STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter

New releases from The Dreaming Spires, Bruce Springsteen, and Chet Baker

Plaid Cymru’s spokesman on health and social services MABON AP GWYNFOR, in the second article of a two-part series, argues that Labour’s contempt for voters and backward-facing approach have led to widespread mistrust in Wales 

Across the country readers are rallying to the People’s Paper’s cause. Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER has some handy ideas on how to get involved

JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis

STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old

Colombia’s success in controlling the drug trade should be recognised and its sovereignty respected, argues Dr GLORY SAAVEDRA

Hurricanes might have natural causes but the tragedy that follows is entirely human-made and a consequence of capitalist greed, asserts ROGER McKENZIE

The West’s dangerous pesticide dumping in Africa is threatening biodiversity, population health and food sovereignty, argues ROGER McKENZIE

EDDIE DEMPSEY explains why the RMT is calling for urgent action against assaults on staff and passengers on our public transport system

GEORGE FOGARTY is captivated by a brilliant one-man show depicting life in HMP Strangeways

Working-class women lead the fight for fair work and equitable pay and against sexual harassment, the rise of the far right and years of failed austerity policies, writes ROZ FOYER

ROGER MCKENZIE argues that it was correct to ban the notorious Israeli side who were likely to cause trouble in Muslim areas of Birmingham, but asks, given the occupation and slaughter in Palestine, why any Israeli team is being hosted anywhere

The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING

Where normally only the US and its ally Israel vote to strangle Cuba economically, there have been special efforts to slander and isolate the besieged socialist island nation year — so we must redouble our solidarity, writes TARIQ ANDERSON

The cancelled China trip of the German Foreign Minister marks a break with Helmut Schmidt’s China policy and drives Germany further into Washington’s confrontation course, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
 

Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns

STEPHEN BELL reports from a delegation that traced the steps of China’s socialist revolution from its first modest meetings to the Red Army’s epic 9,000km battle to create the modern nation that today defies every capitalist assumption

JAMES NALTON writes on the bizarre Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal

A new group within the NEU is preparing the labour movement for a conversation on Irish unity by arguing that true liberation must be rooted in working-class solidarity and anti-sectarianism, writes ROBERT POOLE

We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER

The independent TD’s campaign has put important issues like Irish reunification and military neutrality at the heart of the political conversation, argues SEAN MacBRADAIGH

It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT

After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI

Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH

KEVIN DONNELLY accepts the invitation to think speculatively in contemplation of representations of people of African descent in our cultural heritage

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

The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE

New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

Now at 115,000 members and in some polls level with Labour in terms of public support, CHRIS JARVIS looks at the factors behind the rapid rise of the Greens, internal and external

With the recent release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie One Battle After Another, STEPHEN ARNELL gives the storied history of the British real-life left-wing urban guerillas

Witnessing a war of words at a meeting on tackling militarism at The World Transformed, BEN COWLES spoke to a union rep who is organising against war from inside the arms industry itself, to hear about worker-led solutions to ending weapons production

KAY GREEN explains how the Middle East and colonialism were explored at at last weekend’s FiLiA conference

RON JACOBS is enthralled by an account of the surveillance and political repression on the left in the US

From terrifying the children of immigrants to pepper-spraying frogs, the US under Trump is rapidly descending into mayhem, writes Linda Pentz Gunter

Modi has rolled out the carpet for the Taliban in New Delhi — and we shouldn’t be surprised. They have more in common than you might think, argues Bhabani Shankar Nayak

Israel and the US talk as if they’ve won a victory, but the reality is that world opinion has turned decisively against the Israeli regime, says RAMZY BAROUD

Farage and other Reform-ers keep pointing to Dubai’s immigration policy – but there migrants make up most of the population and do all the work without any rights, muses SOLOMON HUGHES

ROGER McKENZIE argues that Western powers can see the beginning of the end in the rise of the global South — and racist reactions are kicking in

KEVIN COURTNEY of Stand Up to Racism and JOHN PAGE of the Ella Baker School of Organising announce a joint project aiming to unite trade unions and social movements in creating new narratives to fight the divisive rhetoric of the far right

The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY

As the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women begins in Beijing, it’s clear that China has fulfilled its commitments set 30 years ago and delivered amazing progress in women's education and equality, writes YU BOKUN

Taking a brief look at who the US president surrounds himself with reveals a team dedicated to the complete erasure of Palestine, not justice and civil rights for its people, writes TERRY HANSEN

Following comments made by Robert Jenrick about the people of Handsworth, the TUC, together with 12 trade unions representing members who live and work in the area, have issued a joint letter calling for the Conservative Party to take immediate action

Royal Mail’s job quality has plummeted, with gruelling hours, two-tier pay, intense surveillance, and poor work-life balance for postal workers — but our union is fighting back, writes CWU branch secretary JOHN CARSON

ANSELM ELDERGILL is a member of Your Party and he suggests how the new party should reform Britain’s constitution

ANN CZERNIK looks back over the last two years of carnage that began with the unprecedented October 7 operation and considers the rhetoric from both sides in light of the massacre carried out by Israel that has united the world in horror

Trump’s Gaza deal is a transient, self-aggrandising spectacle that barely distracts from the West’s outright complicity in the massacre in Gaza and our slide into warmongering, writes MATT KERR

Including races at Newmarket and York

We need a massive change in direction to renew a crumbling health service — that’s why Plaid Cymru has an ambitious plan to recentre primary care by recruiting 500 additional GPs and opening six new elective care hubs across Wales, writes MABON AP GWYNFOR

GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

Once again, our broad-based coalition outnumbered the anti-migrant protest in Faversham, but tackling the sentiment behind this wave of anger requires explaining the real reasons pushing millions into leaving their homelands, argues NICK WRIGHT

HANK KENNEDY contends that US military attacks in the Caribbean amount to modern piracy driven by Venezuela’s oil wealth

STEVE JOHNSON relishes a celebration of the commonality of folk music and its links with the struggles of working people the world over

MAYER WAKEFIELD is gripped by a production dives rapidly from champagne-quaffing slick to fraying motormouth

Fears grow for flotilla activist Yvonne Ridley, abducted by Israeli soldiers and held in famous Ktzi'ot prison camp

JOHN GREEN has doubts about the efficacy of the Freedom of Information Act, once trumpeted by Tony Blair

ASSAF TALGAM talks to an Israeli Communist lawmaker about the need to use every tool of democratic and non-violent struggle; how Israeli society has changed since October 7 2023; and the persecution of the left in the parliamentary arena

The CPB's congress aims to build the united front against monopoly capitalism, utilising the YCL’s promising new generation of militants — but our party remains far from the strength history requires of it, despite recent progress, writes JOHNNIE HUNTER 

In the face of funding cuts, closures and a shift into women’s centres providing criminal justice-only services rather than a holistic approach, RUTH HUNT urges women to protect existing resources, volunteer and build new networks of support

Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

Once again, working people have been betrayed with false promises about jobs in an industry that is actually making climate change worse, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

The UN is not only in need of structural change, a fundamental mindset revolution is also required – and it’s China that points the way with its Global Governance Initiative, argues ROGER McKENZIE