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
Yes to workers’ rights, no to the far right: join the May Day march
Join the traditional march from Clerkenwell Green, which will bring together countless international workers’ organisations in a statement against the far right
A NOBLE AND VIBRANT TRADITION: The 2024 London May Day march moves off from Clerkenwell Green
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
THE history of London May Day is rooted in the call for an eight-hour day by the Second International in 1890, and is marked by working-class activism and evolving political agendas. Several attempts to detach May Day from the labour movement, rejecting its roots in class struggle, have failed. May Day marches in Britain and London continue to be held annually.
One hundred and thirty four years later, on Thursday May 1 2025, London May Day marchers will assemble in Clerkenwell Green and march to Trafalgar Square led by the Big Red Band, where a rally will be held bringing together thousands of workers from many different unions and communities. Traditional, maybe, but more importantly, a gesture of class assertion, an assembly of trade unionists uniting on a working day, joining up with working-class organisations assembling in support of this year’s theme, Yes to Workers Rights, No to the Far Right.
Ismara Vargas Walter, Cuban ambassador to Britain, will address assembled crowds on the steps of the Marx Memorial Library where the march will assemble and then march to Trafalgar Square to hear speakers at the rally including Eddie Dempsey, recently elected RMT general secretary, Jackie Peckham (deputy general secretary of the NASUWT), Dr Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to Britain, Tubisam Ahmed from Unite, a striking worker and representatives from community organisations.
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