Features

Review: Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre

The biography on Ursula Kuczynski (aka Agent Sonya) by Ben McIntyre is an exciting account of a woman who took many risks as a spy for the Soviet Union whilst being a mother of three children.

Rangers bow out amid Slavia racism row

Thursday nights Rangers V Slavia Prague match ended 1-3 on aggregate with the Czech side going through to the Quarter finals of the Europa League, drawing the Ibrox sides European campaign to a close. However, it isn’t the score line that is being discussed in the aftermath of the game. 

Manchester City V. Southampton

Against the backdrop of the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, Manchester City had Premier League duties to attend to with the side looking to bounce back from their shock derby defeat.

Labour’s strange relationship with the bomb

Nuclear weapons are unpopular across the political spectrum, especially in the party Starmer now leads. So why, asks Nick Wright, are these vote-seeking ‘pragmatists’ so hell-bent on keeping them?

Poetry Corner: Action by Frances Moore

Action by Frances Moore

A Sheffield teacher and activist in the National Union of Teachers, Frances Moore (1906 – 1994) was married to Bill Moore, who was a fulltime worker for the Communist Party. Although Frances’ busy life left with little time to write in her younger days, later on she produced a substantial body of poetry, some of which was published. The poem featured here is a tribute to the strength of collective action and duty of trade union struggle – and the example of the famous UCS Work In.

“What is grief, if not love persevering” – a review of Wandavision

The Marvel formula has been successful, if unchanging from Iron Man to Endgame. CGI fights, lasers in the sky, witty humour from super-powered individuals. Wandavision has all of these, as well as a harrowing exploration into the trauma and grief felt by Wanda Maximoff, now known to the MCU as Scarlett Witch.

Weekend Premier League recap

The Premier League title could be virtually wrapped up by the end of this weekend’s fixtures as first played second in a crucial six pointer for the league leaders

Poetry Corner: My Last Will by Joe Hill

My Last Will by Joe Hill, 1915

“The labour troubadour Joe Hill was executed by the state of Utah on November 19, 1915, accused of murdering two shopkeepers. Five years earlier, while working on the docks in California, Hill met members of the IWW and became an active Wobbly. Soon his humorous and biting political songs, like “The Preacher and the Slave,”1 were being sung on picket lines across the country. From his jail cell in Utah, Hill wrote to “Big Bill” Haywood in a telegram, “Don’t waste time mourning. Organize!”—a line that became a slogan of the U.S. labour movement. On the eve of his execution, Hill penned these words.” – From Voices of a People’s History

Unequal Exchange

Theories of unequal exchange argue that trade between poor and rich countries involve the transfer of value from the former to the latter, as more labour is traded for less labour.

Weekend Premier League recap

The sun shone down this week on another run of weekend Premier League action. With some teams set to play make-up games in the midweek and others having played in European cup competitions the midweek just gone, squad rotation may very well be the watch word of the day. Nonetheless, there’s plenty to talk about so let’s dive in.

Learning from New Towns

The year was 1946, and following the second world war London lay in ruins. Houses and entire communities had been destroyed by relentless bombing from the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), a solution was needed, with the Labour government under Clement Atlee deciding to put forward an act known as the New Towns Act (1946).

Poetry Corner: Day of the Pawns by Bob Dixon

Day of the Pawns by Bob Dixon

Born into a working-class family in Spennymoor, County durham, Bob Dixon eventually became a school teacher, and then a lecturer in English at Stockwell College of Education, Bromley. He was involved with the left-wing cultural journal Artery in the 1970s, and he wrote three collections of poems, three books on the ways in which children’s attitudes have been shaped by the publishing and manufacturing industries, plus an autobiography, The Wrong. Bob was a life long member of the Communist Party and well-known figure on the left-wing poetry scene, reading at CND rallies and other events.

Weekend Premier League recap

All 20 Premier League teams were back in action for a full Friday to Monday gameweek. In a week that included not one but two derby encounters, it wouldn’t just be points on the line for the squads involved but the pride and ability to call their respective cities theirs.

The Tory Kickstart scheme is a joke. We need a real plan to beat youth unemployment

The Tories’ flagship ‘Kickstart’ scheme isn’t a subject that has received a great deal of coverage either in the monopoly media or in the labour movement since it was launched as part of the Summer Budget in 2020. This lack of coverage and awareness might be surprising given that it is being touted as the Tories silver bullet to spiralling youth unemployment resulting from the pandemic. In fact, it is really their only significant policy in terms of youth unemployment. But there is a good reason you probably haven’t heard much about it since the scheme was launched. Despite all the government spin, it has been a complete failure.