The recent heatwaves revealed how ill-prepared Britain remains for a hotter future – and how unequal the ability to cope with it has become, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Latest editorial
Trade unions at GCHQ – the principle was the thing
NICK WRIGHT revisits the events of 40 years ago and the battle to overcome the ban on trade unions at the government’s communications and eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham
The Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ)
Extreme heat is now one of the defining public health challenges of a warming world, explains Prof IAN WILLIAMS
The US-Israeli conflict with Iran has had far-reaching consequences, including a boost to Pakistan’s regional standing, argues ROGER McKENZIE
19.01.1930-23.04.2026
Kate Clark pays tribute to Ricardo, whose life spanned the hopes of Allende’s Chile, the horrors of military dictatorship and decades of campaigning for justice in exile
Keir Starmer's early political life suggests a very different future from the one he ultimately embraced, says KEITH FLETT
After the dismissal of union representatives and years of precarious working conditions, Kimpton Clocktower workers are drawing a line, writes THOMAS BELL
OCTOBER 1988 saw a rash of walkouts in hundreds of places where civil servants worked.
Four union members at a little-known government facility, the Government Communications Head Quarters, had been sacked on orders emanating from prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The four were among a key group of 14 members drawn from the very many specialists working at the state agency responsible for intercepting and analysing electronic and radio communications.
Similar stories
![[Pic: Andrew Wiard]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-01/19860503_a_wiard_0002.jpg.webp?itok=w0tEojMk)
A handful of journalists at The Times faced a stark personal and political choice in 1986 – cross the picket lines for cash and career, or stand with organised labour at great personal risk. BARRIE CLEMENT recalls why refusing to scab at Wapping was not just an act of union loyalty, but a stand for the future of journalism
In part II of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY explores how witch-hunting drives took hold in the Civil Service as the cold war emerged in the wake of WWII
ROGER McKENZIE expounds on the motivation that drove him to write a book that anticipates a dawn of a new, fully liberated Africa – the land of his ancestors