The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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Trespass and roaming: our rights and responsibilities
Looking at the new hit book The Trespasser’s Companion, longstanding author and conservationist campaigner DAVE BANGS argues the burgeoning movement must include new codes of guardianship to protect the nature we love
Thousands take to Dartmoor to defend wild camping, January 2023
The Islamic Republic’s suddenly weakened regional position exposes the nation to grave threats from US imperialism
DONG XUE explains why US tariffs hold no significant threat to China
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
Like pieces on a chess board, centrist parties lose ground as they accommodate rather than challenge far-right agendas — socialists must play things better, warns MATT KERR
Yanis Varoufakis and Jeremy Corbyn laid out a roadmap for peace, justice and equality as they celebrated the legacy of inspirational socialist Tony Benn, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The NEU’s annual conference promises heated debate, with motions on international politics, curriculum reform and union amalgamation likely to provoke strong reactions and challenge the status quo, writes Education for Tomorrow editor ROBERT POOLE
WITH the right to roam back once more as a live political issue, Nick Hayes’s new book, The Trespasser’s Companion (Bloomsbury, 2022), could not be more timely. It is an informative and attractive read, and it will lift your spirits. Buy it.
In 1999 Marion Shoard’s excellent book, A Right to Roam, provided fuel for the last up-swelling of activism on this issue, while Michael Meacher introduced his “Crow Bill,” which became the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000). Shoard’s book was a great deal more detailed and methodically argued than Hayes’s, and remains indispensable.
Meacher’s Crow Act brought us some very partial and unevenly spread gains. Still, only 8 per cent of our countryside is free for us to wander by legal right.
More from this author
From John Clare country to ancient fenland, Ed Miliband’s solar farm approvals risk industrialising precious rural spaces — we must find greener solutions that don’t sacrifice our countryside’s beauty, writes DAVE BANGS
Decades of right to buy have eroded the social balance of our countryside — and now holiday lets and second home owners from the cities are compounding the crisis, writes DAVE BANGS
Spring has sprung in all its glory — but DAVE BANGS is disturbed by the absence of a crucial sound
