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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Gunning for Support
SOLOMON HUGHES reveals how arms giant Lockheed Martin could rely on the approval of lapdog ministers when seeking to supply Qatar’s brutal regime
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
THE Foreign Office promised to “strongly support” arms firm Lockheed Martin’s plan to sell turrets for armoured fighting vehicles to the repressive Sheikdom of Qatar, according to papers I got under freedom of information.
It is another sign of the Tories making the government into arms salesmen.
The documents cover a January 2015 meeting between Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood and salesmen from Lockheed. Getting these internal papers takes an age, so we can mostly only find out what the government did, rather than what it is doing. The Foreign Office says Ellwood is responsible for the “Middle East and North Africa,” “counter-terrorism” and “defence and international security.” These documents show he has another responsibility — selling weapons to sheikhs.
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