From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
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We must fight to defend the rights we had under the EU
In the face of Tory machinations under the guise of a 'review,' the Scottish government and trade unions are opposing any downgrading of our employment protections, reports CHRIS STEPHENS MP
We can be confident that if the Tories were intent on protecting workers’ rights, they would simply maintain those already enshrined in EU law — rather than ploughing ahead with a review and selecting what they want to keep
Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
From a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
I AM finalising this column on Burns Day morning, a day when many Scots celebrate our national bard, Robert Burns. Rather fittingly, the issue of workers’ rights was to be debated in the House of Commons later on. An appropriate occasion given the bard’s radical instincts and his call for workers’ representatives and women to be elected to Parliament; a call made long before trade unionists and women entered the green benches.
I am also finalising this column just having received confirmation that my name has not been taken for the call list to speak in this debate — an innovation introduced due to Covid-19 restrictions. I will outline below some of the key points I would have raised if called.
Regardless of one’s own view of Brexit, it was always a suspicion that the Farages, Patels, Johnsons and other hard-right figures saw it as a vehicle to eradicate employment rights. Indeed, many of them said so.
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Employment lawyer ALICE BOWMAN warns ‘day one rights’ include an undefined ‘initial period’ and the zero-hours contract fixes create baffling fixed-term loopholes. If the Bill doesn’t work properly and deliver, Labour is doomed
The Bill addresses some exploitation but leaves trade unions heavily regulated, most workers without collective bargaining coverage, and fails to tackle the balance of power that enables constant mutation of bad practice, write KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY KC
Falling short of what was promised: many of the new rights in the Employment Rights Bill have defects or escape loopholes that all need addressing, writes LORD JOHN HENDY KC
The Employment Rights Bill is a vital opportunity to rebalance power between workers and employers. As it passes to the Lords, pressure must be brought to bear to strengthen this key legislation, argues ANDY McDONALD MP