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
Trump and science
The new US administration’s policy decisions are already having seismic effects worldwide, argue ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
BIG BUSINESS AGENDA: Donald Trump
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
THE United States is the largest science funder in the world, remaining ahead of China in total spend on R&D. This funding is distributed through supporting universities and through funding agencies like Nasa, the US Air Force research programmes, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies. This budget is now controlled by executive orders from Donald Trump.
The NIH has been particularly prominent in reports on the edicts that Trump has sent out over the last week. Trump ordered a halt on meetings, communications, travel and training for the around 20,000 scientists and administrators that are salaried by the funding agency. A short halt in this kind of spending is common for around a day during a change in administration in the US, as each government has its own priorities and gets to set its funding agenda. The current situation is unusual because of the length of the pause, which continues for 11 days.
The NIH is the largest biomedical research funder in the world, funding everything from genetic research to epidemiology, cancer, vaccination and public health. Similar to Britain, where the board of the national funding agency (UKRI) is appointed by the minister for science, innovation and technology, the heads of the funding agencies in the US are direct appointments by the US president. (The current board of the UKRI includes people with histories in nuclear power, financial investment, oil and gas, computer processors and university management).
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
