Reform’s rise speaks to a deep crisis in Establishment parties – but relies on appealing to social and economic grievances the left should make its own, argues NICK WRIGHT
Devolution reloaded
After Scottish Labour’s success in the polls, VINCE MILLS calls for bold devolution of immigration and borrowing powers to tackle Scotland’s economic challenges — and outflank the SNP
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar with some of the newly elected Labour MPs at Four Winds Pavilion in Glasgow, following the landslide General Election victory for the Labour Party, July 5, 2024
This year’s Bristol Radical History Festival focused on the persistent threats of racism, xenophobia and, of course, our radical collective resistance to it across Ireland and Britain, reports LYNNE WALSH
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The FBU is demanding 52 weeks of full pay for women firefighters, highlighting the unique health risks they face — and the continuing need to recruit and retain more women if policies like this are still not in place, writes SEONA HART
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
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
CONGRATULATIONS to the Scottish Labour Party (SLP) for its part in the victory over the despicable Tories on July 4. It won 37 seats (65 per cent) on a 35.3 per cent share of the vote, higher than Labour’s Britain-wide share of 33.7 per cent.
Although, as in England and Wales, it was a victory gained in the face of a spectacular collapse of its main rival, in Scotland’s case, the Scottish National Party (SNP) which lost 39 seats on a 30 per cent share of the vote, leaving them only 9 MPs in Westminster (16 per cent).
The victory was also won on a reduction in turnout of 8.4 per cent from the 2019 election to only 59.2 per cent and in a few constituencies the turnout was down by as much as 10 per cent. That was a bigger reduction than the UK turnout which fell by 7.6 per cent to 60 per cent.
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That Scotland was an active participant and beneficiary of colonialism and slavery is not a question of blame games and guilt peddling, but a crucial fact assessing the class nature of the questions of devolution and independence, writes VINCE MILLS
While VINCE MILLS laments the resignation of Neil Findlay from Scottish Labour, he explains why he won’t be joining him outside the party in the ongoing struggle for a socialist future
The EU and Nato are umbilically tied – but what will the new Trump era and a reconfiguration of US interests mean for the war in Ukraine, asks VINCE MILLS
As polls show Scottish Labour’s support crumbling and Reform rising even among independence supporters, an urgent need emerges for an alternative based on public investment paid for by radical progressive taxation, argues VINCE MILLS
