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Gifts from The Morning Star
Let’s make the uncounted millions count
Through hospital windows and news bulletins, personal loss opens a window onto the world’s wider suffering as the season, and the year itself, reminds us all why class solidarity matters now more than ever, writes MATT KERR
DESPERATE: A group of refugees cross a beach in Kent after being rescued from a small boat in the Channel, August 2023

WHEN the nights are long, the days short, and a gale howls outside, it gives a little time to reflect on the year gone by.

I’ve always had a thing for numbers. A few decades and several stone ago, I was a pretty useful time trialist. It’s an odd kind of bike race, just the road, your breath, the thump of your heart as you race against time itself.

On the best of days, 50 miles seems to pass in a few minutes, an otherworldly experience that sends you floating above the road and yourself, and all the time, every pebble, bump, and curve on the highway noticed, noted, and understood in minute detail.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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