Seventeen years after losing her council job due to needing endometriosis surgery, Michelle Dewar’s campaign for paid menstrual leave gained 50,000 signatures in a week, reports ELIZABETH SHORT

IN MY last article in the Morning Star, I highlighted how biased and misshapen the classical-music infrastructure in Britain was, pointing out how the tentative steps from starting to learn an instrument all the way through to a stable professional career are fractious at best.
This instability has been knocked off-kilter and risks complete collapse.
On June 10, the Guardian published a stark warning after receiving an open letter from Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Elder.

BEN LUNN alerts us to the creeping return of philanthropy and private patronage, and suggests alternative paths to explore


