Spiked Online

''Spiked'' (also written as ''sp!ked'') is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society. The magazine was founded in 2001 with the same editor and many of the same contributors as ''Living Marxism'', which had closed in 2000 after losing a case for libel brought by ITN.

There is general agreement that ''Spiked'' is libertarian, with the majority of specialist academic sources identifying it as right-libertarian, and some non-specialist sources identifying it as left-libertarian. Activists associated with ''Spiked'', sometimes described as part of "the ''Spiked'' network", took part in the Brexit Party as candidates or publicists, while disagreeing with Nigel Farage on many domestic issues.

Editors and contributors

''Spiked'' is edited by Tom Slater, who was previously its deputy editor. He was appointed in September 2021, and replaced Brendan O'Neill, who had been editor following Mick Hume's departure in January 2007. On ceasing to be editor, O'Neill became ''Spikeds 'inaugural chief political writer'.

The magazine also produces a number of podcasts, with contributors including Christopher Snowdon.

Origin

''Spiked'' emerged from ''Living Marxism'', the magazine of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). ''Living Marxism'' was founded in 1988 and rebranded as ''LM'' in 1999.

''Spiked'' was founded in 2000 after the bankruptcy of its predecessor after losing a libel case brought against it by the broadcasting corporation ITN. The case centered around ITN coverage of Fikret Alić and other Bosnian Muslims standing behind a barbed-wire fence at the Trnopolje camp during the Bosnian war. ''LM'' claimed to oppose Western intervention on traditional anti-imperialist grounds, and published an article titled "The Picture that Fooled the World" which claimed that ITN's coverage was deceptive, the barbed-wire did not enclose the camp and the Muslims were in fact "refugees, many of whom went there seeking safety and could leave again if they wished." During the court case, evidence given by the camp doctor led ''LM'' to abandon its defence. ITN was awarded damages and costs, estimated to be around £1 million.

The RCP itself formally dissolved in 1996, but maintained its existence as a loose network, first around ''LM'' and then ''Spiked''. The group of writers associated with ''LM'' who went on to form the core editorial group at ''Spiked'', are often referred to as the "LM network" or "Spiked network".

Content

Frank Furedi, interviewed in ''Spiked'' in 2007, said that the stance of ''LM'' and ''Spiked'' originates from the "anti-Stalinist left". Environmentalists such as George MonbiotMonbiot, George (9 December 2003)
"Invasion of the entryists"
''The Guardian'' (London). and Peter Melchett have suggested that the LM Network pursued an ideologically motivated ' anti-environmentalist' agenda under the guise of promoting humanism.Melchett, Peter (19 April 2007)
"Clear intentions"
''The Guardian'' (London). In a 2007 interview in ''Spiked'', Frank Furedi referred to these critics as "a network of McCarthyites". Monbiot described the views of ''Living Marxism'' as having, "less in common with the left than with the fanatical right." In 2018, Monbiot wrote that, "Its 'Spiked's''articles repeatedly defend figures on the hard right or far right: Katie Hopkins, Nigel Farage, Alex Jones, the Democratic Football Lads' Alliance, Tommy Robinson, Toby Young, Arron Banks, Viktor Orbán".

''The Daily Beast'', as well as Paul Mason of the ''New Statesman'', have described the site as libertarian. A study in '' Policy & Internet'' by Heft et al. described ''Spiked'' as populist, saying that it has "roots in the radical left‐wing scene, but now oppose the political establishment from a position on the right side of the spectrum." According to Tim Knowles, the technology correspondent for ''The Times'', ''Spiked'' is right-wing and libertarian, while Evan Smith, a historian who has written on ''Spiked'' in the context of its free speech campaigns, has noted its "right-libertarian and iconoclastic style". By contrast, digital media scholar Jean Burgess and James Bowman of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center have referred to the site as left-libertarian.

''Spiked'' opposes many public health interventions. For example, it sees campaigns against obesity as state intrusion and “a war on the poor”. It opposes multiculturalism and (as its contributor Munira Mirza put it) sees institutional racism as “a perception more than a reality”.

''Spiked'' opposed the post-9/11 invasions of Afghanistan and of Iraq and Western interference in developing nations in general.

''Spiked'' saw the UK's vote to leave the European Union as a demonstration of democracy against ruling elites and has celebrated Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and Boris Johnson's Conservative government for their stance on this. Activists associated with ''Spiked'', sometimes described as part of 'the ''Spiked'' network', were active in campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, with a number of its activists involved in the Brexit Party as candidates or publicists. Among those associated with Spiked who joined the Brexit Party were Claire Fox, who said she largely disagreed with Farage on domestic policies.

In 2018 Monbiot wrote that "Spiked's writers rage against exposures of dark money. It calls ''The Observer''s Carole Cadwalladr, who has won a string of prizes for exposing the opaque spending surrounding the Brexit vote, 'the closest thing the mainstream British media has to an out-and-out conspiracy theorist'".

''Spiked'' opposed lockdown as a policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2020, an exposé by ''The Daily Beast'' reported that ''Spiked'' was one of several mainly conservative websites that had inadvertently published articles attributed to non-existent experts on the Middle East. This network of fake journalists promoted the United Arab Emirates and pushed for harsher treatment of that country's opponents. ''Spiked'' did not remove the two articles, instead leaving an editorial note mentioning the articles' questionable authorship.

Following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Spiked took a strong Ukrainophilia, pro-Ukrainian position, often publishing articles praising the Ukrainians, Ukrainian people and attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, it also criticized Western media reaction following the 2022 missile explosion in Poland, accusing such media of not taking the risk of a major escalation with Russia seriously enough.

Projects

In May 2007 ''Spiked'' launched the ''Spiked Review of Books'' as a monthly online literary criticism feature. This coincided with controversy in the United States following the scaling back of newspaper book review sections.

Spiked produces annual "free speech rankings" of UK universities.

Funding

A joint investigation between ''DeSmogBlog, DeSmog UK'' and ''The Guardian'' revealed that Spiked US Inc. received funding from the Charles Koch Foundation between 2016 and 2018 to develop live campus events connected with The Toleration and Free Speech program sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation. ''The Guardian'' suggested that this was due to the online magazine's attacks on left-wing politics, its support and defence of hard right and far-right figures, and the many articles it publishes by writers supported by the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Koch-funded Cato Institute. ''Spiked'''s editor Brendan O'Neil dismissed such accusations as "McCarthyism" and stated that such funding was used to promote debate about free speech, saying that the Toleration and Free Speech Programme at the Charles Koch Foundation supports "projects from both progressive and conservative groups", naming as examples the American Civil Liberties Union, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Newseum, the Knight Foundation and the American Society of News Editors.

References

External links

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2000 establishments in the United Kingdom
Climate change denial
Freedom of speech in the United Kingdom
Libertarianism in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 2000
Online magazines published in the United Kingdom
Organizations of environmentalism skeptics and critics
Political magazines published in the United Kingdom
Politics and technology
Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1978)