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
OVER the weekend it emerged that private schools, not content with the advantages already gained by smaller class sizes and access to the technology and facilities afforded by fees, endowments and tax breaks, “gamed” Covid rules to give their pupils more top A-levels.
Schools “at least doubled the proportion of A*s handed out to their A-level pupils last year compared with 2019,” according to research done by The Times.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson took to Twitter to play pin the blame on the Tories: “The Tories’ chaotic failure to prepare saw grades soar in top private schools.”
While Spode quit politics after inheriting an earldom, Farage combines MP duties with selling columns, gin, and even video messages — proving reality produces more shameless characters than PG Wodehouse imagined, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
We’ll be developing a people’s manifesto for the 2026 local elections. We’ll network, learn, inspire and support each other and chart a future path for socialist politics, writes JAMIE DRISCOLL



