There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Not a penny for war as public services crumble
As Britain plans to increase military spending to 2.6 per cent of the GDP while health services face devastating cuts and drug costs soar, working-class Scots urgently need united resistance, argues DREW GILCHRIST
Coins in a Saltire purse
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
TRADE WARS, genocides, and regional conflicts have brought us closer than ever to world war since 1945. Every major party is banging the war drum in one way or another — all while Scotland’s public services continue to rapidly crumble.
With the media in full swing on the threat of Russia and China, there are constant comparisons to 1939, but for many people, the comparison is better linked to the war fever of 1914.
Keir Starmer has called for a “coalition of the willing” within Europe and the EU has answered. Military spending will now increase by €150 billion with proposals to divert regional development funds into defence also being echoed in Brussels. Britain is hoping to lead the charge with a proposed increase in defence spending up to 2.6 per cent of GDP for 2027.
All the while Scotland’s infrastructure and public services are being decimated in the interests of private capital. Working-class people are being left without any sense of support or trust in the government’s duty of care to the people’s needs.
The NHS has been decimated by yet another year of service cuts to staff, health centres and acute sites. The voices of NHS workers have been completely ignored when calls for better investment and pay have been waved to the side.
More from this author
With local authorities and services in a dire state, what should be the strategy of the left? DREW GILCHRIST argues that building support for no-cuts budgets can be a powerful way of defending our communities
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