Latest editorial
by Nana Backland, Merseyside Morning Star Readers & Supporters Group
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
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
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
On Saturday, I attended the With Banners Held High event at Unity Works in Wakefield, which officially launched the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) compilation CD.
For those who don’t know me, I’m 26 years old. I was there with my girlfriend, aged 28, and two friends, both aged 29. The day was packed full of music, documentaries and talks, including one from Dennis Skinner, and it was as entertaining as it was informative.
As we tucked into some food downstairs, a man at the end of our table interrupted us to rather bluntly ask why we were there. He observed (correctly) that none of us had been born when the Battle of Orgreave or even the miners’ strike itself took place, and therefore had “no reason” to attend such an event.
The public inquiry is the result of more than a decade of determined campaigning. Now, those who fought for justice want the full story of government involvement and police conduct to be told, says KATE FLANNERY
One hundred years after 1.7m workers shut the country down in defence of the miners, the struggles that sparked the 1926 General Strike are still with us – and will be honoured on London’s May Day march this year, writes MARY ADOSSIDES
RUTH AYLETT reviews two collections of outright political poetry
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family