As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM
THERE is a school of right-wing history that sees Britain as exceptional. For example, according to this view, unlike other countries there was never a revolution that saw an industrial ruling class replace an old landed elite.
There obviously has not been a 1917-style revolution here, but that is far from the only model available. In fact we had the “glorious” revolution of 1688.
So it is with 1968, the 50th anniversary of which is being marked this year. All over Europe uprisings and revolts took place but apparently in Britain all was quiet.

In 1981, towering figure for the British left Tony Benn came a whisker away from victory, laying the way for a wave of left-wing Labour Party members, MPs and activism — all traces of which are now almost entirely purged by Starmer, writes KEITH FLETT

Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT

KEITH FLETT revisits debates about the name and structure of proposed working-class parties in the past

The summer saw the co-founders of modern communism travelling from Ramsgate to Neuenahr to Scotland in search of good weather, good health and good newspapers in the reading rooms, writes KEITH FLETT