SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
DANIEL KEBEDE admits his first weeks as National Education Union (NEU) general secretary have been a “baptism of fire.”
A sudden alarm over unsafe school buildings, announced just days before the start of the autumn term, has forced him to hit the ground running as ministers sow confusion over the number of schools affected.
It’s “a metaphor for this government’s lack of commitment to education,” Kebede tells me.
With 170,000 children living in poverty in north-east England and teachers leaving in droves over 20 per cent real-terms pay cuts since 2010, all while private companies siphon off billions, it is time to unite and fight for education, writes MATT WRACK
We face austerity, privatisation, and toxic influence. But we are growing, and cannot be beaten



