New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The New Popular Front in France and the balance of class forces
Amid an enormously dynamic situation, can Le Pen’s National Rally be stopped in the forthcoming snap election and what role will the new left-wing anti-fascist pact play, asks KEVIN OVENDEN
A protester holds an anti-far right banner during a rally in Paris, June 15, 2024
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises
The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
LINDA PENTZ GUNTER reports from the one of 2,700 protests against the Trump government’s power grabs, on a day when seven million people defied fear-mongering in a outpouring of joy and hope in what might be the biggest protest in US history
Our trust makes 3,200 home visits caring for 227 patients despite 198 Israeli checkpoints around Bethlehem; this compassion which transcends boundaries has lessons for the debate on end-of-life care in Britain too, writes FATHER GEOFF BOTTOMS
There is no chance of defending and renewing an NHS which is still savagely undermined by having to pay mark-ups of up to 23,000 per cent to Big Pharma — let’s take control of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution, writes DREW GILCHRIST
FRANCE is in a deep systemic crisis of the kind that has punctuated its history with violent eruptions. We index them by the years in which they took place from 1789 onwards.
The panicked election for the National Assembly called by President Emmanuel Macron following his party’s humiliation in the European elections, means France in three weeks could have: a fascist prime minister, or a prime minister on a left programme that bosses are screaming is “anti-capitalist,” or no prime minister plus chaos in the government. All with eruptions on the street bigger than those already taking place. Hundreds of thousands protested at the weekend against Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally (RN) that topped the European election.
Polling for the legislative election is volatile. The RN is at about 32 per cent. Macron’s liberal-centrist party on 18 per cent. The main opposition to the right is from an alliance of left and centre-left parties, the Popular Front, drawn up last week. It has 28 per cent.
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The desperate French president keeps running up the same political cul-de-sac. DENNIS BROE offers an explanation
KEVIN OVENDEN cautions against a simplistic ridiculing of Trump, Musk or Farage as any such laughter might turn out to be at our expense
As heavy industry flees and public-sector strikes paralyse the nation, the French leader’s increasingly desperate attempts to rule without a majority reveal the deep crisis at the heart of European liberal democracy, writes KEVIN OVENDEN