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

OFFICIAL figures I obtained under freedom of information rules show a maximum 130,000 people went to watch King Charles’s coronation procession on May 6 this year. By comparison 215,000 attended his mother’s funeral procession, showing declining enthusiasm for royalty.
Press reports only described “tens of thousands” cheering on Charles and Camilla — the way no official estimates of turnout were given made me suspect the figure was low.
So I asked the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which was responsible for coronation crowd management, if it had more accurate figures.

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