Real security comes from having a secure base at home — Keir Starmer’s reckless and renegade decision to get Britain deeper into the proxy war against Russia is as dangerous as it is wasteful, writes SALLY SPIERS

THE mainstream media is very poor at providing historical context to events, perhaps particularly in the age of “breaking” and 24-hour news.
The liquidation of Carillion in mid-January was not a great deal different.
ITV pundit Robert Peston did tweet that the end of Carillion also meant the end of the 25-year Tory and Labour government love affair with PFI — partnerships where privateers made the profits and, when they didn’t, the public picked up the costs of the risk.

KEITH FLETT traces how the ‘world’s most successful political party’ has imploded since Thatcher’s fall, from nine leaders in 30 years to losing all 16 English councils, with Reform UK symbolically capturing Peel’s birthplace, Tamworth — but the beast is not dead yet

KEITH FLETT revisits the 1978 origins of Britain’s May Day bank holiday — from Michael Foot’s triumph to Thatcher’s reluctant acceptance — as Starmer’s government dodges calls to expand our working-class celebrations



