GARY KENT recalls how some on the British left challenged orthodox thinking and pioneered an alternative approach to Northern Ireland that helped lay the political groundwork for the Good Friday Agreement....
Positive Pandemic Stories Needed for TUC’s HeartUnions Week
The TUC is asking union members and reps to share positive stories of how they have supported colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of its HeartUnions week taking place on 8-14 February....
US Election: Lessons from the Democrats’ Victory
With Washington in violent turmoil, Georgia’s historic result provides a model for rebuilding trust in a broken political system. But will Democrats heed the lessons? MARY FITZGERALD and AARON WHITE report from the United States....
Ways to be Black
MARIA GOULDING reviews Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other – an interwoven tale of diversity and race that has much to teach us about the need for tolerance in modern Britain. ...
As He Saw It
When Eric Preston died on 20 September this year it not only brought to an end his long and active life in the struggle for socialism, but marked the passing of an era for the ILP too. Eric’s writing and thinking over more than 60 years of ILP membership was hugely influential, not only...
Antisemitism: Time for Change
BARNABY MARDER of Socialists Against Antisemitism recalls the events that led to Labour being investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, and considers what it must do now to restore the confidence of the Jewish community. ...
Forgotten Women
JAIME REYNOLDS reveals the remarkable achievements of four unknown ILP women who became important local government leaders between the wars but have since been left out of Labour history....
Seeking Shelter from the Storm
Reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered in the run-up to the US election was a sobering and resonant experience, says MARIA GOULDING. It’s a story centred on a dilapidated old house, a powerful image for an American society struggling to overcome its legacy of lies, injustice and inequality....
Pioneering ILPer Selina Cooper to be Honoured in Nelson
One of the founding members of the ILP and a leading suffragist is to be celebrated by a major exhibition and education programme in Nelson next year. The Selina Cooper Project will be launched in 2021 thanks to a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant raised earlier this year by local volunteers Gary and Kevin Webb....
Student Housing: A Stirling Campaign
Tenant activists in Stirling have been inspiring fellow students across Scotland to fight back against rip-off landlords and university rent rises. CIAN IRELAND and DANIEL DEERY report on 18 months of hard campaigning....
Obituary: Eric Preston 1932-2020
Our friend and comrade Eric Preston, who played a leading role in the ILP for 60 years, has died....
We Need to Talk Trans
MARY HULL draws on her personal and professional experience to explore the contested but increasingly important terrain of transgender rights. The left needs to listen and learn, she says....