National News

The hidden hand within the BBC

Sputnik

THE BBC sought help from a government agency to identify “subversives” amongst its journalists in the 1970s according to Cabinet papers released this week to the National Archives in London. In 1974, Charles Curran the Director-General of the BBC, requested a meeting between the BBC’s Board of Governors and a controversial government body, the Information Research Department (IRD). The IRD was established at the start of the Cold War in 1948 to “counter the threat posed by Soviet subversive propaganda directed against British (and Western) interests”.

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May takes charge of Brexit negotiations

Xinhua

LABOUR Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman says that the newly appointed Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has been sidelined following the announcement that the Prime Minister was taking control of negotiations with Brussels on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). Theresa May told MPs about her decision in a written answer to the House of Commons as it was preparing to close for its long summer recess. The Independent’s political sketch writer headed a commentary: “Theresa May has taken control of the Brexit negotiations. God help us all.

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Grenfell victims still homeless!

by New Worker correspondent

KENSINGTON & Chelsea council is now infamous for the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 that caused 72 deaths, though many believe the real death toll is much higher. And one year later some of those who lost their homes have still not been rehoused. Although 133 council properties are vacant, 98 of the 204 Grenfell Tower fire survivors are still waiting to be rehoused. But council homes are lying empty because apparently they are in a poor state of repair. Alex Diner, policy officer at the North Kensington Law Centre, said: “Some survivors still remain without a home of their own, and the council has accepted that a significant number of other households affected by the disaster are not likely to have their housing needs met potentially for years.

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Scottish Political News

by our Scottish political correspondent

Value for money

THE LEVELS of managerial competence displayed by the Scottish National Party (SNP) Government has been convincingly demonstrated by a report from the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (SPICe). This impartial body examined 49 infrastructure projects from 2016 including hospitals, roads and schools. It found that only four of them had been completed within budget and on time. One

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Licensed Trade

If managing major projects is a bit of a challenge then more routine tasks also present problems. The expression “couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery” is a commonly used for cases of extreme incompetence. It has become more literal recently, with complaints from the licensed trade in in Scotland that the SNP Government has failed to organise properly the renewal of licences to sell alcohol. Local Licensing Boards have still not been told what the fees should be applied be or what standards of training are required for renewals

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NHS in Public Hands

“As long as the SNP is in office, the NHS will always be in public hands. No privatisation of healthcare.” Thus spake first Minster Nicola Sturgeon at last year’s SNP conference.The reality is somewhat different.

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Prospects for peace in Korea

by New Worker correspondent

COMRADES gathered at the Marx Memorial Library on 1st July in solidarity with Democratic Korea at a meeting organised by the Friends of Korea committee. Their main priority was to assess the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula in the wake of the historic Singapore summit between Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US president Donald Trump

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Chinese artist wins top accolade in Britain

Xinhua

A CHINESE contemporary artist, famous for his paintings and drawings that look like photographs, was handed a top honour from Birmingham City University on Tuesday.

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International News

Victory to the heroic Syrian Armed Forces!

Syria Times

Dr Marcus Papadopoulos, a British political analyst and the founder and editor of Politics first magazine, has emphasised that the liberation of Daraa province from terrorist groups will politically strengthen the hand of the Syrian people in their fight against western and regionally-backed Wahabist terrorism. He told Basma Qaddour that Syrians will be able to say to the outside world that Syrian soil will always be Syrian and not American, British, Turkish, Saudi or Qatari. “AFTER the liberation of Daraa, the percentage of territory in Syria controlled by the Syrian Government will increase and therefore serve as another moral boost for Syrian officials, especially at a time when Damascus is planning enormously important military campaigns for the liberation of north-west Syria from the terrorist and Turkish hordes there.”

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Palestine Freedom Flotilla arrives in Sicily

Radio Havana Cuba

ACTIVISTS from around the world have gathered in the Italian city of Palermo and are engaged in the final stages of preparations for this year’s Palestine Freedom Flotilla campaign. The freedom campaign is a gesture of solidarity designed to boost the morale of Palestinians whilst highlighting to the world the dire situation in the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip.

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Irish ban on import of Israeli goods moves closer

An Phoblacht

IRELAND has moved one step closer to banning officially the import of goods and services produced in illegal Israeli settlements. The Occupied Territories Bill, tabled by musician and Senator Frances Black, successfully passed through the Seanad last week by 25 votes to 20 and will now move to the committee stage.

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Delusions of US hegemony

Telesur

TO SAY that US foreign policy is delusional is not an exaggeration. It seeks political hegemony and a relationship with China and Russia akin to what it has had with Japan and Germany. That is: go ahead and develop in the economic sphere, but don’t try to flex political or military muscle.

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Features

Ignore the smile Police Liaison Officers are secret political spies

Sputnik

SINCE 2010, Police Liaison Officers (PLO) have become a ubiquitous feature of demonstrations and other large-scale public events across Britain. Anyone who’s attended a protest over the course of the past decade has likely seen a PLO, perhaps even interacted with one — they’re distinguishable by their baby-blue bibs. Although no guidelines outlining the function of PLOs have been publicly released, official police literature very much frames them in benign terms, a separate class to those citizens might encounter in the course of an average day.

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Opportunism aids imperialist aggression

Workers World (US)

IN IMPERIALIST Western Europe, North America and the USA in particular, a perennial issue is again rearing its ugly head within progressive circles — involving vital support for imperialism and military aggression. As has been the case historically, this support ranges from denial of self-determination for oppressed countries — countries of the Global South — to jingoistic participation in a drive towards war. In mid-2018 it is all too common for such so-called progressives to refuse to support the right of Korean, Venezuelan and Syrian self-determination. Some also refuse to denounce US military and economic aggression against these countries. They line up their positions with the campaign of US politicians and the corporate media to demonise the countries under attack.

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