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

WHAT a summer! What a whirlwind! What a landslide! The new Labour government was elected on Thursday July 4; Keir Starmer, the prime minister — doesn’t that sound good? — appointed Louise Haigh as the new secretary of state for transport on the afternoon of Friday July 5; appointed Peter Hendy as the new rail minister on Tuesday July 9; and we met them at Great Minster House in Whitehall on the morning of Wednesday July 10. Lou and Peter could not have seen us sooner!
We set out what we believed was needed to resolve our national pay dispute which has dragged on, under the Tories, for two years — we first balloted for industrial action in June 2022 and we first went on strike at the end of the following month — and they promptly appointed people to meet us, and the first formal meeting was scheduled for Tuesday July 23.
After a couple more meetings, we got an offer on Wednesday August 14 — a good offer, a fair offer, and, what we have always asked for, a clean offer, without a land grab for all our terms and conditions — which we have put to our members at the 16 train companies involved: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Northern Thameslink, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and Island Line, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains — with a recommendation to accept, in a referendum which went out on Wednesday August 28 and which will close on Wednesday September 18.

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

On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work

As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more
