The Rest Is Bullshit

The colony Washington could not afford to lose

The US often portrays Puerto Rico as a burden – so why did it resort to repression and covert action to keep it a colony?

Apr 11 • Steve Howell

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March 2026

Keir Starmer has wasted his chance to stand up to Washington

For a moment, it seemed Starmer might refuse to aid US action in the Strait of Hormuz, but he failed the test - and now, in the last 24 hours, Iran has…

Mar 21 • Steve Howell

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From the centre of power to pariah

Peter Mandelson once told me that the company he enjoys most is of people from "a strictly bourgeois background.” Writing for Jacobin, I looked at the…

Mar 12 • Steve Howell

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February 2026

Rubio, Rodeo and Tall Tales of Empire

Marco Rubio’s recent call to defend "Western civilization" has provoked the ire of Diane Abbott and put the spotlight on how the US treats people of his…

Feb 27 • Steve Howell

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If Keir Starmer goes, will anything change?

Britain’s prime minister is severely wounded by his disastrous appointment of an Epstein-associated US ambassador and could soon be ousted. But Labour…

Feb 14 • Steve Howell

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January 2026

Good riddance to Atlanticism - but what replaces it?

My piece below for Tribune discussed how US threats to Britain over Greenland have exposed the lie of a ‘special relationship’ and called for Britain to…

Jan 24 • Steve Howell

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Security scares and arms spending: we’re being played

If we're under imminent threat from Russian drones and submarines, why is the government still prioritising deploying forces in the Middle East and…

Jan 18 • Steve Howell

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Donald Trump thinks Venezuela now has an electorate of one - him

Trump and his consigliere, Marco Rubio, say elections in Venezuelan are not going to happen any time soon because their priority is to “fix up the oil…

Jan 5 • Steve Howell

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December 2025

US colonialism: two centuries of daylight robbery

As Washington gears up to attack Venezuela and grab its vast oil reserves, it is using Puerto Rico – a country it colonised in the 19th century – as a…

Dec 20, 2025 • Steve Howell

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November 2025

You can have war or you can have social democracy - but you can’t have both

Scrapping the two-child benefit cap will lift 600,000 children out of poverty. It’s a welcome victory, and vindication for Left MPs, but Rachel Reeves’s…

Nov 30, 2025 • Steve Howell

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Trump makes fools of Britain’s China hawks

The trouble with hanging on to someone’s coat-tails is that you fall off when they suddenly change direction.

Nov 2, 2025 • Steve Howell

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October 2025

An inside job: the Labour right's conspiracies against Corbyn exposed

My review for The Jacobin of The Fraud, a new book by Paul Holden that meticulously exposes how right wingers in the Labour Party secretly sabotaged the…

Oct 23, 2025 • Steve Howell

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