RAMZY BAROUD on how Israel’s narrative collides with military failure
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Betting it all on red: why the dodgy donors are backing Labour once more
Some shadow ministers have turned to gambling moguls, former Tory and Lib Dem donors, financiers and other questionable types to fund their individual offices — why is it only ‘sleaze’ when the Tories do it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
WINNING BIG: Wes Streeting (left) and Rachel Reeves have trousered thousands in gambling industry donations
ROGER McKENZIE explains how Ibrahim Traore has sparked the flames of hope across Africa, while the Western powers seek to extinguish all attempts to build true sovereignty in the long-exploited continent
DANIEL GOVER considers the procedural complexities awaiting a Private Member’s Bill in its passage through Commons and Lords
JAMIE TUCKNUTT reports on an initiative that brings together two epochs of the city’s anti-fascist struggles
Just as German Social Democrats joined the Nazis in singing Deutschland Uber Alles, ANDREW MURRAY observes how Starmer tries to out-Farage Farage with anti-migrant policies — but evidence shows Reform voters come from Tories, not Labour, making this ploy morally bankrupt and politically pointless
KEITH FLETT traces how the ‘world’s most successful political party’ has imploded since Thatcher’s fall, from nine leaders in 30 years to losing all 16 English councils, with Reform UK symbolically capturing Peel’s birthplace, Tamworth — but the beast is not dead yet
With turnout plummeting and faith in Parliament collapsing, BERT SCHOUWENBURG explains how radical local government reform — including devolved taxation and removal of party politics from town halls — could restore power to communities currently ignored by profit-obsessed MPs
LABOUR is seeking “billionaire cash” to replace lost subscription money caused by large numbers of members resigning. Attempts to find big money donors have met with only limited success but shadow cabinet ministers are attracting individual donors to fund their offices.
The current register of MPs’ interests show Labour’s top recipients of these donations include shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (£279,000), shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (£133,000), shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper (£71,000) and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson (£42,000). The donations favour the right of the party and bring controversial donors into apparently more direct contact with policymakers.
Last year Reeves accepted £10,000 from Richard Flint “to support the shadow chancellor’s office.” Flint was a director of Sky Betting, a gambling firm fined £1 million when he was in charge for failing to protect vulnerable gamblers. He is currently a director of Flutter PLC, the gambling giant owner of Sky Betting, Paddy Power and other betting brands. Flint was a former Lib Dem donor.
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SOLOMON HUGHES highlights a 1995 Sunday Times story about the disappearance of ‘defecting Iraqi nuclear scientist.’ Even though the story was debunked, it was widely repeated across the mainstream press, creating the false – and deadly – narrative of Iraqi WMD that eventually led to war
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