As the Stop the War Coalition holds its annual conference, ANDREW MURRAY warns that Britain’s alignment with US foreign policy is fuelling global instability and diverting billions from welfare, wages and public services
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Uncle Bert, a Bevin Boy who kept the home fires burning
PETER FROST remembers his uncle Bert on an important working-class anniversary
The loading station at Ollerton colliery
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the tension between treating children as vulnerable dependants and recognising them as citizens with rights
The tightening of protest rights reflects a broader shift toward repression in Britain’s strained liberal democracy. Socialists and trade unionists must be ready to resist further attacks on our freedoms, warns JOHN McINALLY
Until ministers stop deferring to the market and start drawing hard lines, the public will remain at the mercy of private power, says MATT KERR
As the US intensifies its economic and political pressure it is now vitally important to demand the UK government intervenes to end US aggression, writes GEOFF BOTTOMS
SEVIM DAGDELEN argues that a legal framework exists for a closure of US and Nato military base in Ramstein
IN THIS season of goodwill and family get-togethers I am going to introduce you to my Uncle Bert. Sadly Bert died in 2012 but I will always remember him and the stories he told me about his exciting life.
Bert met my mum’s sister Phill at the legendary Hammersmith Palais. They were both competition-winning ballroom dancers. He married Phill and became my uncle.
When I started to get interested in left-wing politics in my teens, Bert could always be relied on to take my side in family discussions. He was a solid working-class hero and a staunch trade unionist till the day he died. He abhorred wars and hated bosses, indeed any kind of authority.
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