IAN LAVERY MP warns that decades of neoliberal policies have left former industrial communities behind — but a renewed Labour commitment to working people could change the political landscape
NESTLED in the heart of Washington, DC, a short distance from the White House, sits an oasis of calm. For now. It is the encampment at George Washington University (GWU) where, as at other college campuses across the country, students are protesting against Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza and calling on their universities to divest from Israel and from the companies that profit there. The GWU encampment also includes students from six other universities in the region.
Scattered among the brightly coloured pup tents are a library, an arts supply table and a large medical tent. In the centre of the occupation is a white board advertising the day’s events.
The statue of George Washington has been draped with a keffiyeh, covered in pro-Palestine stickers and daubed with slogans decrying imperialism, genocide and warmongering. Television crews are parked permanently under shady trees waiting for something to happen.
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
From terrifying the children of immigrants to pepper-spraying frogs, the US under Trump is rapidly descending into mayhem, writes Linda Pentz Gunter
Still the only black man to win the US Open tennis title, a statue of the legendary champion, Arthur Ashe, is now the only one remaining on Monument Avenue in his Richmond, Virginia hometown, where confederate leaders of the Civil War were also once displayed, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER


