Tag: austerity

HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS THAT FRAME OUR LIVES

February 9, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the hidden assumptions that underlie policy making and public perceptions, was my Observer column this week. It was published 5 February 2023, under the headline “Debt, bad; work, good: ‘pub bore’ beliefs that seal a miserable fate for the poorest”. “I can’t live on the never-never and neither can this country… Austerity was a necessary evil… The unemployed will only work if they are forced to.” No, not the sound of the pub bore, but some of the often unstated assumptions […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: andrew dilnot, austerity, bbc, benefits, conditionality, debt, ifs, institute for fiscal studies, michael blastland

CUTTING ACCESS, NOT MEETING NEEDS

September 8, 2022 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the rise of the regulatory state and its impact of public services, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 4 September 2022, under the headline “It’s no wonder I couldn’t see a GP: limiting access to services is the point”. It’s a problem familiar to millions: the trials of trying to book a doctor’s appointment. Last week, suffering from a debilitating condition but not an emergency, I called the GP surgery to get it checked out. […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: austerity, grenfell tower, nhs, regulatory state, trilateral commission

HERE’S TO SOCIAL SPACES

April 13, 2021 by Kenan Malik

. This essay, on the importance of social spaces, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 11 April 2021, under the headline “Full pubs are a sign of communities that work. Let’s toast their return”. There were thousands this week, shivering in some icy pub garden, raising their glass to the next step on the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, as outdoor drinking resumed. At the start of the pandemic, they could have done so in thousands more venues […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: austerity, clubs, covid 19, libraries, lockdown, music venues, pandemic, poverty, pubs, social spaces, youth clubs

THE NOBLE SAVAGES OF THE WORKING CLASS

January 26, 2021 by Kenan Malik

. This essay, on contradictory perceptions of the working class, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the scandal of the global distribution of Covid vaccines.) It was published on 24 January 2021, under the headline “Age-old notions of the noble savage haunt views of working-class life”. There are few things more fractured and muddled than contemporary attitudes towards working-class people. On the one hand, too many people ignore, even deny, the grim realities of […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Politics • Tags: austerity, left behind, magic money tree, meritocracy, morality, noble savages, passing, poor, poverty, resolution foundation, rishi sunak, sam friedman, torsten bell, working class, working poor

THE REAL UNDESIRABLES ARE NOT ON THE STREETS

August 12, 2019 by Kenan Malik

As I am away for a couple of weeks, and posting little new material on Pandaemonium, I am taking the opportunity to publish some of those shorter pieces from my Observer column that I don’t normally post on Pandaemonium. This is a a short piece on homelessness and official attitudes and policies, first published on 7 July 2019. None are so blind as those who would blind others. Mark Field, the Foreign Office minister suspended for grabbing a protester by the throat, has, according to leaked […]

Categories: Britain, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: austerity, british politics, homelessness, london, mark field, rough sleeping

THE FAILING GRAYLING MODEL FOR BRITAIN

March 18, 2019 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the scandal of public sector outsourcing in Britain, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece reflecting on the debate about the Christchurch terror attacks.) It was published in the Observer, 17 March 2019, under the headline ‘We scoffed at Grayling’s ‘ferries’ but his way is now a public service norm’. Oh, how we laughed. Failing Grayling, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, the Mr Bean of contemporary politics, had awarded a cross-Channel ferry […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: austerity, british politics, chris grayling, conservatives, new labour, outsourcing, privatisation, public sector

THE EU AND THE ITALIAN JOB

December 17, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the confrontation between the EU and Italy over the Italian budget, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the nature of public debate.) It was published in the Observer, 16 December 2018, under the headline ‘Europe’s merciless treatment of Italy only hardens popular resentment’. A standoff with EU officials. Ministers flying to Brussels to negotiate last-minute deals. Cries of betrayal at home. Dark warnings of economic calamity and social unrest. No, […]

Categories: International, Politics • Tags: austerity, democracy, european union, far right, five star movement, italy, lega, matteo salvini, ms5, populism

WHO WILL GIVE SHAPE TO DISAFFECTION?

December 10, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the gilets jaunes protests, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on MSF being forced to end its rescue operations in the Mediterranean). It was published in the Observer, 9 December 2018, under the headline ‘A fear of cultural loss is fuelling anger with elites across Europe’. ‘Can we borrow him?’ Gary Lineker asked in April of the ‘charismatic, smart and ballsy’ Emmanuel Macron. The BBC presenter was far from alone in being […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: austerity, centrism, disaffection, emmanuel macron, far right, france, gilets jaunes, left, protests

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MODERATE?

October 15, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the meaning of being ‘moderate’, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on AI and bias). It was published in the Observer, 14 October 2018, under the headline ‘Call yourself a ‘moderate’? You’re just avoiding the need to make your case’. To be moderate is to be good. That is almost incontestable political wisdom. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who has declared her intention to step down, is […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: austerity, british politics, european union, extremist, immigration, margaret thatcher, moderate, theresa may

THE SCANDAL OF THE WORKING POOR

September 17, 2018 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the ‘working poor’, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on hypocrisy and the Church of England). It was published in the Observer, 16 September 2018, under the headline ‘Welfare was meant to help the poor, not subsidise exploitative employers’. It will mean fewer jobs. That was the chorus from many on the right, from Tej Parikh of the Institute of Directors to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in response to […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: austerity, british politics, conservative party, gig economy, john mcdonnell, labour party, matthew desmoond, poverty, working poor

RED SCARES AND MILLENNIAL RAGE

January 22, 2018 by Kenan Malik

I am now writing a weekly column for the Observer. It is actually a weekly page with two articles, one long, one short. This week’s articles were on red scares and Millennial rage and a tribute to Cyrille Regis. This is the essay on young people and rage against capitalism, published in the Observer, 21 January, under the headline ‘No reds under beds, but the young are awake to the flaws in capitalism’. Are student Red Guards about to […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: anti-communism, austerity, capitalism, communism, millennials, red scare, working class

THE LUMINOUS ART OF KHADIJA SAYE

June 18, 2017 by Kenan Malik

The terrible fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower in West London last week, and may have taken up to a hundred lives, may prove to be a turning point in British politics. The raw anger that it has exposed of the voiceless having their voices denied; the deafness of so many politicians to that fury, including the unwillingness over many years to listen to the Grenfell Action Group, the tenants association that has long been warning of such a tragedy; the […]

Categories: Britain, Culture & Books, Philosophy & Ethics, Politics • Tags: austerity, british politics, grenfell tower, khadija saye, photography, working class

THE ROYAL MINT

March 15, 2014 by Kenan Malik

This is the full version of my New York Times essay on the funding of the British royal family that, in some quarters at least, caused considerable outrage. The British queen is down to her last pennies. Well, actually, her last millions of pennies. Last month, the Public Accounts Committee — Parliament’s watchdog on public spending — published a damning survey of the state of the royal finances. The queen had spent down her ‘reserve fund’, essentially a savings account built up […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: austerity, britain, democracy, monarchy

BRITAIN’S WELFARE QUEEN

February 16, 2014 by Kenan Malik

My latest column for the New York Times is on the Queen and her finances. The British queen is down to her last pennies. Well, actually, her last millions of pennies. Last month, the Public Accounts Committee — Parliament’s watchdog on public spending — published a damning survey of the state of the royal finances. The queen had spent down her ‘reserve fund’, a savings account built up by years of surplus public subsidy, to ‘a historically low level’ of only […]

Categories: Britain • Tags: austerity, britain, monarchy

THE SPECTRE OF LE PEN AND THE SHAME OF THE LEFT

May 1, 2012 by Kenan Malik

The incumbent candidate falters badly. His main opponent fares barely any better. The candidates from so-called ‘fringe’ parties garner more votes than either of the mainstream ones. The far right gains its biggest success. The only thing striking about the first round of the French elections was that there was nothing striking about it. It followed the pattern of almost every election across Europe over the past few years. This Sunday Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande will slug it out […]

Categories: Race & Immigration • Tags: austerity, communist party, democracy, euro crisis, european union, francois hollande, french politics, front national, geert wilders, immigration, jean-luc melenchon, marine le pen, nikolas sarkozy, pcf, racism