More
Labour needs a radical social care alternative – and fast
Rushed, muddled, half-baked and inadequate though it is, the new Health and Social Care Levy represents a watershed in Conservative thinking about taxation. Before they were against it. Now, reluctantly, they’re for it – at least as a means of shoring up the fiscal flood defences against the tide of demographic ageing. By effectively creating the first new tax since VAT was → Read More
The Afghanistan crisis has exploded Boris Johnson’s “Global Britain” delusions
As I write, a group of more than 20 workers from the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation (AHRDO) huddle exhausted at the perimeter of Kabul airport. Their work on the ground, as you will gather from the organisation’s title, is over. They didn’t interpret for the British Army. They weren’t part of the Green Zone elite. There’s not even a single European power → Read More
Keir Starmer needs to end Labour’s civil war
Shortly after Labour’s general election defeat in December 2019, I was invited to speak at a large joint meeting of the two Norwich Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs). There were at least 500 members crammed into the hall, mostly from the party’s left. Most were committed opponents of Brexit and keen supporters of the city’s only Labour MP, Clive Lewis. In the middle sat a very grumpy group of… → Read More
How to end the poison of online racism
So Boris Johnson called the tech companies in for a bollocking over the racist abuse of England’s black players? Actually he didn’t. The tech companies were already enjoying a freebie at Downing Street and Johnson tacked on a meeting, demanding they start implementing the aspects of the Online Harms Bill, which the government itself has delayed. But that’s beside the point. → Read More
The sale of the UK’s largest chip plant to China shows how Brexit has left Britain exposed
If you buy a new car in the digital era, the golden moment comes when the salesman flips open a laptop to show the factory production line. “There's yours,” an Audi guy told my friend last month. “It should be ready about... December." In the age of just-in-time production, my friend responded, December seems a bit late. “It’s the chips,” came the reply, “there’s a global → Read More
Labour’s victory in Batley and Spen shows the party is learning how to fight back
Three words summarise the Batley and Spen by-election: Labour. Fought. Back. Confronted by George Galloway, reborn as an anti-woke campaigner exploiting homophobia, Labour activists faced down the intimidation and the threats his campaign inspired and turned the imagery against him. They learned – both in the Muslim community and the tight-knit white working-class villages → Read More
Brexit is not a dead issue – the left needs an answer to the Europe question
“Strong Britain, Great Nation,” goes the song British children have been urged by the Department for Education to sing on 25 June. Coinciding with the week of the fifth anniversary of the EU referendum, it’s a fittingly surreal moment. The official video accompanying this disturbing propaganda stunt is actually an attempt to sell the deeply unfashionable concept of Britishness → Read More
The threat of Labour defeat in Batley and Spen shows the party is facing a perfect storm
There is a distinct possibility that Labour will lose the Batley and Spen by-election on 1 July. This is not because of the factors splintering its vote among white, elderly workers in small towns, but the opposite. The seat’s Muslim voters may defect to the former MP George Galloway, or stay at home, driven by anger at Labour’s perceived weak position on the Gaza war, its new → Read More