The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
WHILE today’s Durham Miners’ Gala is always a highlight of my year, every time I come here my mind goes back to the evil of Margaret Thatcher and how she set out to destroy the miners. That memory isn’t such a highlight.
It’s 35 years since the beginning of the miners’ strike and the start of Thatcher’s programme to close the pits and we see the lasting impact of the biggest act of industrial vandalism ever.
The devastation of our former mining communities is replicated in the deindustrialisation of cities and towns the length and breadth of our country.
TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK tells Ben Chacko that Labour can win back disillusioned voters by delivering workplace reforms, rebuilding trust and challenging the far right’s growing influence
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
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
The Durham Miners’ Gala is a celebration of working-class culture, but also a call to action — to rebuild workers’ collective strength, says KIM JOHNSON MP


