Reform’s rise speaks to a deep crisis in Establishment parties – but relies on appealing to social and economic grievances the left should make its own, argues NICK WRIGHT
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Roger Sutton: a champion of workers who never let go of the banner
From anti-apartheid work to uniting migrant workers, Sutton showed us how to build worker power, keeping socialism’s flame burning bright, and leaving London’s mighty May Day parade as his legacy, writes Phil Katz
AMONG COMRADES: Roger Sutton (third from right) in Paris catching a ride on the TGV
This year’s Bristol Radical History Festival focused on the persistent threats of racism, xenophobia and, of course, our radical collective resistance to it across Ireland and Britain, reports LYNNE WALSH
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The FBU is demanding 52 weeks of full pay for women firefighters, highlighting the unique health risks they face — and the continuing need to recruit and retain more women if policies like this are still not in place, writes SEONA HART
Israel continues to operate with impunity in what seems to be a brutal and protracted experiment, while much of the world looks on, says RAMZY BAROUD
A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY
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
THE loss of Roger Sutton, a key officer of the Greater London Association of Trades Councils (GLATUC) for over 43 years is a profound one for the labour movement. An honest, highly cultured, disciplined, and committed organiser, Sutton was dedicated to worker organisation, filling roles few could replicate. Like William Morris, of whom it was said he did the work of five men, the same was true of Sutton.
Sutton was both charming and fierce — when advocating for workers, always fair and democratic in his approach. A private individual, he kept his family and activist lives separate, often misunderstood as secretive.
He neither smoked nor drank, rarely socialising in pubs after meetings, which was standard for labour activists from the 1970s to the 1990s. I feel honoured to have fought alongside him for so long, sharing many experiences both in union struggles here and in internationalist activity.
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