Growing instability in the US economy and financial markets could have serious consequences worldwide because of the central role of the US dollar and financial system, argues MICHAEL BURKE
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50 years since the troops went in to the North of Ireland
The terrible decision to send the British Army to quell tensions quickly lead to hundreds of deaths – but also acts of kindness and humanity, writes RICHARD RUDKIN
Despite Andy Burnham’s declaration defending the continued partition of the island, all major international and internal trends are converging to make Irish reunification inevitable
The left needs a bold energy vision – because if it fails to provide one, others will shape the future in their own interests, argues ALAN SIMPSON
From Margate to Deal, mining memories are being kept alive. National co-ordinator for General Strike 100, HENRY FOWLER continued his nationwide tour of partner organisations in the Garden of England
Humans are part of the ‘animal kingdom’ – and of nature in general – but also distinct from it and labour (work) is part of what makes us unique, declared Engels. His insights 150 years ago into how our species came to be and how we differ from the rest of nature, are as important today as they were then, says the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Boxes of books, family photos and heirlooms, labour movement anniversaries, along with nostalgic memories of glorious childhood days on the Ayrshire coast still leave room for a wistful MATT KERR to hope for a better future
“PERMISSION GRANTED.” Just two words scribbled on a notepad by James Callaghan, home secretary in Harold Wilson’s Labour government on the August 14, 1969, in answer to a request to deploy British troops in the North of Ireland, set in motion an operation that lasted four decades.
Wilson’s government wasted no time in pushing ahead with reforms. The publication of a report by Lord Hunt sparked violence when the recommendations included disarming the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and abolishing the B-specials.
Ironically, it was during a riot in support of the RUC that Constable Victor Arbuckle became the first police officer to die in the Troubles, shot by a loyalist gunman.
A change of government from Labour to Edward Heath’s Conservatives in June 1970 brought with it a change in how the British army operated. Between July 3 and 5, 20,000 residents in West Belfast were locked down on curfew. Floorboards were ripped up, rooms ransacked and reports of residents being subjected to unjustified violence while British soldiers and RUC officers searched for IRA weapons.
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PATRICK CHURA reflects on the mass murder of civilians in wartime and his own visit, 10 years ago, to My Lai where US soldiers slaughtered over 500 men, women, children and infants
AARON SMITH discusses why the Protestant diaspora are still part of Yeats’s ‘Indomitable Irishry’, and an integral part of any future united Ireland.