The NEU kept children and teachers safe during the pandemic, yet we are disgracefully slandered by the politicians who have truly failed our children by not funding a proper education recovery programme — here’s what is needed, explains KEVIN COURTNEY
Latest editorial
Ian Austin's not so Mainstream after all
SOLOMON HUGHES finds yet more links between Public First, a Tory-led consultancy and the former-Labour MP's anti-Corbyn 'spoiler' campaign
Ian Austin
The appalling bigotry and bias of London’s police force has been obvious for years – and the police leadership does not appear inclined to do anything about it, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
As Holyrood elections approach, BRIAN LEISHMAN MP argues that Labour’s time has come — to open a new chapter which puts an end to the years of managed decline
ASSAF TALGAM talks to an Israeli Communist lawmaker about the need to use every tool of democratic and non-violent struggle; how Israeli society has changed since October 7 2023; and the persecution of the left in the parliamentary arena
Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP
In the face of funding cuts, closures and a shift into women’s centres providing criminal justice-only services rather than a holistic approach, RUTH HUNT urges women to protect existing resources, volunteer and build new networks of support
IN AUGUST 2019 Ian Austin set up Mainstream, a campaign to “encourage a return to respectable and responsible politics and to banish extremism from British politics once and for all.” Austin recommended voting for Johnson’s Conservatives and against Corbyn’s Labour Party.
Mainstream was a relatively low-budget affair, spending just £134,000 in the 2019 election. But it got incredible bang for its buck.
Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture tallied which political figures attracted the most coverage in national TV news and national newspapers during the election: Ian Austin came in at number 11, just pipping Michael Gove. There was a media enthusiasm, it seems, for an ex-Labour MP denouncing Labour — and Mainstream gave Austin a platform.
More from this author
The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
