The Patriot Game

Silly, but I'm late posting details of the November Socialist Standard on the blog, and December will be quickly upon us. Therefore, I'll keep the intro brief and to the point.

For those readers of the blog not up to speed on what's going on in British politics - no, I'm not referring to members of Lancaster Branch - the bloke on the front cover of the November Socialist Standard with too much red blusher and misapplied blue eyeshadow on his face is Gordon Brown who, barring him getting run over by a double decker bus driven by someone answering to the description of Peter Mandelson, will be the next Prime Minister of Great Britain. (Probably May 2007, when Blair is airlifted to heaven by Saint Peter to be presented with beatification and a millennial subscription to Prospect Magazine.) Brown's big idea is to embrace patriotism and (our) Britishness. I attribute this to the fact that Brown supports Raith Rovers, and he is therefore the political version of those football supporters who follow the England team abroad, and who all turn out to be from 'blink and you miss it' places like Cobham, Warminster and Uttoxeter. For what it's worth, I'm unsure of why this was the lead article in this month's Standard, other than the fact it lended Neil and Paddy the opportunity to once again conjure up another brilliant cover for the Standard.

Moving on, the best articles in this month Standard are the centenary article on Upton Sinclair's muckraking classic 'The Jungle', and the review of Benjamin Franks on modern day British anarchism. Both worth checking out.

In my usual fashion this intro is neither brief nor to the point, so I will just provide you with the link to the PDF version of this month's issue or, alternatively, you can take advantage of the links to individual articles that are provided below.

Editorial

Testing Times

Regular Columns

Pathfinders The Science of Morality, the Morality of Science

Cooking the Books Abnormal Behaviour & Statistical errors

Greasy Pole Postman's Knock

50 Years Ago Education and Race

Main Articles

Patriotism – a politician’s refuge Gordon Brown wants us to “embrace” the Union Jack and to ape the sillier patriots in America by displaying it in our front gardens. But why do they want us to be patriotic?

New Prime Minister for Japan: business as usual Japan has a new Prime Minister who seems eager to foster nationalism. We look at his policies for furthering the interests of the Japanese capitalism.

Anarchism in Britain today A full length review of Benjamin Franks's book, 'Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporary British anarchists' (AK Press)

Upton Sinclair and The Jungle The centenary of an anti-capitalist classic.

Terror in our Schools For the media, reports of bad behaviour, assaults, stabbings, teenage drinking, attacks on the elderly and the like are daily fare.

The Axis Against Evil The US is generally perceived as the central pillar of capitalism, yet US hegemony is increasingly losing favour with people around the world.

Reviews & Letters

Book Reviews Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins; The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast; Darwin's Origin of the Species By Janet Browne; Fidel Castro, a biography by Volker Skierka

Letters to the Editors 9/11 & Zionism

Voice From The Back

The Land of the Free?; Homeless in Britain?; Fat Cat Britain; Interest in Interest?; A Fistful of Dollars; A Handful of Pennies