Simon Griffiths | The Left’s two paths to a good society: grow and redistribute (stealth) or win the arguments. It is time for the second.
[...] The importance of growth to social democracy was stressed by Tony Crosland as far back as 1956. Whilst not being as explicitly redistributionist as Crosland, it was this technocratic approach [...]

humanrights.ie has republished, from wikileaks, a memorandum from the then US Ambassador in Ireland to the US government that was written following both the outcome of the “Shannon Five” trial and the decision of the Irish Authorities ot require more information from the US authorities about materials they were transporting through Shannon.
“Wikileaks: The Significance of [...]

Not paricularly Left (indeed, not really Left at all), but an interesting read nonetheless.
Ireland: The timidity of the lawyers
“Perhaps the biggest puzzle of Ireland’s 2+ years of economic crisis is the lack of progress on restructuring the banking sector, and in particular the reluctance to follow through on the implications of having [...]

Can Socialism be Revived?  |  The Progressive Economics Forum (Canada)
Bruce Livesey
Unfortunately, the two great experiments in socialism attempted during the last century – social democracy and the Stalinist model of state-controlled socialism – are now spent forces. In respect to sweeping capitalism into the dustbin of history, they both failed.
[...]
I would contend the two main [...]

A Different Recovery
Pervenche Berès MEP is Chair of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. She spoke at the TASC conference in October.
Economic recovery is still just a future prospect. We are nowhere near an exit from the crisis, and the risk of a double dip recession should be seriously considered.”
Now, I [...]

DublinDilettante | Friday Quiz
Have a crack at the following. Multiple choice, no second preferences.
1: [The social welfare budget/Living on €196 a week] is just not sustainable in the long term.
2: We have to give [people/the markets] confidence about where their next [meal/billion] is coming from.
3: We are where we are, so [we must keep doing [...]

The Majority of the World’s Countries Can Change the IMF
By Mark Weisbrot, on Real-World Economic Review
As finance ministers, bankers, and other interested parties from around the world flock to Washington for the semi-annual IMF-World Bank meetings, the Fund is experiencing its most serious infighting in decades. The fight is over how to [...]

WatsonMedia presents Mark Blyth on Austerity

WatsonMedia presents Mark Blyth on Austerity from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

Social Europe Needs a New Economic Model | John Palmer at Social Europe Journal
There is however, a deep issue at stake if defence of decent European social standards is to be placed at the heart of policy making and not to become an increasingly powerless lobby at the margins of the debate. For that to [...]