Netanyahu’s failed attempt to replace Shin Bet’s chief violates longstanding Israeli political taboos, as the apartheid state’s internal power struggle spirals to a new level of crisis while Gaza burns, writes RAMZY BAROUD
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Wes Streeting and the history of ‘the middle class’
Socialist historian KEITH FLETT unpacks the term currently being flung about by the Labour right as an insult and finds its popular association with ‘being a lefty’ is anything but assured in reality
9 - Streeting
Following the historic ban on companies profiting from children’s care, Unison Cymru calls for transparency in implementing the changes and extending the reform to create a truly national, profit-free care service, says MARK TURNER
The left must confront both far-right bigotry and the undeniable problems the exploitation of migrant workers by the ruling class creates — but there are few lessons from the global left on how to strike this balance, laments NICK WRIGHT
STEPHAN BLUM presents the evidence that wine was enjoyed by common folk, independent of upper-class celebrations and religious rituals
The series unveils uncomfortable truths about youth alienation and online radicalisation — but the real crisis lies in austerity and the absence of class consciousness in addressing young people’s disillusionment, says teacher ROBERT POOLE
Our delegation found a small but brave and bold socialist nation that has withstood imperialist machinations and poisonous slander to make impressive leaps in healthcare and women’s rights, reports VETERANS FOR PEACE
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
WES STREETING has criticised “middle-class lefties” who he thinks are standing in the way of his efforts to privatise bits of the NHS should he get to be health secretary in the next government.
He might well find that the mostly not-middle-class Unison and RCN are even more formidable opponents.
Streeting will only fit the definition of a “lefty” if it’s one drawn up by Lee Anderson. However, his £90,000 desk job as an MP marks him out as definitively middle class. Social being defines consciousness, as any “middle-class lefty” could tell him.
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Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
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