Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

THE Russian invasion of Ukraine has confirmed the criminal barbarity of the Russian government and the leadership of its armed forces.
On March 8 Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said two million people had fled Ukraine since the Russian attack on February 24. The same day the World Health Organisation reported attacks on hospitals, ambulances and other healthcare facilities had surged and the International Committee of the Red Cross described the conditions in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as “apocalyptic.” On March 10 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights verified a total of 564 civilian deaths, with close to 1,000 injured.
In addition to this horror, the crisis has also highlighted the extraordinary power and influence of the mainstream media. In particular, it has proven the continuing relevance of Edward Herman’s and Noam Chomsky’s analysis in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: A Political Economy of the Mass Media.

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