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
Meet Martyn Oliver, the Tories’ new Ofsted chief
The man appointed to regulate schools is the head of a giant academy chain of 41 schools with a turnover in the millions: the boss class’s choice then — and already a friend of the Tory government, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
A school safety zone sign
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
THE new head of Ofsted ran a chain of schools that get “good” and “outstanding” results — but do so with a worryingly high number of pupil exclusions.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan made Sir Martyn Oliver “His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools” — the head of schools’ regulator Ofsted — last month.
Keegan appointed Oliver because he was the longstanding boss of Outward Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), which runs 41 secondary and primary schools in north-east England and the Midlands. As Ofsted boss, he will be able to punish or praise schools, so he will have a big effect on school policy.
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Labour’s toxic centrists have wealthy backers but there’s little to suggest they can win over MPs or party members in an open fight, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
