Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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So the poor don't suffer: the return to school
Fines and token funding aren't what disadvantaged pupils need — it's structural change, writes ROBERT POOLE
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
CONGRATULATIONS everyone, the crisis is over. Well, that’s what the government would like us to believe. The race is now on to get everyone back to normal as quickly as possible and get the economy moving again. That of course means that pubs must be open from 6am every day so we can all drink for victory and that schools must reopen so parents can get back to work before they get addicted to furlough.
It doesn’t seem to matter that we still have one of the highest death rates in the world nor that the recent spike in cases in Leicester is being driven by those under 19. The Prime Minister has spoken (or maybe Dom) and the reopening of schools must take place. This is so the poor don’t “suffer,” claims Gavin Williamson. I am not sure if this is meant as a warning or a threat.
The reopening of schools is being sold to the nation as being driven, not out of a desire for ensuring the profits of business are protected, but out of a desire to look after disadvantaged pupils. The irony being that this is the same group of pupils that the government has not cared a jot about for the past 10 years and whose myriad problems it is in fact to blame for.
This is also the same group the government planned not to feed over the summer — until it was forced into an embarrassing U-turn by Marcus Rashford, trade unions and the Labour Party.
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The series unveils uncomfortable truths about youth alienation and online radicalisation — but the real crisis lies in austerity and the absence of class consciousness in addressing young people’s disillusionment, says teacher ROBERT POOLE