After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
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.
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN



