As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
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‘There’s criminal complacency about the attitude to fire’
Fire Brigades Union leader MATT WRACK talks to the Star about the Grenfell inquiry, the firefighters’ pay freeze and the changing role of technology
Matt Wrack speaks at a protest in Westminster, London demanding answers over the Grenfell Tower disaster
If the government really wanted to address public finances, improve living standards and begin economic recovery, it would increase its borrowing for investment, argues MICHAEL BURKE
MATT KERR takes a winter journey through poetry, labour and memory, from Glasgow to Newcastle, arguing that our radical past isn’t something to revere from a distance, but a tool still meant to be used
One of Canada’s most revered politicians is a native of Falkirk but is relatively unknown in his original homeland. KENNY MacASKILL tells his story
Labour prospects in May elections may be irrevocably damaged by Birmingham Council’s costly refusal to settle the year-long dispute, warns STEVE WRIGHT
HENRY FOWLER and ROB POOLE explain the significance of today’s Megapicket
FIREFIGHTERS have been fighting more than just fires over the last 100 years. As the legendary Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which represents one of the most unionised workforces in the country, celebrates its centenary year, the Morning Star caught up with the union’s leader Matt Wrack at its annual conference in Brighton to see what he thinks the big fights of the next 100 years will be.
A lot has been achieved by the FBU since the union formed on October 1 1918. Back then firefighters didn’t get holiday or sick pay and lived on fire stations like “municipal slaves” in what was known as the continuous duty system. This meant firefighters were on duty all the time, with just one day off each week.
They would be expected to clean the chief fire officer’s toilet and even be disallowed the right to sleep with their own wives before a shift.
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