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
This month there were two big stories on the Covid pandemic. Firstly, the House of Commons standards and privileges committee investigation found ex-prime minister Boris Johnson “deliberately misled” Parliament over his Covid rule-breaking parties.
Secondly, the news website Open Democracy got hold of a secret document proving the government knew it worked to the “detriment” of care homes during Covid, where thousands of residents died, and did so in part because most social care has been privatised.
The opposition and news media concentrated almost entirely on the former, largely ignoring the latter. It suggested they care more about bad behaviour at parties than life-and-death social policies.
New releases from Shearwater, Florry, and Navy Blue
STEVE JOHNSON relishes a celebration of the commonality of folk music and its links with the struggles of working people the world over
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger
April 9 1928 – July 26 2025


