How, and why, did the Labour leadership prevent a debate on council housing? Martin Wicks investigates. For the fourth year running, housing has been kept off the agenda of the Labour Party Conference. This was no accident. The Labour leadership has sought to prevent a debate. The main instrument for stopping resolutions which the leadership doesn't want debated is their unofficial faction, Labour to Win.

New research from Aberlour Children's charity confirms that school meal debt is an issue for many children and families across schools in England. As a result of this research, the influential charity is now calling on the UK Government to recognise school meal debt as an indication of financial hardship for families and include clear actions in the upcoming child poverty strategy to end school meal debt and hidden school hunger.

FRC’s proposals follow sustained complaints from the industry about lengthy investigations

‘The trouble is we have crossed a line in trying to encourage aspiration. The non-dom change and the VAT on school fees have sent the opposite message,’ minister tells The Independent

Jonathan Rosenblum introduces his new book, published today. Anyone with a shred of humanity and a degree of political engagement must be wondering today, “What’s the way forward? How do we fight i…

Communities up and down Britain show we have integrated successfully - now that is under assault from politicians on the right

In a ballot of Momentum members, 74% have voted to recommend a tactical vote for Lucy Powell to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. While members were denied the opportunity to vote for a socialist candidate in Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who fought a proudly principled campaign earlier in the process, Momentum recognises that a victory for Powell is the better of the outcomes on offer.

Jonathan Rosenblum introduces his new book, published today. Anyone with a shred of humanity and a degree of political engagement must be wondering today, “What’s the way forward? How do we fight in the political arena?” In my country, Trump and the billionaires control the levers of power, our neighbors are being kidnapped, imprisoned, and deported, and bosses are gleefully busting unions while Elon Musk and his confederates loot the public treasury.

Wembley Matters: a news and information blog about environmental and social justice in the London Borough of Brent & beyond edited by Martin Francis

Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HPSC) supporter joined a “witness circle” at Trafalgar Square on Saturday afternoon 4th October as police arrested 488 people for holding placards declaring opposition to genocide and support for the proscribed group Palestine Action. This is an account of what they witnessed during the first two hours of the fourth such London protest, organised by Defend Our Juries (DoJ).

Half-baked tales of rulings turning on chicken nuggets are no basis for cutting Britain adrift

Mark Perryman calls time on the forthcoming Thatcher Centenary. Margaret Thatcher's 13th October 2025 centenary is a moment to reflect on how she, or more accurately 'Thatcherism', so decisively shaped the 1980s - and for ever more too, the post-war consensus she deconstructed and to date never to return. The Labour historian Jim Fyrth describes what framed this consensus that had previously so decisively shaped British society and economy 1945-79: “A mixture of Socialist, Labour, Keynesian, Fabian/Liberal and anti-Fascist ideas that was strongly anti-establishment and anti-capitalist, and was hostile to those who were held responsible for poverty and unemployment and for appeasement of the Fascist dictators.”

DOWNLOAD THE BULLETIN HERE AS A PDF In this week’s bulletin: Ukrainian PoWs face repeat trials/ Europe’s gas purchases fuel Putin’s war/ Russian economy depends on war/ Free imprisoned journalists …

London’s high public transport fares obstruct access to employment opportunities, education and reasonable living standards, a briefing published today by Fare Free London shows. Working Londoners spend many extra hours a week – and, in some cases, many extra hours a day – commuting, to avoid expensive trains and use cheaper but slower buses. Students tangle with trade-offs between housing costs, which are lower outside the capital, and travel costs that are much higher.

A new book published this week showcases ten people who were jailed for opposing Putin’s war on Ukraine. Voices Against Putin’s War: Protesters’ defiant speeches in Russian courts, published this week by Resistance Books, brings the spirit of anti-war resistance to an international audience. The book includes speeches in court by ten people who opposed Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and were arrested, tried and handed long jail sentences for doing so.

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

Over 450 members of the aid flotilla to Gaza are now being held by Israel in an “anti-terror” prison in the Negev desert

Fund a vital rapid-response vehicle to help intercept Russian drones and missiles before they hit Ukrainian cities.

An update from Adalah, an independent human rights organization and legal centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. Over the past 24 hours, Adalah attorneys met with 331 participants of the Global…

Ecuadorians are resoundingly resisting the Daniel Noboa government’s neoliberal policies, despite heavy police and military repression, reports Ben Radford.

Matt Willgress looks at the way ahead after Labour Conference expressed opposition to all arms sales to Israel. Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, injured more than 160,000 and displaced over 90% of the population. This was the context to both the recent TUC Congress and this week’s Labour Conference speaking up for Palestine, passing motions that revealed the total complicity of the Starmer-led Government in Israel’s war.

Mike Phipps reviews What Went Wrong with Britain?: An Audit of Tory Failure, edited by Steven Kettell, Peter Kerr and Daniela Tepe, published by Manchester University Press. The sense of frustration and despair about the state of modern Britain shared among the editors of this book was such that they originally thought of calling it WTF is Wrong with Britain?