Since 2010, one in five firefighter jobs has disappeared alongside 30% funding cuts — all while climate breakdown brings record blazes and flooding. It’s time to fund our fire service properly, writes FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT

YOU might well be tempted to set up The National Anti-Sweating League after getting stuck in a tunnel on the rush-hour Northern Line, but a century ago “sweating” had a particular meaning.
In 1899, the House of Lords committee on sweating (look, I’m sorry, but if you're going to giggle every time, we'll be here forever) defined sweatshop labour by three criteria: it was underpaid, the hours were excessive, and the working conditions were unhealthy.
The point being that they meant bad pay, long days and crap conditions that were dramatically worse than the already dreadful norm.

MAT COWARD sings the praises of the Giant Winter’s full-depth, earthy and ferrous flavour perfect for rich meals in the dark months

The heroism of the jury who defied prison and starvation conditions secured the absolute right of juries to deliver verdicts based on conscience — a convention which is now under attack, writes MAT COWARD

As apple trees blossom to excess it remains to be seen if an abundance of fruit will follow. MAT COWARD has a few tips to see you through a nervy time

While an as-yet-unnamed new left party struggles to be born, MAT COWARD looks at some of the wild and wonderful names of workers’ organisations past that have been lost to time