Author: Miles Donavan

These are the same voices who frequently portray themselves as global defenders of “free speech.” The American right has responded to the killing of Charlie Kirk not with calls for calm or unity but with a vow of vengeance. Kirk, a prominent conservative commentator and close ally of Donald Trump, was shot while speaking on a Utah college campus in what both Trump and Utah Governor Spencer Cox described as an “assassination.” Yet rather than urging restraint or reflection, Trump seized the moment to escalate tensions. In a four-minute video from the Oval Office, posted just hours after the shooting,…

‘We believe that anyone running for the position of British Prime Minister should adhere to the highest standards of transparency, particularly regarding their finances. ‘ More than 50,000 people have now signed an online petition, demanding Nigel Farage publish his tax returns after he refused to do so. The Reform UK leader has thus far refused to be transparent and publish his tax returns when asked if he would do so, despite other party leaders publishing theirs. Farage has declared more than £800,000 on top of his MPs’ salary since being elected to Parliament and last week was challenged by…

Barker has endorsed Lucy Powell for deputy leader. Paula Barker has become the latest candidate in the Labour Deputy Leadership contest to pull out, as the deadline for achieving the set number of nominations fast approached. Barker said in a statement: “I have decided to step back from the race for deputy leader this morning. It has been such an honour to speak to so many wonderful colleagues throughout this process. The Labour Party is a broad church, filled with talented and dedicated voices that deserve to be listened to. I have always believed we work best as a Party…

The required threshold must be reached by 5pm today. The Labour Party’s deputy leadership contest is increasingly looking like it will become a two-horse race, between Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former cabinet minister Lucy Powell, as the other candidates struggle to meet the required number of nominations. The latest official tally of deputy leadership nominations shows Bridget Phillipson clearing the 80 MP threshold to make it on to the ballot paper, with Powell on 77. The threshold must be reached by 5pm today. The latest figures yesterday evening had the candidates on the following tally, with Alison McGovern and…

In an interview with Left Foot Forward, Joanne Thomas praised Labour for taking action on it Retail workers in the UK face ‘abhorrent abuse’ at work, Joanne Thomas – general secretary of retail union USDAW – has claimed. Thomas made the comments in an interview with Left Foot Forward at this year’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton. Speaking to Left Foot Forward about her union’s ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign, Thomas said: “The Freedom From Fear campaign we’ve been running for decades now [is] really to highlight the abhorrent abuse that retailers get doing their jobs, whether it be verbal…

The sheer hypocrisy of the right-wing press. The Telegraph is being accused of hypocrisy over its coverage of Angela Rayner’s resignation from government. Rayner resigned from the government last week, after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat. The Prime Minister’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said Rayner had “acted with integrity” but concluded that she had breached the ministerial code. Sir Magnus said that although Rayner had sought legal advice when buying the property, she failed to seek further expert tax advice as…

Steve Wright told Left Foot Forward that the government’s record is ‘not good’ The general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) Steve Wright has told Left Foot Forward that Labour is “not moving fast enough” to rebuild public services. He made the comments in an interview at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton. Wright told Left Foot Forward that Labour’s record on rebuilding public services since entering government is “not good”. He then went on to say: “Clearly we’re in a better place than 14 years of austerity that we faced where we lost 12,000 firefighters, fire stations closed,…

Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming told Left Foot Forward the Labour Party has to change course Equity’s general secretary Paul W Fleming has branded the Labour government ‘deeply unpopular’, ‘broadly incompetent’ and claims ‘nobody likes them’. He made the comments in an interview with Left Foot Forward at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton this week. At the start of the interview, Fleming discussed what he previously told Left Foot Forward were the priorities he wanted to see the Labour government addressing for his members in the creative arts sector – namely restoring arts funding and developing an ‘industrial…

A Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty would seek to stop fossil fuel exploration and expansion The TUC has voted to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Delegates at the TUC’s annual Congress in Brighton passed a motion titled ‘Year of trade union climate action’ which also called for the TUC to promote a workplace day of action in November during COP30 and to promote ‘green bargaining’ in trade union training. The call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is seeking to create an international treaty to stop fossil fuel exploration and expansion and phase out existing fossil fuel production. The motion…

The motion passed unanimously The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for the government to repeal the proscription of Palestine Action. Delegates voted for a motion making the call at the TUC’s annual Congress in Brighton. The motion calls on the UK government to “repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action under counter-terrorism laws”. It also called for the government to actively seek to secure a complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages, immediately recognise the state of Palestine and to “end all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel in line with international law”.…