The Norwich Radical - June 2025 Issue
Welcome to the June 2025 Issue of The Norwich Radical! This month marks a year since Keir Starmer took power in the UK, and six months since Trump was reinstalled as President in the US. The mechanisms by which these regimes are striving to degrade the rights and quality of life of their citizens are in some ways very different, but in others strikingly similar.
Both regimes inherit a great deal of preparatory work done in the past decade, Trump from his previous term and Starmer from the deregulatory Tory project he has smoothly taken up. Both projects had a simple but devestatingly straightforward first stage: erode regulation and public services without providing a substitute, then allow their preferred default power dynamic to fill that gap. In Trump's case, that dynamic is conflict: he has built his supporter base on false grievances, distrust and prejudice, and must continually push onto the next flashpoint to keep that desire satisfied. In Starmer's, the dynamic is convenience: now leading a country which is well down the path of marketised deregulation, he need only repeat notional ideas of progression while allowing gravity to draw Britain towards the state of corporate capture and increasing segregation he seems so eager to facilitate.
As ever, at the Radical we seek to engage with these broad political conditions through a variety of approaches. Sunetra Senior gets to grips with Labour's pretence at progressivism, and what it could do to really live up to that ideal. Jonathan Lee brings us a powerful story from beyond the anglophone world, of a Romani community's struggle against a mining corporation in Serbia. Bliss Wylie of ACORN Norwich brings us a more close-up view from the front lines of the housing crisis, examining the impacts on disabled people and the potential of landlord licensing as a partial solution. And Howard Green finds some solace in the surrealism of Antonio Tabucchi, reminding us that the different perspectives we can find in the words of others are always more relevant than they might appear.
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June 2025 Issue - Contents
LABOUR MUST STOP PLAYING AT PROGRESSIVISM
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TOXIC NEIGHBOURS: HOW A CHINESE MINING GIANT ENDANGERS ROMANI LIVES IN SERBIA
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THE CRISIS OF UNLICENSED LANDLORDS IS FAR WORSE FOR DISABLED TENANTS
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REQUIEM BY TABUCCHI: A SURREAL TONIC FOR AN UNCERTAIN TIME
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LABOUR MUST STOP PLAYING AT PROGRESSIVISM
by Sunetra Senior
It is no secret that Starmer is, in many ways, a populist. To whatever degree a strange one. He attempts to cater to different factions of the British electorate, having identified as ‘a socialist’ before last year’s general election, but only conditionally, leaning heavily into right-wing politics and rhetoric to emerge victorious as the PM. He also boasts the garnish of leftism to help prettify what seems to be the nation’s most watery political cocktail.
TOXIC NEIGHBOURS: HOW A CHINESE MINING GIANT ENDANGERS ROMANI LIVES IN SERBIA
by Jonathan Lee
“This settlement once looked beautiful. We grew up as children in this settlement. We had hygienic conditions, we had pitches where we played football, we didn't have to play in the neighbourhood, we could go to the playground and play football matches and such there. We had a shop, we had a pub , we had a bakery, the roads were good, everything was hygienic…unlike now.”
THE CRISIS OF UNLICENSED LANDLORDS IS FAR WORSE FOR DISABLED TENANTS
by Bliss Wylie, member of ACORN Norwich
Damp climbing walls. Mould spreading across ceilings. Broken boilers in winter. Faulty wiring. These aren't rare housing horror stories—they're daily life for millions of UK renters. In Norwich, many families shiver through winter while paying ever-rising rents. Meanwhile, more than a decade of government cuts to benefits leave many disabled people choosing between food and rent, due in part to the higher cost of life while living with disabilities. And of course, further slashing of the Personal Independence Payment under this Labour government will only deepen this crisis for disabled renters.
REQUIEM BY TABUCCHI: A SURREAL TONIC FOR AN UNCERTAIN TIME
by Howard Green
During a short trip away, I picked up Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (translated by Margaret Jull Costa) from amongst a collection of Penguin Archive texts in a small bookshop. It looked like the perfect length to read over a few afternoons, and I was intrigued by the suggestion that the text is largely inspired by the work of Fernando Pessoa.
It is a summer of struggle for many of us. We fight for our civil rights, for better economic conditions, for justice for those betrayed by increasingly fascistic institutions. Whatever you're fighting for, make sure to look after yourself and those around you as much as you can. Much is being taken from us, but we can still find solace and strength in each other.
In Solidarity,
The Norwich Radical Team
