Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
How lithium became a new global flashpoint
Lithium is crucial for batteries — but because deposits form only under rare geological conditions, its extraction is a geopolitical flashpoint between the imperial West and the rest of the world, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
OUSTED: A man holds a sign that reads in Spanish: ‘Evo [Morales], your people need you,’ as supporters of the toppled Movement for Socialism government march against the coup in Bolivia, November 2019
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
LITHIUM has been around for a very long time. Along with hydrogen and helium, it was one of the three elements synthesised in the Big Bang.
In its elemental form, it is a chalky white alkali metal, soft enough to be cut with a knife. Lithium is unstable due to its high reactivity, and does not naturally occur in elemental form on Earth.
It is typically found in mineral form (combined with other elements) within igneous rocks — formed by the cooling and solidification of molten lava from deep beneath the Earth’s surface.
A type of rock called granitic pegmatite hosts the largest concentrations of lithium-containing minerals. Lithium can be directly mined from these rocks, like in Australia at Greenbushes, the world’s largest lithium mine.
More from this author
What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society
While politicians condemned fascist bombing of Spanish civilians in 1937, they ignored identical RAF tactics across the colonies. Today’s aerial warfare continues this pattern of applying different moral standards based on geography and race, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The distinction between domestic and military drones is more theoretical than practical, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Nature's self-reconstruction is both intriguing and beneficial and as such merits human protection, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
