After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
Who's afraid of a general election? The rich
KEVIN OVENDEN argues the revolt in France shows how powerful a threat the left are to the EU elite, which is why their apologists are doing everything to avert a general election in Britain
“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion”
ROBERT BURNS’S poem sprang to mind on several occasions over the last few days.
First, on reading a plea from social democratic MEPs to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. It was to abandon the party’s manifesto commitment, spurn the result of the 2016 referendum and embrace the Europe policy of the Liberal Democrats.
The letter was headed by former Greek prime minister George Papandreou. It was both part of a coordinated push to turn Theresa May’s Brexit crisis into Corbyn’s and Labour’s and also a reply to his speech in Lisbon last week to European social democratic parties.
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