As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
PUBLIC services in this country are in crisis, which is now widely acknowledged even by those in government. Fixing that crisis is imperative for the livelihoods of millions of people in this country, and the wellbeing of almost all of us. A failure to do so will have drastic social and political consequences.
The problems of public services are so profound that they are even acknowledged by the Tories. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently apologised for his failure to correct the problems his party has created in the NHS.
Yet the depth of that crisis is not fully understood among those who accept the essential truth of the point. As a result, the onus is on politicians and political parties to say how they will tackle it.
If the government really wanted to address public finances, improve living standards and begin economic recovery, it would increase its borrowing for investment, argues MICHAEL BURKE
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP



