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
IN THE middle of the nauseating platitudes, bunting, and military costumes of last weekend’s royal pantomime, a spate of reports came out about the landlord King and the crown as being one of the largest rentiers in Britain.
These revealed that the king himself directly rents out hundreds of homes on top of farmland and commercial properties. While institutionally the monarchy is a total anachronism, the aristocratic class are at the forefront of the rentier’s delight that is present-day Britain.
This prompted many questions around ownership. Who owns land and assets gets to choose how they’re used, and the ramifications of that ownership are far-reaching. Where homes are built, how green spaces are managed, how food is grown, what spaces are set aside and for what purposes, are all massively affected by who owns what.
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises



