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
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The tectonic shifts in Chile's ancient geology and new politics
The Atacama desert and the Andean mountains are brimming with natural history and cutting-edge contemporary science
(L to R) The supercontient Gondwana 420 million years ago; rare rainfall events cause the flowering in southern Atacama Desert
[(L to R) Fama Clamosa/Creative Commons + Javier Rubilar/Creative Commons]
In the wake of Ann Widdecombe’s murder, JOHN GREEN wonders whether the government will really get to grips with the root cause of these attacks on our MPs
The new PM’s opening addresses offered hope, council homes and reform — but little detail on how any of it will be delivered, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
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
Scotland's Labour leader cannot continue to evade responsibility for the party's decline, argues LAUREN HARPER
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
THE Andes rise high above the Atacama desert on the western coast of South America, higher in fact than a model based on basic plate tectonics would indicate. Their height is part of why the Atacama desert is so dry.
Unlike in Britain, where the west coast is wetter than the east, the prevailing winds from the oceans around southern South America come from the Atlantic, rather than the Pacific. These winds were called the “trade winds” by European nations who used them in their imperial and colonial expansions.
Just like on the island of Britain, but switching east for west, the prevailing winds pick up water over the ocean, and on hitting the mountains rise, cool and squeeze out their water load into rain clouds that keep the east coast of southern South America lush and fertile.
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