As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM

AS what I would hope is the last Labour conference before a general election begins, it’s a good time to assess the state of the country and politics in general.
The picture is a bleak one. A cost-of-living crisis which has got no better as winter once again sets in, public services on their knees, industrial strife and communities across the country strangled by a lack of investment. When Labour wins the next election there is a huge amount of work to do.
At the same time, the past week has seen the Conservative Party in Manchester seeking to perform what looks like an impossible feat.



