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
Latest editorial
As Tory logic disintegrates, they double down on their destruction
Although the government is starting to admit there is enough money to meet some of the demands it said were not possible, the austerity Budget shows it's still coming for what's left of the welfare state, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
Alba party leader KENNY MacASKILL makes some suggestions on how to save our pubs and reduce irresponsible drinking
The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza – where Palestinians are freezing to death in tents – is not a natural disaster but a calculated outcome of Israel’s ongoing blockade, aid restrictions and continued violence, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Opinion polls point to electoral collapse, parliamentary rebellion and a looming leadership challenge as Starmer’s Labour haemorrhages working-class support and the far right exploits the vacuum left by a hollowed-out party, says NICK WRIGHT
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
JEREMY HUNT’S first Budget was a continuation of the stream of austerity policies that has been almost uninterrupted since 2010. They represent yet another attack on ordinary people struggling to get by. At the same time, the commitments to growth are meaningless without any effective policies to deliver them.
Perhaps worst of all, rather than attempting to tame inflation, the government has used it to impose accelerated real-terms cuts in public spending including public-sector pay. They also plan more of the same.
The verdict from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was damning. They described the outcome as Britain facing “its biggest fall in spending power for 70 years as the surging cost of living eats into wages.”
Similar stories
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Under current policy, welfare cuts are just a small downpayment on future austerity, argues MICHAEL BURKE
While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
In his first of a new monthly economics column MICHAEL BURKE argues that public-sector investment is more effective, more productive than private-sector investment