Author: Miles Donavan

“And so say all of us!” Green Party leader Zack Polanski has renewed calls to nationalise all UK utilities, arguing that privatisation has “utterly failed” and is driving up household bills. Speaking on a podcast with comedian Nish Kumar, Polanski criticised the decades-long privatisation of public services. “These companies took our water infrastructure with zero debt and left it billions of pounds in debt,” he said. Calling the current system “exploitative,” Polanski said that private ownership of essential services like water is harming the public while enriching shareholders. “They’re pumping sewage into the water. And charging us extra for the…

“This sends a firm message that journalists will not back down if our freedoms are attacked.” Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Mick Barton, has been forced to reverse his ban on local newspaper Nottinghamshire Live and its print edition, The Post. Following a legal challenge by Nottinghamshire Live, the Reform council has lifted the ban and confirmed that the paper’s journalists may resume attending their events and receiving press releases. Barton implemented the ban in August after taking issue with an article in The Post that suggested that some councillors opposed his plan for local government reorganisation. Despite Nigel…

‘The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.’ Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. Inequalities in the distribution of income are fuelling economic stagnation, social divisions and a drift to the far-right. The government must secure equitable distribution of income.. The UK has a few super-rich people whilst a large proportion languishes in poverty. The average real wage of workers has…

The Green Party leader accused Labour of being ‘handmaidens’ to Reform’s ‘dangerous, deceitful politics’ The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Zack Polanski, railed against a ‘political class poisoned by extreme wealth’ in his speech to the party’s conference today (2 October). The address was his first speech to Green Party’s conference since he was elected as the party’s leader in September “This is a country with so much going for it, but we have been time and time again failed by a political class poisoned by extreme wealth,” Polanski told a packed out conference hall. He…

Basildon council leader Gavin Callaghan reflects on Labour Conference and why local government reorganisation is key to beating Reform Gavin Callaghan is a Labour councillor and leader of Basildon Council This year’s Labour Party Conference might have been branded by some in the media as “depressive”. From a local government perspective, it was anything but. Instead it was refreshingly radical. We are constantly told that nothing works, that the system is broken and needs to be ripped up and started again. The people attracted to Reform are not looking for tinkering around the edges but they want big changes. And…

Keir Starmer has vowed to defeat the “rising tide” of antisemitism Political leaders from across the spectrum have united in condemning yesterday’s terror attack on a Manchester synagogue. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue, which took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. He vowed that Britain would defeat the “rising tide” of antisemitism. The suspect, Jihad Al-Shamie, a British Syrian man, drove a car into members of the public before attacking people with a knife. Two Jewish men, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, were killed…

He says the attack on a Manchester synagogue should not be used to silence protest against the Gaza genocide Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called politicians’ weaponisation of a deadly antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Manchester yesterday “deeply irresponsible”. Polanski, who is Jewish and from Salford, issued a statement following the attack in which two Jewish men were killed. He said: “This horrific attack feels deeply personal for me as I grew up in the Jewish community in Manchester. My heart goes out to all those impacted by this dreadful act of terror.  “It is a sad reflection…

Reform could come close to winning a majority on as little as 27% of the national vote share The Electoral Reform Society has warned that First Past the Post could catapult Reform UK into government.  Its analysis of a recent YouGov poll found Reform is projected to win nearly half the seats in Parliament (48%) with just 27% of the vote. The group said this represents “an undeserved bonus”, similar to how Labour elected 412 MPs at the 2024 general election by winning just 34% of the national vote share.  At a constituency level, they note that the average vote…

‘He incites violence on our streets. He calls for the overthrow of our elected government. He is an enabler of disinformation through X’ Ed Miliband used his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool to tell Elon Musk to “get the hell out of our politics and our country”. Miliband made the remarks on the last day of the conference, as part of comments criticising Farage and the ‘global network who together want to destroy the ties that bind our communities and our way of life’. Musk has drawn criticism from a number of Labour MPs in recent weeks…

Many are asking why Zarah Sultana hasn’t been listed on the party’s registration papers The new left-wing party, temporarily named ‘Your Party’ has registered with the Electoral Commission, with Jeremy Corbyn as its sole leader. Adnan Hussain, another of the Independent Alliance MPs has been listed as the nominating officer, with Marion Roberts, ex-vice chair of Camberwell and Peckham Constituency Labour Party as treasurer.  Co-founder of the party, Zarah Sultana was not listed on the registration papers.  Some are saying that there is no significance to the move, as parties must register a single leader (the Electoral Commission does not…