With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass

LAST week, the government’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, better and more accurately known as the Anti-Boycott Bill, passed its third reading in the Commons despite a rebellion by a number of Tory MPs horrified at the attack on free speech and peaceful protest that it represents.
The Bill aims to ban councils and other public bodies boycotting, disinvesting or sanctioning any country unless the national government also does, depriving local authorities of a vital way in which they can represent the interests of their residents and have an international influence for good.
So profound is the attack on free and democratic speech that it even bans councils from saying they would back a boycott if they were able to.

Keir Starmer’s £120 million to Sudan cannot cover the government’s complicity in the RSF genocide or atone for the long shadow of British colonialism and imperialism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE


