14 – 28 April 2026 This year sees the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the pathbreaking play Destiny by David Edgar, describing the rise of neo-fascism in the 1970s. He discusses its context and resonance for today in IRR News. Join a discussion on 3 May at the Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone, London on what the play has to
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below. 14 April: An investigation by Byline Times finds that the government funding arm of the former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds into the network surrounding
Half a century after David Edgar’s pathbreaking anti-fascist play ‘Destiny’, linking empire, racism and industrial struggle, he examines its 1976 context and resonances in nationalist populism today. Fifty years ago this year, the National Front came to public attention, winning 20% of the vote in the Leicester local elections and over 12% in Bradford.
1 – 14 April 2026 Anyone who doubts the intensity of political policing today should just read our calendar of racism and resistance, where the highly ideological attempt to counter and contain the Palestine solidarity movement is laid bare in reports of arrests, prosecutions, protest restrictions and the ‘cumulative disruption’ amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. Indeed, over 100 celebrities, trades unionists and others have recognised the dangers of
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 31 March: A statutory inquiry into group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales (dubbed the ‘Grooming Gangs inquiry’) announces its terms of reference, including to ‘directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response’. (Herald, 31 March 2026) 31 March: Liz Truss
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 19 March: After the sixth annual celebration in Trafalgar Square organised by the Ramadan Tent Project and attended by the London mayor, Reform’s leader calls for a ban on public prayer for Muslims in the UK. Farage describes the prayers as ‘an attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 4 March: The home secretary announces a suspension of study visas from 26 March for students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and of Skilled Worker visas for Afghan nationals, saying a high proportion of those claiming asylum after arriving through a ‘legal’ route are from these countries, which amounts to
17 February- 3 March 2026 There is no equivalence between racism and anti-racism, between politicians who fuel Islamophobic narratives and those who counter them. In Manchester’s Gorton and Denton by-election, Reform UK’s campaign was explicitly nativist and Islamophobic, while the Greens, as underlined by Hannah Spencer’s victory speech, countered Islamophobia and highlighted migrant rights. That is
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY See also anti-fascism and far Right for more information on the situation in France following the death of Quentin Deranque. 17 February: In what is seen as France’s Charlie Kirk moment, the lower house of the French parliament holds a minute’s silence for Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old far-right activist who died
ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below which also includes information on the influence of the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally. 3 February: At the European parliament, Patriots for Europe and the European
