JOE BESWICK of the London Renters Union talks to the Morning Star’s new Left on Record programme
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New Scottish MPs need to exert their collective strength
In a far cry from the days of James Maxton, the new MPs taking part in Westminster’s first political challenge – the two-child benefit cap – were an unedifying spectacle, says VINCE MILLS
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (front left) pose for a photograph with the new intake of Scottish Labour MPs outside no 10 Downing Street, London. Picture date: Tuesday July 9, 2024
The unnecessarily violent police intervention at a Quaker place of worship is a PR disaster and will only serve to deepen the chasm between them and the public. SYMON HILL reports
ANDREW MURRAY wonders whether recent opinion polling and a fresh local authority by-election result in Ilford are an indication that the time is ripe for the left to make inroads
Due to the actions of this government, the challenges facing those with disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries, are nigh on insurmountable, argus RUTH HUNT
General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
After brutal police crackdowns on pensioners and the forced approval of secret IMF deals, trade unions are finally responding to grassroots pressure and fighting back against savage neoliberal reforms, reports BERT SCHOUWENBURG
Bizarrely, Trump’s latest attacks now include the National Zoo, but his real and racist agenda is to strip everything black from the country’s cultural institutions, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
IN NOVEMBER 1922 thousands gathered to cheer off the new group of Glasgow Labour MPs (they were all members of the ILP) as they took the train to London from St Enoch’s railway station.
James Maxton, the newly elected MP for Bridgeton, famously told the crowd that “they would see the atmosphere of the Clyde getting the better of the House of Commons.” He was referring to the culture of the Red Clydeside which emerged during the first world war. It had fostered industrial unrest, rent strikes and revolutionary figures like John Maclean.
There was no such expectation or excitement surrounding the departure of the 35 new and two returning Scottish Labour MPs heading to London this July. To begin with, only one had been identified — by The Times, no less — as a likely recruit for the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs: Brian Leishman.
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While VINCE MILLS laments the resignation of Neil Findlay from Scottish Labour, he explains why he won’t be joining him outside the party in the ongoing struggle for a socialist future
The EU and Nato are umbilically tied – but what will the new Trump era and a reconfiguration of US interests mean for the war in Ukraine, asks VINCE MILLS
As polls show Scottish Labour’s support crumbling and Reform rising even among independence supporters, an urgent need emerges for an alternative based on public investment paid for by radical progressive taxation, argues VINCE MILLS
Without challenging the neoliberal framework of our economy or seeking more powers for Scotland, the Scottish Labour leader’s seeming break with Westminster policy rings hollow, writes VINCE MILLS