Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Clampdown on freedom of speech and assembly should concern us all
Draconian new anti-working-class laws mean events like the gala need to be vigorously defended, writes IAN LAVERY MP
Dylan Clarkson, 6, parades through Durham during the Durham Miners' Gala, in July 2019
YANA PETTICREW explains what’s behind the strike and how the entire sector rests on super-exploiting an unorganised workforce
STEPHEN ARNELL casts a critical eye over the sudden rash of challenges to the two-party system on both sides of the Atlantic, noting that today’s performative populist politics sadly lacks Roosevelt’s progressive ‘Bull Moose’ vision of the early 20th century
BILL KIDD MSP says increasing Britain’s nuclear arsenal at this time is dangerous and expensive folly
ROGER McKENZIE asks whether the US’s shift to targeting everyone at once will instil greater co-operation among rising powers
MAY I begin by saying I am thrilled to once again be at the Durham Miners’ Gala, a highlight of the year that only keeps going from strength to strength.
Over the years the gala has taken on a powerful role in bringing together our movement to celebrate its proud working-class industrial heritage, reaffirm our spirit of solidarity and camaraderie, and to inspire the next generation to carry on the good fight.
Watching and absorbing the rituals and traditions of the brass bands, lodge banners, and political speeches serve to remind us that we belong to a movement bigger than ourselves, that we are the torch-bearers of a history of working-class solidarity and resistance in this country and internationally that goes back centuries, in which I am proud to play my part.
More from this author
IAN LAVERY MP looks at the first months of Labour government and warns a new approach is needed if it is to reshape Britain
Former miner and Labour MP IAN LAVERY reflects on how to regain trust and offer hope as we celebrate the Durham Miners' Gala
Former party chair IAN LAVERY urges voters who may be tempted to lend their support to alternative left candidates to stick with Labour to smash the main enemy of our class as completely as possible
IAN LAVERY MP, who took part in – and was arrested on – the great strike, looks back on the significance of this heightened period of class struggle
