The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
OF ALL the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Agravain was described as “arrogant and full of evil words.” He joined together with Mordred to betray Lancelot and Guinevere. Perhaps it was this precedent that the current queen had in mind when she decided to honour Tony Blair with the Order of the Garter, the most exclusive knighthood in the country.
It is an award that sent shockwaves across New Year’s Eve gatherings throughout Britain as the news of Sir Tony of Kabul’s ennoblement spread. The year 2021 was, after all, the year of decisive defeat for the Western powers in Afghanistan, 20 years after Blair helped launch the war there.
Today around eight million Afghans are on the edge of starvation and face a particularly bleak winter, in large part because of the freezing of aid and assets by the same Western powers.
Despite the screeching from the right-wing media, Burnham’s speech chimed with the public mood - and socialists should take advantage, says Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO
ANDREW MURRAY looks back on the ignominious career of the former US vice-president, who died earlier this week
Remembering the 1787 Calton Weavers strike, MATT KERR argues that golden thread of our history needs weaving into the fabric of every community in the land


