RUBEN BRETT of Liberation explains why the narratives we hear about the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation are deeply misleading
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New Year’s Honours – who said ‘No, thanks’?
MAT COWARD offers a roll call of refuseniks – some for political reasons, others for quirky reasons of their own
Labour MP Philip Noel-Baker had a Nobel Prize and an Olympic medal – but declined to be made a Companion of Honour
PRABHAT PATNAIK looks at how the development of capitalism from the start divided the world into unequal segments
Labour, like the Tories, sees rising mental ill health simply as a spending problem — but it reflects a diseased society, argues DR DAVID MATTHEWS
As Palestine Action prisoners go weeks without food, alleging dangerous neglect and detention without trial, campaigners warn that a near-total media blackout is hiding a crisis that could turn fatal – and fuel a growing wave of public anger. ELIZABETH SHORT reports
As the new party emerges from its founding conference with a bold socialist identity, its future hinges on whether it can provide the organisational clarity needed to turn class sentiment into class power, argues NICK WRIGHT
RICHARD BURGON MP argues the left must build on recent victories and urgently unite around a bold cost-of-living programme
JB PRIESTLEY, socialist writer and broadcaster, turned down a life peerage in 1965 and a Companion of Honour in 1969. Almost as if to underline his point, in 1979 he accepted the title of Pipe Smoker of the Year.
Some acts of rebellion are very small, but that doesn’t mean they don’t count. When they read out the New Year Honours List on the news you might enjoy playing this seasonal game: try and guess who said “No, thanks.”
Labour MP and peace campaigner Philip Noel-Baker must have had a pretty big mantelpiece on which to keep his Nobel prize, his Olympic medal and the decorations for bravery he won from France, Britain and Italy as an ambulance driver in the first world war. Maybe he turned down a Companion of Honour in 1965 because it seemed a trivial trinket alongside his other trophies, though some suggest that he was motivated by opposition to the war against Vietnam.
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