Ecuador’s election wasn’t free — and its people will pay the price under President Noboa
Climate change: the Conservatives ignore the burning question
Why was there almost no overlap in this week's major news events: the Tory leadership race and the hottest days on record? Because the party of small-mindedness and big business has nothing but contempt for our planet, writes ALAN SIMPSON

BRITAIN swelters in an unprecedented heatwave. Tens of thousands of people across Europe flee from fires that defy public control.
The climate change committee reports that Britain is falling behind in its existing climate commitments. And scientists warn that even if we meet the 1.5°C target, this month’s heatwaves are likely to become the summer norm.
You would have thought all this would have made avoiding climate breakdown the centrepiece debate among Conservative contenders to become prime minister.
More from this author

As the ‘NRx movement’ plots to replace democracy with corporate-feudal dictatorship, Britain must pursue a radical alternative of local food security and genuine wealth redistribution to withstand the coming upheaval, writes ALAN SIMPSON

Some hard political choices must be made in Trump’s post-truth era – starting by abandoning any illusions about the ‘special relationship’ and waking up to the need for bold policy-making on the climate, argues ALAN SIMPSON

Centrist governments around the world face rejection by their electorates as neoliberalism fails to deliver the public prosperity it never promised – and the same fate awaits Labour unless it starts to deliver for those struggling to survive, says ALAN SIMPSON

Undaunted by Big Oil success, ALAN SIMPSON looks at alternatives to lack of courage and imagination stifling the Labour government and it policies