TUC president and POA leader STEVE GILLAN speaks to Ben Chacko on the eve of Congress 2026
IT WAS hardly possible to miss the politics around the European football championship. Indeed the traditional cries of “keep politics out of sport” were very muted.
“Patriotic” Tory MP Lee Anderson refused to back the England team because they were taking the knee against racism. Boris Johnson and Priti Patel were relaxed about racists booing the team until they found out they were doing well — then they started cheering them.
Sport and politics have a long history and no more so with the challenges socialists have made back to the 19th century to try to keep the interests of capital out of it. There was even a Workers Wimbledon from 1932-1951, which may seem a little odd to some who currently frequent the championships.
JAMES NALTON explains how this historic Lancashire clash has become a fixture of the Championship season
Andy Burnham could learn a few lessons from a previous Labour government in the pre-privatisation era on how to tackle water shortages, writes KEITH FLETT
Football may not solve the working class’s problems, but it does matter — and politicians know it, writes BERT SHOUWENBURG
The PM is drawing cautious distance from Donald Trump over Iran – but history suggests Britain’s support may run deeper than it appears, just as it did during the Vietnam war, says KEITH FLETT


