With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass

THE disgraceful conditions at Manston in Kent provide a focus to 40 years of Tory racism. With Suella Braverman as home secretary and a terrorist-style attack on a Dover immigration centre by an individual with far-right links, the relationship between institutional racism and street racism becomes clearer.
When Enoch Powell made his “rivers of blood” speech in 1968, he was a senior Tory MP who found himself with no future in the party. This was the tail end of a period when the government was welcoming migrants to fill mostly badly paid gaps in the labour force.
After the oil-focused economic crisis of 1973, matters began to change. The racism inherent in much Tory politics began to be more openly displayed.
KEITH FLETT revisits the 1978 origins of Britain’s May Day bank holiday — from Michael Foot’s triumph to Thatcher’s reluctant acceptance — as Starmer’s government dodges calls to expand our working-class celebrations


