As the platforms lose case after case over the designation of ‘contractors’ as workers, they are lobbying at European level to win back control.
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The consequences of neoliberal capitalism in eastern Europe
Sheri Berman argues that post-communist left embrace of economic as well as political liberalism allowed populists to target the latter.
Amazon no longer absorbs carbon—has the world reached the point of no return?
The news that the Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink puts a further big question-mark against the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
ECB strategy review: the mountain has given birth to a mouse
Peter Bofinger argues that the ECB strategy review represents a missed opportunity.
Politics
Gender, ministers and political appointments
Women fronting governments sends an important signal. Having them in the backrooms of power is however also crucial.
It’s about the sausage
Ahead of the Bundestag elections on Sunday, just how did Olaf Scholz become the top candidate to be chancellor?
Finding solid ground: gateways to municipal socialism
From interwar Vienna through 1980s London and beyond, municipalities are the crucible of compelling socialist initiatives.
Despite all the international attention, Afghan refugees are not welcome
Nobody really knows what prospects await Afghan refugees when countries have yet to see human rights as rights for all humans.
Catalonia: a fraught dialogue begins
The leaders of the Spanish government and that in Catalonia have met across the table—but the gap between them remains large.
Economy
Another win for workers: Uber drivers are employees
As the platforms lose case after case over the designation of ‘contractors’ as workers, they are lobbying at European level to win back control.
Global inequality and the pandemic: exaggerated hopes and fears?
The pandemic has barely increased global income inequality—but it has made other inequalities worse.
Minimum-wage directive: the case for a ‘social partners option’
Adding a ‘social partners option’ to the minimum-wage directive could unblock negotiations while protecting well-functioning collective bargaining systems.
Wellbeing at work—it’s time to up the ante
The new EU health-and-safety strategy risks being a missed opportunity to address workplace mental health and wellbeing.
Society
Coming second in the game of life
‘We don’t want to decapitate the tall poppies,’ said Boris Johnson in July. Yet for Kate Pickett his ‘levelling up’ ambitions will necessitate flattening the whole social gradient.
Rescuing the concept of precarity
The cause of the precariat isn’t helped by fuzzy thinking about who and what it is.
The story of European migration, in one tragedy
As the 65th anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster looms, has Europe forgotten its lesson, of social solidarity amid diversity?
A chance for a social future
Can the Conference on the Future of Europe be a turning point from a mere economic union to one of social rights?
Ecology
After the Bundestag elections—a change of climate?
Angela Merkel was labelled the ‘climate chancellor’. But powerful coal and car industries limited her achievements. Will her successor break free?
The myth of green capitalism
Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.
Ecosocialism: more than another Third Way
The old left was too slow to see beyond materialist consumption. But an ecosocialism can underpin coalitions with the green parties which filled the gap.
To stop global heating, tax multinationals better
The rapid, radical decarbonisation needed to save the planet will cost a lot. Taxing multinationals and the wealthy properly can help pay for it.
