After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
Latest editorial
The NHS is at the tipping point – it’s time for renewal
We have been fighting things getting worse — what is needed is to fight to get things better, and that requires a radical change in mindset, writes national officer of Rebuild Britain FAWZI IBRAHIM
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
Alba party leader KENNY MacASKILL makes some suggestions on how to save our pubs and reduce irresponsible drinking
The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza – where Palestinians are freezing to death in tents – is not a natural disaster but a calculated outcome of Israel’s ongoing blockade, aid restrictions and continued violence, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Opinion polls point to electoral collapse, parliamentary rebellion and a looming leadership challenge as Starmer’s Labour haemorrhages working-class support and the far right exploits the vacuum left by a hollowed-out party, says NICK WRIGHT
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
A NEW pamphlet by Rebuild Britain to be launched at the TUC identifies two main events that set the NHS on a trajectory towards a US-style health service: the introduction of the internal market in 1990 and the scrapping of the duty of the secretary of state to provide healthcare in 2012.
The pamphlet calls on trade unions to take responsibility for the health service and emulate the 1976 Lucas Aerospace shop stewards’ alternative plan, the workers’ response to the corporation’s decision to cut thousands of manufacturing jobs.
The plan wasn’t a pay-and-conditions claim, a wish list or a set of demands. It was a well-argued and well-researched alternative to industrial decline.
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DAVID MATTHEWS looks at what a collective future for welfare might have in store for us
Born from my communist social worker mother’s efforts to bridge healthcare gaps, Labour’s push for home-based care now risks becoming another avenue for the US corporate takeover of the NHS, writes RICHARD CLARKE
