There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Unison young members want welfare, not warfare
Despite the change in government, the NHS staffing emergency and council funding shortfalls continue while military spending rises, writes RUBEN BRETT
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
THIS weekend, young members of Unison, Britain’s biggest union, representing 1.4 million public service workers from across the country, will meet in Swansea to discuss some of the big issues affecting our workplaces and our world.
The agenda contains important motions on training and development under Unison’s industrial strategy, Organising to Win. Several motions raise issues, particularly affecting young women, including much-needed support for young single mothers, period poverty and the housing crisis, which disproportionately affects women.
A number of emergency motions are also expected to be debated — addressing topics ranging from recent escalatory actions by Israel in both Palestine and Lebanon in the context of its ongoing genocide, to the British government’s announcement of a 50 per cent increase to the cap on bus fares and the announced increase in tuition fees which highlights the failure of the current higher education funding model.
From the motions passed at conference, delegates will then vote for two to become the national committee’s focus over the next year. Along with debates on motions, delegates will be able to attend a great line-up of official fringe meetings — including a workshop taking a detailed look at the Organising to Win strategy and how it relates to young members’ workplace organising, a “motion writing 101” session and a Palestine solidarity rally.
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