RMT leader Eddie Dempsey's stark warning shook up a fringe meeting at the Scottish TUC
Betty Sinclair, hero of the Irish working class
Following a ceremony held by comrades of the legendary communist activist, LYNDA WALKER summarises a life that saw time in Armagh jail, study in the Lenin School in Moscow and a founding role in the Irish civil rights movement
Family and comrades of Betty Sinclair gather to unveil a new headstone to the legendary communist activist at Carnmoney Cemetery in Belfast, December 3 2022
Incredibly, US Republican states are systematically dismantling child labour protections, with children transformed back into the cheap, disposable workers of the Dickens era, reports ANDREW MURRAY
KYRIL WHITTAKER looks at what guides Vietnam 50 years after reunification
Scotland’s rapidly growing support for Reform UK is the result of a profound crisis of trust in mainstream politics — one that progressives share, and must harness, writes DEREK THOMSON
COLL McCAIL rejects the Scottish Establishment’s attempt at an ‘elite lockout’ of Reform UK and says the unions should be wary of co-option by their class enemies in Holyrood just to keep one set of austerity-mongers in power instead of Reform UK
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
The devastating impact of austerity has left Scotland’s education system on its knees, argues ANDREA BRADLEY, urging politicians to show courage by increasing wealth taxation to fund our schools properly
BETTY SINCLAIR was born into a Church of Ireland, working-class family in Hooker Street, the Ardoyne area of Belfast. Her father was a worker in the Harland and Wolff shipyard and a “Walkerist” (pro-unionist) socialist; her mother was a reeler in Ewart’s mill.
The 1911 census shows that Betty lived with her mother Margaret, her father Joe and brothers William, Thomas and Joseph and her younger sister Ellen. It is thought that perhaps Joseph died at an early age as little is known about him.
As a young girl she lived for a short period with her aunt in Leeds, she described this as being a happy period in her life and found living in Leeds an improvement to Belfast.
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