The UK is on the brink of a new era: the end of Tory rule, a new Labour govt and an emboldened far-right party. Reprising his Brexit branding, Nigel Farage is pushing to make this an immigration election. Josh White, on why the July vote might be a dress rehearsal for the Reform Party.

Tendayi Vine: Pillars of Our Latex Room Opening, Watermans by The Battleground

From Political Field Recordings Vol 01 (The Battleground Sounds, 2023.) Recorded in Tel Aviv by Joel Schalit. Mastered and produced by Raz Mesinai.

From Everywhere But There: Gaza in Berlin and Brussels, 2014-2021 (The Battleground Sounds, 2023). Recorded in Berlin by Joel Schalit. Mastered and produced by Raz Mesinai.

We live in an era of excess. The main obstacle to eliminating poverty is distribution. In the latest episode of Left To Burn, Battleground editors Josh White and John Foster discuss strategies for addressing this conundrum. Some think that universal basic income is the answer. Others pin their hopes on universal basic services, using more expansive means to achieve a similar goal.

Welcome to 2023. It’s not 1984, but we’re a lot closer to dystopia. Automation is reconfiguring the world of work, and all too often, the left finds itself in the position of defending things nobody wants. In the latest episode of The Battleground’s Left To Burn podcast, John Foster and Josh White look at the challenges and opportunities created by automation.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict overproduces journalism. With good reason. It's been one of the most politically significant crises since WWII. Whether broadcast news or newspaper articles, there's no shortage. Field recordings LPs are an exception. In December, Battleground editor Joel Schalit spoke to publisher Natalie Sarkic-Todd and communications director Max Sattonay about his new album, Everywhere But There: Everywhere But There: Gaza in Berlin and Brussels 2014-2021.

On the new Left To Burn, Josh White and John Foster discuss the threat posed by Germany's Reichsbürger coup plotters. What do such crises signify for the social democratic left, which, from Italy to the UK, remains far too beholden to centrism and corruption to provide an alternative politics for Europe? It’s hard to imagine progressives leading the way, particularly given their lack of vision in the war in Ukraine.

With UK politics in crisis, turmoil in Northern Ireland is the last thing anyone wanted. Yet that’s exactly what they’ve got. John Foster and Josh White on the Northern Ireland Protocol, and how the Democratic Unionist Party are using it to prevent Sinn Fein from assuming power - but uwittingly promoting unification instead.

In the new Left To Burn, Battleground editors Josh White and John Foster devote some thought to the late historian Tony Judt’s liberal critique of the post-Cold War world. The problem facing the left is how to create solidarity in a world in which previously suppressed voices are freer than in the past, and political leaders like Rishi Sunak provide the false impression that multiculturalism works for everyone.