KIERA MARSHALL says there is a gulf between the privileged circles in which most politicians move and the lives of working-class youth in left-behind estates – and as a newly elected Senedd member she’s determined to do something about it

World Peace Council president PALLAB SENGUPTA assesses the challenges facing the international peace movement and sends greetings to the Liberation AGM

Friedrich Merz’s call for a new Plaza Accord ignores how Washington’s 1985 currency ambush destroyed Japan without fixing US deficits — China, a sovereign socialist state with 1.4 billion consumers, cannot be bullied the same way, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ

IAN LAVERY MP says an immediate focus on raising wages and reducing costs must be part of a strategy to show Labour can deliver for workers again

ANDY McDONALD MP says Labour must show it is capable of delivering real improvements in people’s lives — bold action is required

ALLISON FEWTRELL on what Plaid Cymru's historic election victory means for the communities being failed by Wales’s housing crisis, and four things the new government can do right now

At last weekend’s International Conference Against War, LINDA PENTZ GUNTER talks to the Palestinian physician and politician about the struggles ahead to achieve a truly free Palestine

France Insoumise MP JEROME LEGAVRE speaks to Christophe Domec on building the Europe-wide peace movement that came together in the International Conference Against War last weekend

ANGUS REID and ANDREW JOHNSTONE report on an initiative that we must take this summer

All the evidence shows voters want Labour to shift to the left — but initial signs from Andy Burnham are worrying on that front, cautions DIANE ABBOTT

MAISE RILEY reports on her recent visit to China with a delegation of young communists from Europe and North America to see China’s people-led development

PAUL O’BRIEN of Labour Movement for Irish Unity looks at the Makerfield MP’s record when it comes to the north of Ireland