The Labour leadership’s narrow definition of ‘working people’ leads to distorted and unjust Budget calculations, where the unearned income of the super-wealthy doesn’t factor in at all, argues JON TRICKETT MP

KEITH FLETT recalls ‘the most advanced political programme to appear on the left until the time of the Bolsheviks’

As Armistice Day approaches, with the far right hoping to use it to promote their own form of ‘patriotism,’ NICK WRIGHT considers the nature of conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries and the different ways they should be remembered

Sixty years of blockade have not made Cuba collapse, but they have devastated it. While Washington stands isolated at the United Nations, the Cuban people are paying the price, writes KATRIEN DEMUYNCK

Ahead of an important online meeting, HILARY SCHAN, CARL WALKER and MARGARET HOWARD of Worthing Independents discuss how integrating left-wing councillors within the new party could have a transformative effect

Brazilian workers are calling for internationalist brigades to defend Venezuela from US attack, reports WT WHITNEY JR

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY ask how an 80-tonne whale that lives 200 years is so resistant to cancer

October 2025 was another Black History Month. Has Britain learned anything – or are we going backwards, asks CLAUDIA WEBBE

VINCE MILLS sizes up the problems facing Your Party north of the border as it grapples with a range of policies, including its approach to Scottish independence

The US reprisal of global nuclear proliferation, threatening a new arms race, could push the world to the brink of annihilation, warns SOPHIE BOLT of CND

Scholar of Latin America, journalist and anti-imperialist, who leaves a powerful intellectual and political legacy

Real action is needed to make sure tragedies like that at Huntingdon never happen again. TSSA leader MARYAM ESLAMDOUST suggests some practical, achievable steps to be taken

MARK SERWOTKA issues a rallying call to those committed to building a new radical socialist party of the working class to commit to real democracy, not imaginary or performative gestures

Plaid Cymru’s spokesman on health and social services MABON AP GWYNFOR, in the second article of a two-part series, argues that Labour’s contempt for voters and backward-facing approach have led to widespread mistrust in Wales 

Washington’s lawless behaviour towards countries in the region it considers its ‘back yard’ should be condemned by all law-abiding people, says LUKE DANIELS

In part I of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY takes a look at the early days of organising government workers

Across the country readers are rallying to the People’s Paper’s cause. Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER has some handy ideas on how to get involved

Colombia’s success in controlling the drug trade should be recognised and its sovereignty respected, argues Dr GLORY SAAVEDRA

Labour’s persistent failure to address its electorate’s salient concerns is behind the protest vote, asserts DIANE ABBOTT

Plaid Cymru’s front-bench spokesman on health and social services MABON AP GWYNFOR, in a two-part series, analyses the Caerphilly by-election and the wider political scene in Wales ahead of the 2026 Senedd election

There is a popular way out of the British economic crisis, suggests MICHAEL BURKE

The shadow lord chancellor has recently made a name for himself as an rabid hater of immigration – but there are exceptions to every rule, says SOLOMON HUGHES

EMMA DENT COAD laments the problems that have engulfed the newly launched Your Party and calls for a new spirit of focus to drive the work that needs to be done to overturn the desperation so many of us feel

Hurricanes might have natural causes but the tragedy that follows is entirely human-made and a consequence of capitalist greed, asserts ROGER McKENZIE

There is no substitute for hard work and on-the-ground organising when it comes to defeating the hard right, argues JOAO FELIX

Lasting peace requires the establishment of justice, the formation of an independent Palestinian state, and respect for the national sovereignty of the Palestinian people, writes NAVID SHOMALI

The West’s dangerous pesticide dumping in Africa is threatening biodiversity, population health and food sovereignty, argues ROGER McKENZIE

EDDIE DEMPSEY explains why the RMT is calling for urgent action against assaults on staff and passengers on our public transport system

KELLIE O’DOWD reports on an event to highlight the GMB sisterhood

The Scottish labour movement’s rejection of the Supreme Court ruling on sex-based rights jeopardises not only the credibility of the unions but also poses legal risks and opens the door to far-right reaction, warns JANE McLENACHAN

With the last bricks of the red wall crumbling in the Caerphilly by-election, Starmer and co cannot count on the spectre of Farageism translating into votes for them come the next general election, argues ANDREW MURRAY

ARTHUR WEST alerts readers to peace-centred activities in Scotland in November

Working-class women lead the fight for fair work and equitable pay and against sexual harassment, the rise of the far right and years of failed austerity policies, writes ROZ FOYER

ROGER MCKENZIE argues that it was correct to ban the notorious Israeli side who were likely to cause trouble in Muslim areas of Birmingham, but asks, given the occupation and slaughter in Palestine, why any Israeli team is being hosted anywhere

The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING

Where normally only the US and its ally Israel vote to strangle Cuba economically, there have been special efforts to slander and isolate the besieged socialist island nation year — so we must redouble our solidarity, writes TARIQ ANDERSON

The cancelled China trip of the German Foreign Minister marks a break with Helmut Schmidt’s China policy and drives Germany further into Washington’s confrontation course, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
 

Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS

ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns

MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today

STEPHEN BELL reports from a delegation that traced the steps of China’s socialist revolution from its first modest meetings to the Red Army’s epic 9,000km battle to create the modern nation that today defies every capitalist assumption

The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research explores the factors that are bringing today’s highly educated but often underemployed young people out onto the streets, from Chile, to Algeria, to Nepal

The nation’s leading second-hand socialist bookseller that has been running strong for 33 years is changing hands and expanding its vision — now is the time to get involved, buy, donate and support, writes ANDREW MURRAY

BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’

The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR

HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies

A new group within the NEU is preparing the labour movement for a conversation on Irish unity by arguing that true liberation must be rooted in working-class solidarity and anti-sectarianism, writes ROBERT POOLE

We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER

Despite the apocalyptic destruction RAMZY BAROUD points to Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide

URI WELTMANN reports on a day in the life of peace activists from Israel, travelling to help Palestinians in the West Bank harvest their olives under threat from settlers and soldiers

The independent TD’s campaign has put important issues like Irish reunification and military neutrality at the heart of the political conversation, argues SEAN MacBRADAIGH

Italian unions are mobilising against rearmament and for wages and investment – but left blunders still leave the ‘post-fascist’ Italian PM looking likely to keep her job, says NICK WRIGHT

It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT

After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI

Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH

CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises

The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE

New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

Lewisham People’s Assembly organiser BEN WOODWARD reports on uproar in south London as campaigners condemn an ‘undemocratic stitch-up’ after the council waved through redevelopment of a vibrant shopping centre into ‘luxury flats’ 

The polling is looking good for the left’s choice, writes ERNEST WALKER, but there are farcical electoral oddities that are throwing up dangers to the campaign

LINDA PENTZ GUNTER reports from the one of 2,700 protests against the Trump government’s power grabs, on a day when seven million people defied fear-mongering in a outpouring of joy and hope in what might be the biggest protest in US history

There is no chance of defending and renewing an NHS which is still savagely undermined by having to pay mark-ups of up to 23,000 per cent to Big Pharma — let’s take control of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution, writes DREW GILCHRIST

Our trust makes 3,200 home visits caring for 227 patients despite 198 Israeli checkpoints around Bethlehem; this compassion which transcends boundaries has lessons for the debate on end-of-life care in Britain too, writes FATHER GEOFF BOTTOMS

As gold hits $4,000 per ounce, soaring from only $250 back in 2001, the US national debt has reached $37 trillion — it’s all about to come crashing down, warns JOHN ELLISON, which our leaders would have known had they only studied Marx’s magnum opus Capital

The recent calls to strip Michelle Mone of her peerage after she was caught scamming the public for £122 million should reinvigorate the longstanding progressive demand to completely abolish the entire undemocratic, corrupt relic, writes ELLIOT TONG

ALEX HALL interviews PAUL HOLDEN, whose bombshell book uses leaked documents to expose how the Starmer faction used systematic dishonesty to seize power and reopen the door to the corrupting ecosystem of corporate lobbying and sleaze

Now at 115,000 members and in some polls level with Labour in terms of public support, CHRIS JARVIS looks at the factors behind the rapid rise of the Greens, internal and external

With the recent release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie One Battle After Another, STEPHEN ARNELL gives the storied history of the British real-life left-wing urban guerillas

FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ, ROGER D HARRIS and JOHN PERRY contrast Trump’s warships and F-35 fighters threatening Venezuela with the $20bn bailout for Milei’s collapsed economy, all enabled by a highly ideological IMF

Morning Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER gives an update on the drive to raise £95,000 to see the people’s paper keep fighting the good fight against the rich and powerful

Witnessing a war of words at a meeting on tackling militarism at The World Transformed, BEN COWLES spoke to a union rep who is organising against war from inside the arms industry itself, to hear about worker-led solutions to ending weapons production

KAY GREEN explains how the Middle East and colonialism were explored at at last weekend’s FiLiA conference

ROS SITWELL reports from Europe’s largest feminist conference – hosted this year in Brighton

From terrifying the children of immigrants to pepper-spraying frogs, the US under Trump is rapidly descending into mayhem, writes Linda Pentz Gunter

Modi has rolled out the carpet for the Taliban in New Delhi — and we shouldn’t be surprised. They have more in common than you might think, argues Bhabani Shankar Nayak

Israel and the US talk as if they’ve won a victory, but the reality is that world opinion has turned decisively against the Israeli regime, says RAMZY BAROUD

SOLOMON HUGHES finds one-time Cameron-centrist EU fans now promote vicious anti-migrant rhetoric in their bid to get attention for their ailing party

Farage and other Reform-ers keep pointing to Dubai’s immigration policy – but there migrants make up most of the population and do all the work without any rights, muses SOLOMON HUGHES

CJ ATKINS reports on the stand that saw Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif hauled out of Israel’s parliament during Donald Trump’s vainglorious address

ROGER McKENZIE argues that Western powers can see the beginning of the end in the rise of the global South — and racist reactions are kicking in

HUGH LANNING says there is no path to peace without dismantling Israel’s control over Palestinian land, lives and resources

KEVIN COURTNEY of Stand Up to Racism and JOHN PAGE of the Ella Baker School of Organising announce a joint project aiming to unite trade unions and social movements in creating new narratives to fight the divisive rhetoric of the far right

The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY

As the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women begins in Beijing, it’s clear that China has fulfilled its commitments set 30 years ago and delivered amazing progress in women's education and equality, writes YU BOKUN

Taking a brief look at who the US president surrounds himself with reveals a team dedicated to the complete erasure of Palestine, not justice and civil rights for its people, writes TERRY HANSEN

Following comments made by Robert Jenrick about the people of Handsworth, the TUC, together with 12 trade unions representing members who live and work in the area, have issued a joint letter calling for the Conservative Party to take immediate action

With the rise of Reform and the flag-raising phenomenon, it’s hard not to recall my family’s struggles with racism, from Teddy Boys attacking my pregnant mother to me being told to ‘go back to the jungle’ at only five years old, writes ROGER MCKENZIE

Royal Mail’s job quality has plummeted, with gruelling hours, two-tier pay, intense surveillance, and poor work-life balance for postal workers — but our union is fighting back, writes CWU branch secretary JOHN CARSON

Introducing a new course open to all, JAY COOK and CHIK COLLINS argue the best way to fight hard-right rhetoric is to explain how everything we have achieved in Britain, from the welfare state to free healthcare, was the product of solidarity, not separation

To deepen the wound of closing Grangemouth, the wind power boom off our shores is going to corporations from France, Japan, China, Ireland — jobs and money going everywhere, it seems, except Scotland, writes KENNY MACASKILL

The move to restrict exports of the important rare earth metals that China has a 90% monopoly on has provoked Trump to declare a 100% tariff on Chinese exports and other retaliatory measures, reports DYLAN MURPHY

Giving a personal insight into the Labour Party conference, Sinn Fein MP CHRIS HAZZARD slams the lack of mention of the North of Ireland and the need to take the next steps in the journey from peace to Irish unity

The ferocity with which Labour in power has cracked down on protest within its own ranks and also on the streets is unprecedented — and championing those protests is the only way we can turn this ship around, argues ALAN SIMPSON

Ben Chacko pays tribute to the author of our much-missed Frosty’s Ramblings column, a champion of the countryside and working-class culture 

MAT COWARD looks back to a 1931 protest against mass unemployment featuring a young Ewan MacColl

ANSELM ELDERGILL is a member of Your Party and he suggests how the new party should reform Britain’s constitution

ANN CZERNIK looks back over the last two years of carnage that began with the unprecedented October 7 operation and considers the rhetoric from both sides in light of the massacre carried out by Israel that has united the world in horror

The Colombian government has become entangled in confusion over questions of sex and gender – it’s high time for progressives to wake up and get educated on this subject, writes Dr GLORY SAAVEDRA

Trump’s Gaza deal is a transient, self-aggrandising spectacle that barely distracts from the West’s outright complicity in the massacre in Gaza and our slide into warmongering, writes MATT KERR

ROBERT GRIFFITHS reports on talks with Raid Jahid Fahmi, general secretary of the Communist Party in Iraq, where sectarian power-sharing makes wielding state apparatus the ‘main domain of conflict’ and the struggling nation’s oil revenues are still held in US banks

Plaid Cymru and Reform UK lead the polls — the Caerphilly by-election will be the first stop on the journey to see if our nation chooses union-friendly, progressive, left-nationalism or Farage’s reactionary dead end, writes Wales reporter DAVID NICHOLSON

We need a massive change in direction to renew a crumbling health service — that’s why Plaid Cymru has an ambitious plan to recentre primary care by recruiting 500 additional GPs and opening six new elective care hubs across Wales, writes MABON AP GWYNFOR

Socialist historian KEITH FLETT looks at the pronounced hostility the labour movement has had to giving the state the power to pry and identify dissidents, going back to the era of the ‘Freeborn Englishman’ and Captain Swing

The Renters Reform Bill is a big step in the right direction, but it won’t apply to Wales — we desperately need our own legislation to protect and respect tenants, to give them dignity and security, free from fear of eviction, writes SIAN GWENLLIAN MS, Plaid Cymru’s shadow cabinet secretary for housing and planning

Our Making Wales Work plan champions employee buyouts, community-led co-operatives and social enterprises, and reversing managed decline. As 26 years of Labour in power comes to an end, we are the alternative, argues LUKE FLETCHER

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

Once again, our broad-based coalition outnumbered the anti-migrant protest in Faversham, but tackling the sentiment behind this wave of anger requires explaining the real reasons pushing millions into leaving their homelands, argues NICK WRIGHT

HANK KENNEDY contends that US military attacks in the Caribbean amount to modern piracy driven by Venezuela’s oil wealth

EDMUND GRIFFITHS makes a robust defence of sortition, the chosen method of picking attendees for the new left party’s inaugural conference from the membership at random, but sounds the alarm on the eye-watering number of suggested delegates

High pressures squeeze and crush, but low pressures damage too. Losing the atom-level buzz that keeps us held safe in the balance of internal and external pressure releases dangerous storms, disorientation and pain, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

The NEU kept children and teachers safe during the pandemic, yet we are disgracefully slandered by the politicians who have truly failed our children by not funding a proper education recovery programme — here’s what is needed, explains KEVIN COURTNEY

The appalling bigotry and bias of London’s police force has been obvious for years – and the police leadership does not appear inclined to do anything about it, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

JOHN GREEN has doubts about the efficacy of the Freedom of Information Act, once trumpeted by Tony Blair

ASSAF TALGAM talks to an Israeli Communist lawmaker about the need to use every tool of democratic and non-violent struggle; how Israeli society has changed since October 7 2023; and the persecution of the left in the parliamentary arena

As Holyrood elections approach, BRIAN LEISHMAN MP argues that Labour’s time has come — to open a new chapter which puts an end to the years of managed decline

The CPB's congress aims to build the united front against monopoly capitalism, utilising the YCL’s promising new generation of militants — but our party remains far from the strength history requires of it, despite recent progress, writes JOHNNIE HUNTER 

In the face of funding cuts, closures and a shift into women’s centres providing criminal justice-only services rather than a holistic approach, RUTH HUNT urges women to protect existing resources, volunteer and build new networks of support

Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

The famously beautiful palace in Prague was named after the brutal Czech warlord Wallenstein, commander of the Thirty Years’ War, as was a Czech SS division in WWII — and so too was a regiment after the counter-revolution of 1989 … JOHN CALLOW traces the threads of history…

Spice up your life – and your greenhouse – with MAT COWARD’s gardening tips

Morning Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER encourages readers to get behind our five-year plan to keep the Star shining brightly as the paper approaches its 100th anniversary

The basic human requirement of having a roof over one’s head is being undermined by West Northamptonshire Council – but local anti-cuts campaigners are rising above the divisive Farageist rhetoric to build unity and fight back, reports DAVID CONWAY

BEN CHACKO hears from a variety of speakers at Labour conference about the broken political system, the hatred propagated by super-wealthy tycoons, the importance of physically mobilising against the far right and the role of unions and working people in fighting back

We must remember how the CPGB led anti-fascist movement defeated Mosley’s BUF in September 1936 and apply the lessons of mass mobilisation and open, unapologetic confrontation to the rise of the far right today, writes DYLAN MURPHY

On the anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, DAVID ROSENBERG reflects on his encounters with those who were there that day in 1936 – and suggests two urgent tasks for the anti-fascists of today

From Palestine, to racism, to fiscal rules and migrant rights, DIANE ABBOTT surveys some of the main themes of Labour conference this week

With the ceasefire and peace process now firmly in place for almost a decade, Colombia’s peace court has begun issuing its first sentences against both sides over human rights violations during the armed conflict, reports NICK MACWILLIAM

By refusing to recognise a Palestinian state and continuing to supply Israel with weapons, Meloni has provoked an uprising that is without precedent in the history of solidarity with Palestine — and it could change Italy profoundly too, writes RAMZY BAROUD

As war between Iran and the West looms once more, NAVID SHOMALI sounds the alarm bell and calls on the peace movement in Britain and internationally to mobilise for action before it is too late

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

A day of strike action is set to be unleashed today, against tax injustice, attacks on pensions and the anti-democratic manoeuvrings of Macron, writes BILL GREENSHIELDS

Once again, working people have been betrayed with false promises about jobs in an industry that is actually making climate change worse, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

The UN is not only in need of structural change, a fundamental mindset revolution is also required – and it’s China that points the way with its Global Governance Initiative, argues ROGER McKENZIE

Organised workers at the notoriously anti-union global giant are scoring victory after victory, and now international bodies are pitching in to finally force this figurehead of corporate capitalism to give in to unionisation, writes EMILIO AVELAR

The far right feels comfortable openly saying the most racist, extreme things imaginable and harassing left events in ways unseen in living memory — we desperately need an anti-fascist Labour Party to replace the current appeasement regime, writes ANDREW MURRAY

My time working on the Stephen Lawrence campaign taught me a lot about how racism festers in alienation and ignorance — I know first-hand why educators, especially people of colour, must lead the fight against race hate, argues MARC WADSWORTH

CEREN SAGIR reports from the CND fringe meeting during the Labour conference, where speakers slammed a system where £99 billion nuclear arsenal replacement costs are ring-fenced while the two-child benefit cap remains

CND’s Stop the Nuclear Nightmare conference in Glasgow will be an important step towards destroying the false arguments that weapons and war spending will lead to job creation and prosperity, rather than bringing Armageddon closer, writes SIMON BARROW

Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE

Digital ID means the government could track anyone and then limit their speech, movements, finances — and it could get this all wrong, identifying the wrong people for the wrong reasons, as the numerous digital cockups so far demonstrate, warns DYLAN MURPHY

Huge protests against corruption and preventable deaths during flooding have rocked the government — the masses are not likely to be able to take direct control in their own interests yet, writes KENNY COYLE, but it’s a promising show of people power

All the areas that cause working people to feel insecure have to be addressed, through a return to unashamedly pro-worker politics, if the horror of a Farage government is to be avoided, writes IAN LAVERY MP

JIM JUMP looks forward to the International Brigade Memorial Trust AGM taking place in Belfast later this week where the spirit of solidarity will be rekindled

STEPHEN ARNELL looks back to when protesters took to the streets in London demand to Irish liberty, fair pay and free speech — and wonders what’s changed in 138 years

REBECCA LONG BAILEY MP writes that it is time not just to adopt policies that will revitalise the lives of workers, but speak honestly and openly about whose side we are on and who the Labour Party is for: the millions, not the millionaires

KIM JOHNSON MP places the campaign in the context of the history of the working-class battles of the 1980s, and explains why, just like Orgreave and the Shrewsbury Pickets before it, justice today is so important for the struggles of tomorrow

If we can tackle the big issues, like delivering decent public services and affordable state-built and owned housing by making the richest pay a fair amount of tax, Labour can win back the trust and support of the electorate, argues ANDY McDONALD MP

We cannot refuse to abolish the unjustifiable two-child benefit cap that pushes children into poverty while finding billions of pounds for defence spending — the membership and the public expect better from Labour, writes JON TRICKETT MP

In Washington, the willingness to accept an open war with Russia is growing — at Europe’s expense. While Nato states are being drawn into confrontation, Europe risks becoming the battlefield of a potential world war, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN

GEOFF BOTTOMS charts the history of the Stockton & Darlington Railway 200 years ago, which served as a blueprint for the modern network and opened up a new era of working-class travel

Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry

It’s hard to understand how minor divisions can come to dominate the process of building a challenge to the rule of the rich when the desperate need for a vehicle to fight poverty and despair is so abundantly clear, writes MATT KERR

CLIVE HASWELL introduces the latest edition of Cardiff’s left-wing conference, which will take a broad and non-sectarian approach to who the left should vote for, welcoming approaches from all major progressive parties that hope to transform the world

As extremist hate spreads and disillusion deepens, the labour movement must offer more than resistance — it must offer a future, writes MATT WRACK, general secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union

HENRY FOWLER, co-founder of Strike Map, announces a new collaboration with UnionMaps, integrating two important sets of data that will facilitate the labour movement in its analysis, planning and action

It is the private sector’s failure of investment that is driving the economic crisis – Labour needs to realise that it’s the public sector that holds the key to getting the country back on track, argues MICHAEL BURKE

RICHARD BURGON MP reports that Cuba’s world-renowned medical programmes that support not only its citizens but countries worldwide are under strain from the US blockade, but the British labour movement can and must help

BFAWU general secretary SARAH WOOLLEY argues that the economy needs to be totally restructured to put a stop to never-ending cuts and spiralling poverty and inequality

A chance find when clearing out our old office led us to renew a friendship across 5,000 miles and almost nine decades of history, explains ROGER McKENZIE

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

A new report points a way to overcome complacent framing of climate issues, ‘by sparking a wider public reckoning with climate realities,’ and reconnecting with working-class people. IAN SINCLAIR reports

We cannot understand today’s world without understanding the rise of China – and we cannot understand China without understanding how it was shaped by the second world war, writes JENNY CLEGG

Escalating anti-China rhetoric from the West has a clear purpose – to manufacture consent for the new cold war, and potentially a hot one, argues CARLOS MARTINEZ

Despite the adoring support from Elon Musk and Donald Trump, Javier Milei’s radical-right free-market nightmare is unravelling, and the people are beginning to score major victories against the government in the streets and in elections, reports  BEN HAYES

PAUL ATKIN argues that we must avoid being tied to the millstone of US energy policy — a death sentence paid for by big oil — and embrace co-operation with the world’s green leader for a renewable, sustainable future

The move against alleged PKK members that sparked outrage as a community centre in north London was raided last year has now come to trial, writes TONY BURKE, but in the meantime, the peace process abroad has changed the situation almost entirely