Economists estimate extreme poverty could be drastically reduced for a fraction of global defence spending, yet military budgets continue to expand year on year, says JON TRICKETT MP, ahead of the Stop the War International Conference on Saturday
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Breeding like... you know what
It may be the most loveable symbol of the British countryside but the rabbit is actually an illegal immigrant that hitched a lift with Caesar’s legions, says PETER FROST
The Wild Rabbit
[JJ Harrison /Creative Commons]
As Unison launches its Year of Women Workers, ANNIE COGAN-THOMAS argues that stronger organisation and collective bargaining are essential to winning equality
Trade unions, trades councils and community organisations must work together to build lasting solidarity and resistance to the far right, argues DREW GILCHRIST
Recent violence in Belfast was not spontaneous — it was built on years of failure and political neglect, argues STIOFAN O NUALLAIN
As delegates meet in Brighton this week, Unison faces pressing questions about pay, organising, workers’ rights and political representation, explains ANDY CHAFFER
Andy Burnham’s growing stature has fuelled hopes of a Labour revival – but ALAN SIMPSON warns that Britain’s crisis runs far deeper than just its leadership and traces its roots to decades of financialised capitalism
SAY “Easter” to me and two images come to mind. One is of the many Aldermaston anti-nuclear bomb marches. The marches started in 1958 and introduced thousands of young — and older — people, including a teenage Frosty, to political protest and action.
The other Easter memory? It was the often chocolate Easter Bunnies that came with the Easter Eggs. Rabbits, like eggs, are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth and have long been associated with spring. As so often is the case, the Christian Church nicked the pagan imagery and legends and incorporated them in their own Easter resurrection celebrations.
Part of any romantic image of our British countryside has to be that loveable bunny. Yet the rabbit is a non-native species that was bought here as an easy source of fresh meat by Roman soldiers who had drawn the short straw and been sent to the cold and unwelcoming islands they called Albion just off the west coast of mainland Europe.
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