Israel continues to operate with impunity in what seems to be a brutal and protracted experiment, while much of the world looks on, says RAMZY BAROUD
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A new age of catastrophe?
We can no longer take peace for granted: until WWI there had not been a major war for 100 years. Ukraine is the first in decades that draws in so many different nations that we could be looking at a similar disaster to 1914, warns KEITH FLETT
At one level, the current hostilities in Ukraine are about that country seeking to protect its existence from Putin's aggression — but at another level, the involvement of Nato, controlled by the US suggests another conflict alarmingly similar to that which led to WWI.
A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY
With Reform UK surging and Labour determined not to offer anything different from the status quo, a clear opportunity opens for the left, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
A recent Immigration Summit heard from Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis to Britain as a child. JAYDEE SEAFORTH reports on his message that we need to increase public empathy with desperate people seeking asylum
By sticking together, working collectively and building the union, we can weather any uncertainty ahead, writes general secretary of Usdaw PADDY LILLIS
The announcement of a Women’s Justice Board should be cautiously welcomed, writes SABINA PRICE, but we need to see a recognition that our prison system is in crisis and disproportionately punishes some of the most vulnerable people in society
Cuba Solidarity Campaign secretary BERNARD REGAN says the inhuman blockade of Cuba not only continues, but the Donald Trump administration is ratcheting up aggression against both Havana and Latin America more widely
A RECENT comment by Vladimir Putin that he was being cancelled in the same way that JK Rowling claims to be caused much social media comment. Of course neither individual is short of media outlets to carry their often controversial thoughts.
Putin’s main audience for the comment however was not Twitter users in Britain, but a domestic one. Russia under his leadership is hostile to any display of sexuality that is not heterosexual. It is unfortunately very far from the only country to take this approach but Putin was making a comparison with what he sees as a more tolerant Western Europe.
However, the reference to JK Rowling was interesting because it underlined the hypocrisy of Putin’s perspective. He contrasted Russia with a “decadent” West but he and the very wealthy men and women who support him are often to be found as significant players in property, business and Tory politics in London. The current focus on Russian “oligarchs” in Britain, which sometimes verges on Russophobia, reflects the point.
More from this author
KEITH FLETT revisits the 1978 origins of Britain’s May Day bank holiday — from Michael Foot’s triumph to Thatcher’s reluctant acceptance — as Starmer’s government dodges calls to expand our working-class celebrations
From bemoaning London’s ‘cockneys’ invading seaside towns to negotiating holiday rents, the founders of scientific socialism maintained a wry detachment from Victorian Easter customs while using the break for health and politics, writes KEITH FLETT
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
Starmer’s slash-and-burn approach to disability benefits represents a fundamental break with Labour’s founding mission to challenge the idle rich rather than punish the vulnerable poor, argues KEITH FLETT
