Seventeen years after losing her council job due to needing endometriosis surgery, Michelle Dewar’s campaign for paid menstrual leave gained 50,000 signatures in a week, reports ELIZABETH SHORT

THE TUC has intervened in a row over the appointment of the new secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) urging foreign secretary Dominic Raab not to support the Australian candidate Mathias Cormann, the former Australian finance minister who is being touted to take the job.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said she was concerned that Britain was preparing to vote for Cormann, who has a reputation for defending Australia’s mining interests, and on opposing urgent action on climate change and for his support for the anti-union agenda in Australia.
She said Cormann’s appointment would set back the fight against poverty and the climate crisis. O’Grady also said it was time for a woman to take on the leadership of the organisation.

TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger

This is a remarkable set of hop hip, salsa, reggae, soul, cumbia and traditional Mexican music finds TONY BURKE

New releases from Madalitso Band, Gabriel da Rosa, and Femi Kuti

A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens