The campaign against the Bank of England’s ongoing theft of Venezuelan gold is gaining support across the labour movement and beyond, writes MATT WILLGRESS
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Jobs for the boys... in space
With Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng's appointment of Lord David Willetts as the chair of the as-yet-unlaunched 'UK Space Agency,' Tory cronyism is potentially going where no man has gone before, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
Kwasi Kwarteng said Lord David Willetts “will bring a wealth of expertise to the role” — Willetts’s expertise includes a very long Tory career, beginning as a researcher for Margaret Thatcher, with stints as a minister under John Major and Cameron
The new Prime Minister must abandon decades of automatic support for US foreign policy, which makes us all less safe, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Claims that Nicaragua has abolished elections followed a headline that stripped Daniel Ortega’s remarks of their historical and political context. The full speech tells a different story, says BECCA RENK FOSTER
Media Lens at 25: David Cromwell and David Edwards reflect on a quarter-century of media criticism, explaining why independent journalism is more important than ever
MAT COWARD introduces some of the electoral oddballs of the political fringe who remain one of the liveliest features of British democracy, despite efforts to abolish them
by Weyman Bennett and Maz’s family
BORIS JOHNSON’S Tory government is struggling to find a mission for itself, beyond just hanging on to look after the rich and look after their friends. Without much of a vision of the future, all that seems to be left is a kind of crony capitalism — with the emphasis on crony.
In the latest jobs for the boys move, Tory Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng appointed former Tory Business Minister David Willetts as chair of the UK Space Agency Board at the end of April. Willetts will help run the UK Space Agency, which spends around £500m a year of public money encouraging the British space sector, alongside Paul Bate, who was made chief executive last year.
To add to the crony-ish feel of the UK Space Agency, Bate was David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s “health policy” adviser during the Tory-led coalition government and went on to be “director of NHS services” at Tory-favoured health privatiser Babylon Health before joining the Space Agency. Before working for Cameron, Bate was a health adviser to then-PM Tony Blair, so he is not quite as narrowly party-political as David Willetts.
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