The British Prime Minister’s Beijing visit marked the end of a long diplomatic hiatus and produced tangible, if limited, economic results, says KEITH BENNETT

MATT KERR takes a winter journey through poetry, labour and memory, from Glasgow to Newcastle, arguing that our radical past isn’t something to revere from a distance, but a tool still meant to be used

Megapicket to shut down Birmingham’s refuse sites

The Labour Growth Group and its think tank partner, the Good Growth Foundation, have taken funding from major lobbying firms linked to housebuilders, banks and Heathrow – raising questions about corporate influence at the heart of Starmer’s pro-growth project. SOLOMON HUGHES reports

Labour announces largest policing overhaul in 200 years, including the creation of a ‘British FBI,’ sparking human rights concerns

As liberal commentators puzzle over the Prime Minister’s record-breaking unpopularity, the reasons remain glaringly obvious to everyone else, says IAN SINCLAIR

Trade unionists and MPs hit back at party executive's decision to block Greater Manchester mayor from running in upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election

PM could be ejected from Downing Street if Welsh Labour loses Senedd elections in May, First Minister says

Lawyers to challenge approval of data centre in Britain that ‘pollutes on the scale of an international airport’

Campaigners call on public to join protests across the country demanding Starmer stands up to the far-right US president

But hospitality industry warns other businesses are being forgotten

ANSELM ELDERGILL examines our laws concerning the treatment of animals and their rights

After 15 years of spending cuts and regressive redistribution, the British economy is weaker, investment is still anaemic and living standards are stalled – yet all major parties remain committed to a policy that has repeatedly failed to deliver recovery, says MICHAEL BURKE

SOLOMON HUGHES says Starmer has done everything the Westminster set think Labour leaders should do – but it hasn’t endeared him to the public

Labour’s decline, Tory exhaustion and the advance of Reform UK signal the end of stable two-party rule, with British politics entering a volatile new phase, says NICK WRIGHT

Barristers say there is ‘no evidence’ that Labour's drastic plans will reduce the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in court

BEN CHACKO salutes the Morning Star cartoonists

Campaigners urge Labour ministers not to entertain Tory and Reform UK's ‘racist’ calls to strip human rights activist Alaa Abd Fattah of his citizenship over decades-old social media posts

Labour’s cynical recruitment drive normalises militarism, diverts attention from youth unemployment and public service cuts, and seeks to build consent for an increasingly aggressive defence agenda, argues GEORGINA ANDREWS

As unemployment rises and living standards fall, May’s economic announcement risks locking Britain into further decline rather than charting a new course, warns JON TRICKETT MP

Campaigns against nuclear weapons on the Clyde, financial backing for arms firms and rising militarism are converging with solidarity for Palestine, as Scotland’s peace movement builds momentum ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election, says ARTHUR WEST

600 educators sign open letter urging government to protect lives of prisoners jailed for more than a year without trial over alleged direct action linked to Palestine solidarity