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
A paradise lost in Ardrossan’s empty harbour
Mismanagement, privatisation and EU rules have strangled vital ferry services, leaving Scotland’s island communities stranded and the once-bustling ports of my youth in what feels like terminal decline, laments MATT KERR
MEMORY LANE: Ardrossan Harbour lighthouse
[Leslie Barrie/CC] 
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
TRIPS to the Ardrossan harbour used to be frequent and a joy — there’s a sentence you won’t read every day.
I grew up just down the road in Saltcoats, near a beach that used to fill up with tourists from Glasgow, even after the advent of the Spanish package holiday.
Some days, Arran looks close enough that you could reach out and touch it from Saltcoats beach, other times, even in the best of weather, it seems to disappear altogether, the black and white striped ferry remaining reassuringly visible.
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