National News
Argos loses High Court judgement over strike
THE GIANT retail company Argos lost a High Court judgement last Friday and failed to stop a two-week strike by warehouse workers.
The union Unite, which represented the workers in court, described the ruling as “a significant victory” as it urged the company to stop trying to use the law to ride roughshod over workers’ legitimate concerns.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Daily Telegraph attacks May’s small businesses policy
WE ARE living in interesting times. Normally it would be unheard of for the staunchly Conservative Daily Telegraph to attack a Tory Prime Minister’s policies in the run-up to a general election.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Sisters Uncut occupy Holloway prison
WOMEN from the feminist group Sisters Uncut last weekend occupied the buildings of the former Holloway women’s prison in north London that was closed suddenly last year.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Hungary rejects BNP leader’s ‘refugee’ claim
NICK GRIFFIN, the former leader of the fascist British National Party (BNP), and his friend and one-time financier, Jim Dowson, a wealthy businessman from the north of Ireland, have both been declared persona non grata and barred from Hungary.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Good weather brings solar power surge
SOLAR power generation in Britain has broken new records by providing 24.3 per cent of the country’s electricity needs, in the pleasant sunshine we experienced at the end of May.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Third of NHS children’s mental health services ‘face cuts or closure’
A THIRD of children’s mental health workers say their service is facing cuts or closure, according to a new survey reported in the Independent.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
SNP Manifesto
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
ON TUESDAY the Scottish National Party’s (SNP’s) manifesto Stronger for Scotland finally saw the light of day after a week’s delay. One would have thought they could have put a bit more effort into thinking up a new title, rather than recycle an old election slogan.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
General Assembly Week
from our Ecclesiastical Affairs Correspondent
THIS IS the time of year when the annual General Assemblies of Scotland’s Presbyterian churches give rise to reflections on the spiritual state of Scotland
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
The Bloodier Battle of Valence
by Carole Barclay
THE 17th century came to life in the middle of a council estate in Dagenham last weekend courtesy of the Valence House Museum and the English Civil War Society. The two-day free event in Valence Park included displays of musketry and horsemanship, and a living history camp showing what life was like during the English Civil War. But the highlight was an hour long portrayal of a skirmish between Royalist and Parliamentary troops, which involved over 500 re-enactors on both sides of the civil war.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Liar Liar!
by Robin Redd
RELEASED on Friday, Liar Liar GE2017 has already reached number one in the UK iTunes and Amazon UK download charts, and has entered the UK Top 40, being tipped to reach the number one spot in the UK Official Singles Chart. Despite this, the anti-austerity song has been banned by various radio stations, including BBC Radio One, The Big Top 40 show on Heart and Capital FM — citing impartiality rules. This doesn’t seem to have stood in the way of the mainstream media in other election reporting though!
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Solidly behind Democratic Korea!
by New Worker correspondent
COMRADES joined other Korean solidarity activists in picketing the hub of American imperialism in London last week to oppose the deployment of the US THAAD missile defence system in south Korea, and to protest against US war threats and sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
International News
Fresh protests rock Kashmir
by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
FRESH anti-India protests and clashes were triggered in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir Saturday after the killing of a top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militia and his associate in a fierce gunfight with troops, police said.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Ken Loach backs Sinn Féin in North Belfast
by John Hedges
AWARD-WINNING film-maker Ken Loach has backed Sinn Féin’s John Finucane to be the new MP for North Belfast. John is battling the incumbent Democratic Unionist MP and DUP deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, for the seat.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Tribute to Cubans who fought for Angola’s independence
Granma
The widow of Angolan leader Agostinho Neto, Maria Eugénia Neto, together with their daughter Irene Alexandra, paid tribute to those who died in the struggle for Angola’s independence during a visit to Cuba last week.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Palestinians end hunger-strike
by Pavel Jacomino
THE ISRAELI authorities have agreed to a deal with the Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike in Israeli jails over the past 40 days. Issa Qaraqe, the head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, confirmed the deal over the weekend.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Zbigniew Brzezinski: A Cold Warrior
by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
ON FRIDAY 26th May former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski passed away at 89 years of age, provoking a string of eulogies from personalities connected to the current and former US Administrations. An advocate of ‘American Leadership’ and a vehement anti-Soviet, how successful were his policies?
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Five abandoned Soviet projects that leave one speechless
Pravda.ru
THE HISTORY of a superpower that used to make the world tremble with fear and respect keeps many secrets. Today, some of those secrets come to light. The USSR used to spend enormous funds and resources on the construction of gigantic and super powerful projects. The Great Patriotic War [Second World War] could not but affect the development of the country. Many grandiose projects had to be abandoned and forgotten, even though some of those objects were already up and running
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Features
Manchester atrocity: enough is enough
by John Wight
THE LACK of a coherent anti-terrorism strategy in Washington and by extension the West, as emergency services deal with the devastating aftermath of yet another terrorist atrocity in Europe — this time a suicide bomb attack at a concert in Manchester — has been thrown into sharp relief during President Trump’s tour of the Middle East.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
A trumped up excuse for war
by Rob Gowland
THE 4TH APRIL chemical warfare incident at Khan Shaykhun in Syria was instantly blamed on the Bashar al Assad government by the forces trying to oust the popularly elected Syrian government. Those forces are backed — supported, armed, funded and reinforced — by the US, so it was perhaps not surprising that the US President and his administration of right-wing hawks jumped on that bandwagon, embracing war with Syria with remarkable vigour and single-mindedness.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
The FBI is a racist sewer
by Stephen Millies
LONG-TIME FBI Director J Edgar Hoover hated Martin Luther King and wanted him dead. Hoover called Dr King “the most notorious liar in the country” at a news conference on 18th November 1964. Hoover was furious that the Black leader had just won the Nobel Peace Prize.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
