Journalist STEVE SWEENEY talks to Roger McKenzie about narrowly surviving an Israeli air strike last week while documenting the mass displacement of civilians – and explains why the real story goes far beyond the attack on him
Responding to the spike in energy prices, the Don’t Pay campaign threatening mass non-payment of bills had significant success in 2022. As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, SIMON HOWARD looks for lessons
DON’T PAY was a low-budget campaign aimed at tackling the energy bill crisis.
Starting with a plan scrawled on a beer mat and taking inspiration from both the poll tax struggle and water bill refusal, it was launched at the TUC rally on June 18 2022.
Within five months Don’t Pay had got 250,000 people to pledge to an energy bills strike, 32,000 signed up as “organisers,” received viral media coverage and built a national network of postcode-based WhatsApp groups.
Behind the cute names of Scotland’s road gritters lies a workforce underpaid and overlooked – a fitting reflection of a Budget that protected profits, bungled its rollout and offered hardly a glimmer of hope, writes MATT KERR
Roger McKenzie talks to general secretary of Unison CHRISTINA McANEA about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on members, the local government funding emergency and the threat of Reform UK



