Nick MacWilliam reports on the abuse of human rights in Colombia and the prospects for change. In April 2021, Colombians launched the largest protests the country had seen in decades. Led by unions, social movements and students, the so-called ‘National Strike’ mobilisations grouped together a litany of mass grievances with the hard-right government of President […]
Alf Baird tells a woeful tale of incompetence, arrogance and worse on the high and low seas. [Manichaeism is a religion which believes there is a struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness where light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the […]
David McKinstry casts his poetic eye across the decades of the Elizabeth II’s ‘reign’ over us. The 1980s were covered by him in his poems in Issue 123 (May/June 2021), the 2010s in ‘The Brexit Boat’ published in Issue 131 (Sept/Oct 2022) and the 2020s were also covered in Issue 125 (Sept/Oct 2021) and in […]
Patrick Phillips looks at the social aspects of anthropology and architecture of a lost village in Scotland. On maps today, ruins are simply known as shielings. Without roofs, they cannot be considered as bothies either. A shieling is defined as ‘a mountain hut used as a shelter by shepherds‘, or from another perspective, ‘a summer […]
Daniel Randall details what Truss and the Tories have in store for unions and workers’ rights Then prospective PM, Liz Truss, announced a raft of new anti-strike laws she plans to introduce if elected. This includes: i) action within 30 days of taking office to introduce the ‘minimum service requirement’ outlawing all-out transport strikes that […]
Katy Clark explains why she has laid a badly needed Bill before the Scottish Parliament This month, I plan to introduce my first Member’s Bill to the Scottish Parliament, with the aim of reforming Freedom of Information (FOI) law and making it fit for the present day. It’s an issue that transcends party lines, and […]
Goran Zangana looks behind the media blackout to explain what is going on and what needs to happen Abass was married for just five days and was spending a honeymoon with his bride near Zakhoo in Southern Kurdistan (Bashoor) when Turkish artillery killed him on 20 July 2022. A child was among the 9 other […]
Maurice Hickey explains the initiative to provide concrete solidarity in this time of war The European Association of Employed Community Pharmacists in Europe (EPhEU) is the European-wide federation of unions representing community pharmacists. The UK affiliate to EPhEU is the Pharmacists’ Defence Association with PDA chair, Mark Koziol, being EPhEU Secretary General from 2021-2024. The […]
Christine Buchholz looks at the crisis enveloping all political parties as the winds of change blow through Though Germany has been seen as a stable liberal democracy for many decades, the climate crisis, pandemic, Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the increase in the cost-of-living are causing political conditions there to slide into the […]
Barbara Steiner gives an overview of the strength of left parties in Europe, revealing not everything is bad Let’s begin by recognising that the new popular ecological and socialist union is biggest opposition party in the French parliament, Sinn Féin became the strongest party in Northern Ireland, and Syriza is preparing to re-enter the Greek […]