In the wake of his recent humanitarian visit to Cuba, RICHARD BURGON points to the now urgent need to defend the island’s political sovereignty and its right to self-determination
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Labour and the corporate lobbyists
SOLOMON HUGHES charts some cosy links between Labour insiders and big business interests
Thousands of jobs are at risk across higher education, yet government funding appears only when universities can be linked to military objectives, says JO GRADY, in the run-up to the Stop the War International Conference this Saturday
The Wye, Usk, Arrow and Lugg were once treasured for their clean waters – today, pollution and corporate excess are fuelling demands for a return to public ownership, says MARK SEDDON
The new Employment Rights Act is a step forward, but restoring collective bargaining and union power remains essential to tackling insecurity, outsourcing and low pay, says PAUL WHITEHOUSE
Rising support for Farage’s party reflects Labour’s failure to defend working-class living standards or offer a credible alternative to neoliberal decline, says JOSEPH MILLS
Trade unionists are mobilising to support Cuban workers and public services, amid escalating US pressure on the socialist island. RONAN OGILVY explains
LABOUR’S leadership is now actively trying to disappoint Keir Starmer fans by jettisoning plans like his £28 billion “green prosperity investment.” While even Starmer-supporting pundits now feel sad about Labour’s ever-shrinking “offer,” one group remains enthusiastic: corporate lobbyists.
The lobbying firms, who act as hired guns for corporations seeking political influence are rounding up even more Labour insiders to join their posses.
Former Sadiq Khan adviser Ben Johnson is one of the latest examples of this rush of former Labour folk saddling up to ride out with the lobbyists. In February Johnson left London City Hall to join lobbying firm The Blakeney Group. The firm boasted about the hire to clients under the headline “Labour policy chief joins Blakeney.” Johnson joins some other Labour insiders-turned-lobbyists at Blakeney. Former Labour MP Melanie Onn is “senior counsel” at Blakeney, while “former Labour senior policy adviser, Dan Hogan” — a former “aide to Jonathan Reynolds” according to the firm — is also a Blakeney director.
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