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
THIS month the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had to tell Worcester Bosch, Britain’s favourite boilermaker, to stop saying big, fat green fibs about its boilers.
It’s a little story that shows how corporate Britain too often responds to “net-zero” calls with made-up stories about using more energy through speculative technologies that don’t really exist, rather than looking at existing, workable energy conservation plans.
Worcester Bosh was marketing its gas boilers as “hydrogen blend-ready.” It implied they are “unique or special as they can run on a blend of up to 20 per cent hydrogen.” Worcester Bosch told customers they could “future-proof” themselves by buying its “hydrogen-enabled” boilers because this “green” fuel would be arriving soon.

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

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES