The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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Sending up the ’80s
STEPHEN ARNELL looks at how The Comic Strip proved that overtly political humour could be effective in skewering the Tories – as well as some of the left’s own pretensions
Jennifer Saunders, Miranda Richardson and Dawn French at a photocall to promote a new six-part series of The Comic Strip in 1993
The Islamic Republic’s suddenly weakened regional position exposes the nation to grave threats from US imperialism
DONG XUE explains why US tariffs hold no significant threat to China
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
Like pieces on a chess board, centrist parties lose ground as they accommodate rather than challenge far-right agendas — socialists must play things better, warns MATT KERR
Yanis Varoufakis and Jeremy Corbyn laid out a roadmap for peace, justice and equality as they celebrated the legacy of inspirational socialist Tony Benn, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The NEU’s annual conference promises heated debate, with motions on international politics, curriculum reform and union amalgamation likely to provoke strong reactions and challenge the status quo, writes Education for Tomorrow editor ROBERT POOLE
AFTER a few short years, the early 1980s saw a group of young comedians named by leader Peter Richardson as The Comic Strip soon graduate from seedy Soho venues to Britain’s TV screens in the shape of the newly launched Channel 4.
With the exception of older associates such as Alexei Sayle, The Comic Strip’s brand of “alternative” comedy was not especially political, but as the Thatcher years wore inexorably on, the “Great She-Elephant, she-who-must-be-obeyed, the Catherine the Great of Finchley” and her increasingly rabid Tory government presented too tempting a target not to aim at.
In a series of TV movies, the company spoofed both the Conservatives and the (largely) ineffectual Labour opposition on issues of the day, ranging from the Falklands war to the abolition of the Greater London Council.
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