In the wake of his recent humanitarian visit to Cuba, RICHARD BURGON points to the now urgent need to defend the island’s political sovereignty and its right to self-determination
AS a modern-day Aesop’s Fable might put it, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has laboured mightily and brought forth a mouse. With a majority of around 156 MPs at Westminster, her Budget on Wednesday missed a golden opportunity to begin fixing Britain’s big social and economic problems.
These include 14 million people in poverty (including four million children); six million patients on hospital waiting lists; 1,290,000 people and families on housing waiting lists; and public services run down or privatised.
Led by the Tories and their right-wing press, much of the public debate before, during and after Budget day focused on Labour’s plans to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs).
Expanding Britain’s nuclear capability increases the risk of nuclear confrontation. It does not keep us safe – it makes us a target, argues CAROL TURNER
Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS


