SOLOMON HUGHES finds the government went along with a US scheme to distract from Israel’s lethal Gaza blockade with an impractical floating pier scheme – though its own officials knew it wouldn’t work
A perfect opportunity for Labour to develop bold new policies
The result in Batley and Spen ought to galvanise the party leadership to set out its vision for the future – but there are few signs this will happen any time soon, says IAN LAVERY MP
Keir Starmer with Kim Leadbeater in Clackheaton Park after she won the Batley and Spen by-election
Historically the framework of that expulsion of Palestinians was predicated on the use of war as a pretext, as opposed to war as a response to Palestinian resistance, writes RAMZY BAROUD
VICTORIA HOLMES salutes the brave stand being taken by Palestine Action hunger-strikers in British prisons, and explains their demands
SYMON HILL looks at Tommy Robinson’s bid to use Christmas to spread division and hate — and reminds us that’s the opposite of Jesus’s message
CAMERON HARRISON and CJ ATKINS analyse the White House’s new strategy in detail
DENNIS BROE says media ownership is not only grossly concentrated in the US, Britain and France – new mergers are advancing the power of the rich to censor the news
In the early hours of this Friday morning it was announced in a ‘shock’ result that Kim Leadbeater had done enough, and that Labour had held on to Batley & Spen.
Kim’s popular local appeal alongside an energetic campaign that was deeply rooted in the local community and omnipresent on the doorsteps thanks to an army of party activists was enough to hold – not win - a seat in that in 2017 backed Labour with a majority just shy of 9,000.
The result comes in the backdrop of an aggressive campaign resulting in thousands of votes, mainly assumed to be from Muslim communities disillusioned with the current direction of the Labour Party and feeling their vote has been taken for granted for too long, going to third parties.
Similar stories
Sixty Red-Green seats in a hung parliament could force Labour to choose between the death of centrism or accommodation with the left — but only if enough of us join the Greens by July 31 and support Zack Polanski’s leadership, writes JAMES MEADWAY
With Reform UK surging and Labour determined not to offer anything different from the status quo, a clear opportunity opens for the left, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
JOE GILL looks at research on the reasons people voted as they did last week and concludes Labour is finished unless it ditches Starmer and changes course
DIANE ABBOTT looks at the whys and hows of Labour’s spectacular own goal