The Milburn review presents itself as a plan to help young people into work, but Dr DYLAN MURPHY argues it is laying the groundwork for a harsher benefits regime
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By-election reveals a Scotland in stasis
As Labour optimistically eyes a victory that could herald its return in Scotland, MATT KERR asks how much longer the electorate will accept a two-party race that sidelines its deepening poverty
Campaigners from across the continent will gather in Brussels on June 14 to oppose Europe’s accelerating militarisation and cuts to public services, write MAGGIE SIMPSON and BOB ORAM of No Cold War Britain
National co-ordinator for General Strike 100, HENRY FOWLER, continues his nationwide tour of partner organisations by visiting the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University
GEOFF BOTTOMS recalls meeting Fidel Castro in the ’90s after joining a Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba, and reflects on how international support is still vital to help the island withstand economic warfare
The Ivors Academy’s hike in entry fees could turn this respected peer-assessed event into an exclusive preserve for those wealthy enough to compete, warns BEN LUNN
Peter Murrell’s weakness for the allure of prestige goods is symptomatic of modern consumer culture, says MATT KERR
BY-ELECTIONS are strange beasts at the best of times, and by no means could these be considered the best of times.
More than a fifth of Scotland’s population and a quarter of its children are living with poverty and all that comes with it: insecurity at work and at home, the trips to foodbanks, the sanctions, the relentless messages day after day from governments, newspapers, TV and radio that if they just worked a little harder, crossed their fingers and believed, it could all change tomorrow.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West, like many constituencies in Scotland’s central belt, suffered catastrophic losses at the hands of largely unplanned deindustrialisation since the war — a move not planned with the needs of human beings in mind, at any rate.
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