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
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Vicious new laws attack the homeless
We need to reject legally targeting rough sleepers immediately — not wait until Labour comes to power, writes RUTH HUNT
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
AN important motion was passed at Labour Party conference, which didn’t get the airtime or column inches it deserved. This motion committed the party to ending all powers to criminalise begging and rough sleeping. This would repeal many of the powers introduced in the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, including Public Space Protection Orders.
Over 60 councils, both Labour and Conservative, are now using Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs), with 30 per cent using orders that specifically target the homeless, under the 2014 draconian measures introduced while Theresa May was home secretary.
This is despite updated guidelines issued by the Home Office in 2017 that said: “PSPOs should not be used to target people solely on the fact that they are homeless or rough sleeping, as this in itself is unlikely to mean their behaviour is having an unreasonably detrimental effect on the community’s quality of life, which justifies imposing restriction using a PSPO.”
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It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR
The NHS continues to say Covid spreads primarily through ‘droplet and touch’ while the WHO emphasises airborne transmission, meaning vulnerable patients and healthcare workers face unnecessary risks, reports RUTH HUNT
Rough sleeping in England rises in a year with record numbers of children crammed into B&Bs
Pauper funerals have increased at a dramatic rate, writes DEBORAH HOBSON, asking why is this swept under the carpet by media and politicians alike