The first named train as part of the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) Azuma fleet on the East Coast route, is liveried at Bounds Green Depot in London, May 15, 2023
Charles Lubselski pays tribute to a lifelong communist and supporter of the Daily Worker and Morning Star
Ten days after right-wing destabilisation attempts, Mexico’s leadership has emerged strengthened, securing historic labour and wage agreements, while opposition-backed protests have crumbled under scrutiny, says DAVID RABY
Fuelled by economic abandonment and a collapsing faith in politics, Farage’s party is transforming grievance into momentum north of the border, warns COLL McCAIL
A searing scrutiny hearing has uncovered thousands of undelivered appointments, vanishing data and a system in chaos – galvanising councillors, patients and activists to demand urgent reform and an NHS dentist for all, writes SIMON BRIGNELL
PRIVATE companies now run less of our rail network than at any time since Tory rail privatisation began in 1993.
Of 17 passenger train operators across Britain, seven are run by the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort or its equivalent in Wales and Scotland, three by foreign state-owned companies, and three by joint ventures that include foreign state-owned companies. Only four train operators are now run by private companies.
Rail privatisation was sold to the public as a way to bring competition, innovation and investment from the private sector. A total illusion, of course.
Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry
