Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
Latest editorial
A badly drafted piece of legislation – from whatever standpoint
The Scottish gender reform Bill is unworkable, unpopular and could impinge on reserved law with harmful results for women and girls. Labour should support the application of S33 and 35 of the Scotland Act to prevent it passing into law, argues ANN HENDERSON
A view of the Scottish Parliament building
![Durham Miners' Gala 2026 [Pic: Neil Terry]](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-07/SSS_20260711_DURHAM_MINERS_GALA_0-21.jpg.webp?itok=NUVjowji)
Andy Burnham’s message of hope will defeat Reform if Labour delivers the New Deal for Working People in full, says JOANNE THOMAS
General Federation of Trade Unions president and bakers’ union general secretary, SARAH WOOLLEY, guides us through the GFTU’s Summer School happening this week at Quorn Grange Hotel
The government’s latest asylum proposals abandon labour movement values and fuel division by aping Reform UK, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS
IAN LAVERY MP warns that decades of neoliberal policies have left former industrial communities behind — but a renewed Labour commitment to working people could change the political landscape
AT THE opening ceremony for the new Scottish Parliament building on October 9 2004, the message in Edwin Morgan’s poem “Open the Doors! Light of the day shine in; Light of the mind, shine out” took centre stage.
A mood of optimism, of political confidence, and of a parliament which engaged fully with the citizens of Scotland, filled that new home for the Parliament.
We had moved from the temporary accommodation which had been the Parliament’s home since 1999, and there was still an enthusiasm for doing politics better than in the past.
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Professor MARY DAVIS argues that feminism has been hollowed out by liberal co-option – and only a revival of socialist, class-based politics can restore International Working Women’s Day’s original, radical purpose
