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
What is a winning strategy for Labour? The real lessons of Blairism
Bizarrely, we seem to have adopted the most right-wing interpretation of the New Labour years’ formula for success — instead, we need to take an objective view and salvage what really worked, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Tony Blair and his wife Cherie pictured campaigning for Labour in 2001
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
THERE ARE a series of important elections across the country scheduled for May. It is important to state at the outset that everyone should vote Labour, as I have always done. Whatever disagreement we may have within the Labour Party and they are often very serious, any Labour candidate is a better option than any Tory or Lib Dem.
But enthusiasm and exhortation alone are not enough to win elections, otherwise Labour would trounce the Tories every time. You also need strategy and you need the tactics that flow from that. Perhaps one of the most appropriate, but least expected places to look for strategic guidance is the Blair leadership.
Naturally, I do not mean Blair or Mandelson, who offer only a distortion of what they themselves did. But we need to examine both the successes and failures of the Blair period to genuinely learn from it.
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DIANE ABBOTT MP warns Starmer’s newly declared war on foreigners and scroungers won’t fix housing or services — only class struggle against austerity can do that, and defeat Farage in the process
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
DIANE ABBOTT looks at the whys and hows of Labour’s spectacular own goal
As Starmer seeks his ‘Falklands moment’ while planning £6 billion in welfare cuts, a historical pattern repeats itself — natural resources weaponised against the working class rather than used for their benefit, writes MATT KERR