The Greater Manchester mayor has shifted left over the years — but his record still shows a tendency to wobble when pressure comes from the right, says SOLOMON HUGHES
SCHOOL PUPILS are learning about Teesside’s links to the 1930s Spanish civil war, including how children evacuated from the Basque country were given shelter at Hutton Hall near Guisborough.
History is really coming alive for youngsters at Billingham South Community Primary School, they have met the daughters of one of the Guisborough Basque refugees while they are also discovering the links to Billingham and Stockton too.
Sharon Hardy, who lives in East Harlsey, North Yorkshire, and Julia Lee, from Stockton on Tees, are daughters of Fermin Magdalena, a Basque boy refugee. They visited the Billingham school to meet children in teacher Jess Brownlee’s history club. Supported by the GMB trade union, the history club has been researching the Spanish civil war and connections to Stockton and Billingham.
TONY FOX reports from a commemoration of the legendary Battle of Jarama in which four Stockton-on-Tees volunteers fell
CJ ATKINS commemorates one of the most dramatic moments in working-class history
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died 50 years ago today November 20. JIM JUMP looks back at his blood-soaked rule and toxic legacy on Spain today
TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote


