Newly revealed documents reveal that MI5 taught Brazilian secret police the techniques deployed by the 1964-85 military dictatorship in horrific prisons like Rio de Janeiro’s House of Death. SARA VIVACQUA reports
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Keir Starmer – a principle-free zone
With right-wing Labour all but guaranteed to win the next general election, we need to turn apathy into anger, argues CHELLEY RYAN
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Labour leader Keir Starmer discuss politics during the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference in central London, July 18, 2023
CHRISTOPHE DOMEC speaks to the France Insoumise politician facing constant persecution from French authorities
It can be hard to discern conspiracy theory from reality and under the Trump regime the two might just be the same thing, writes Linda Pentz Gunter
ALAN SIMPSON says responses to the Golders Green attacks risk deepening divides across our country
Capturing the general strikes history is a vital part of our struggles today, posits HENRY FOWLER
On a tumultuous day in Welsh politics DAVID NICHOLSON looks at the key issues for progressives in Wales to grapple with the rise of the far right
KEIR STARMER is the luckiest political leader in history. Or is he the most conniving and ruthless? I actually think both are true.
Like Tony Blair, Starmer is the beneficiary of an imploding Tory Party, general good timing and an exhausted general public desperate for change, no matter how modest. Unlike Blair, Starmer literally threw a general election using a mixture of political guile, manipulation and ruthlessness to put an end to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. He then lied with aplomb to win over the Labour membership to ensure his election as leader.
That’s why for me, Starmer is the worst Labour leader in the party’s history. The most despicable and the most dangerous. He is not the spawn of Blair. He is actually worse than Blair and I say that as someone who despises Blair. He’s certainly more dishonest. He manages to make Boris Johnson look like a man of honesty and integrity.
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Every Starmer boast about removing asylum-seekers probably wins Reform another seat while Labour loses more voters to Lib Dems, Greens and nationalists than to the far right — the disaster facing Labour is the leadership’s fault, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
While Reform poses as a workers’ party, a credible left alternative rooted in working-class communities would expose their sham — and Corbyn’s stature will be crucial to its appeal, argues CHELLEY RYAN
STEPHEN ARNELL examines whether Starmer is a canny strategist playing a longer game or heading for MacDonald’s Great Betrayal, tracing parallels between today’s rightward drift and the 1931 crisis