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

THE Israeli government is pumping out crude propaganda and fake stories to justify its wildly destructive war in Gaza — just as Britain and the US promoted fake tales to get the Iraq and Afghan wars going.
And just like the Iraq war, while some reporters have done a great job exposing this, a substantial and larger section of the press and TV news have actually transmitted the fake stories or even added to them.
Take the Israeli army (IDF) and its war on hospitals in Gaza. The IDF is systematically, surrounding, firing upon, invading and closing down Gaza’s hospitals and arresting key medical staff. It has made this shocking tactic seem normal with some pretty crass propaganda.

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