Morning Star

About Morning Star

The Morning Star supports peace and socialism. It defends peaceful protests and civil disobedience and industrial action by workers to improve working conditions and wages. The Morning Star is concerned with environmental issues and supports environment campaigning groups; it advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament. The paper advocates a vote for the Labour Party in most seats, except for the handful in which the Communist Party of Britain has a candidate.

On international issues, it advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and calls for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories. It was the only daily paper in Britain to oppose the 1999 Kosovo War, denouncing military intervention by NATO, The newspaper also opposed the Iraq War. On Northern Ireland, the paper takes a pro-Irish nationalism line. News reports from Northern Ireland are described as "By Our Foreign Desk".

Labour should not 'take its cue from its enemies' on anti-semitism, say Jewish socialists

Editoral - 27 August 2018

LABOUR should not “take its cue from its political enemies” by caving in to critics on how it defines anti-semitism, Jewish socialists said today.

Well over 1,400 emails have been sent to members of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) via the Grassroots for Jeremy website alone, calling on it to resist pressure to adopt all examples attached to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism.

Labour has adopted the IHRA definition but has not fully endorsed all the examples, as some can be interpreted as restricting the right to criticise the Israeli state. Even the definition’s drafter Kenneth Stern has warned the document has had a “chilling” effect on freedom of speech relating to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.... See more

Campaigners pour scorn on People's Vote claim it isn't hostile to Corbyn

Ben Chacko - 27 August 2018

A LEAKED memo from the People’s Vote organisation shows it is hoping to arrange a vote at the Labour Party conference next month to commit the opposition to a second referendum.

The memo, drafted by director of communications Tom Baldwin, claims the campaign is not seeking to undermine Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, despite the records of many of its most prominent supporters.

People’s Vote advocate Chuka Umunna has repeatedly attacked the Labour leader, including by claiming that the party appears “institutionally racist” and echoing smears that the leader has tolerated a rise in anti-semitism, while fellow campaigner Lord Adonis has claimed Mr Corbyn’s failure to win last year’s election, in which Labour saw its biggest increase in vote share since 1945, meant he should “go asap.”... See more

Most people blame Tories for botched Brexit, poll finds

Editorial - 25 August 2018

CHAOS in the Conservative ranks over Brexit means most people already blame Theresa May’s government for a bad deal before an agreement on Britain’s departure has even been struck, new figures show.

A poll of over 10,000 people by the anti-Brexit People’s Vote campaign, which argues that voters in 2016 did not understand the consequences of leaving the EU and should be made to vote again after Ms May has thrashed out an agreement on terms with Brussels, found that 62 per cent said a bad deal would be “mainly the fault of the government.”... See more

Momentum to ballot members on People's Vote

Marcus Barnett - 24 August 2018

MOMENTUM will conduct a ballot of its members on whether to press Labour to back another referendum on EU membership, it announced today. An online poll of Momentum members has just passed 4,200 signatories and the left Labour organisation says a motion backed by 10 per cent of the membership prompts a ballot of all members.... See more

Corbyn vows to reform Britain's rotten media

Marcus Barnett - 23 August 2018

LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn outlined major reforms to fix Britain’s broken news media in a speech last night.

Giving the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Mr Corbyn vowed to support public interest journalism by giving it charitable status and creating an independent fund paid for by tech giants.

He warned that the public has little trust in the current media and that without major changes, Britain’s public spaces for debate and information risk being controlled by “a few tech giants and unaccountable billionaires.”

The Labour leader, who has previously chaired the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) parliamentary group, also expressed his support for strengthening freedom of information (FOI) rights and ending ministers’ power to veto disclosures.... See more

Wales sees huge increase in modern slavery

Marcus Barnett - 23 August 2018

WALES has seen a huge increase in “modern slavery” cases over the past year, Welsh government statistics reveal.

Welsh Assembly Health and Social Services Secretary Vaughan Gething will talk to public service workers today about the 193 recorded cases of “potential victims of slavery” that have taken place across the country since last summer.

This represents a massive 56 per cent increase on the previous year.

The figures include record levels of people who have been victims of sexual exploitation, sweated labour in poor conditions and foreign workers facing pay exploitation.... See more

Bold, radical thinking for the future of Britain's media

Editorial - 23 August 2018

JEREMY CORBYN’S warning about the state of Britain’s media and the need for bold, radical thinking to create an informed public is crucial in light of the demise of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.

For nearly four decades the trade union-supported CPBF has campaigned and lobbied for a diverse and free media that is accountable to rather more than half a dozen billionaires.

Those seeking an alternative to the pro-Tory orthodoxy of the Murdoch, Rothermere and Barclay stables traditionally comforted themselves in the company of progressive liberalism found in The Independent and The Guardian.

The Independent, funded by a Russian oligarch’s family, is now online-only, leaving just the i to be seen on news-stands, while The Guardian switched from ownership by The Scott Trust in 2008 to The Scott Trust Ltd.... See more

British campuses face an autumn of rage over poor pay and conditions

Marcus Barnett - 22 August 2018

British universities face a campus clash this autumn, as lecturers nationwide vote on whether to strike against poor conditions.

Teaching staff represented by University College Union (UCU) will be balloting on whether to return to strike action over a number of issues, the union revealed today.

The Star understands that staff at a total of 147 universities will be balloting on whether to take strike action.

This is more than double the number of universities that participated in the wave of strikes earlier this year and signifies a dramatic escalation in an ongoing confrontation between workers and education bosses.

The union confirmed the ballot will open for UCU members next Thursday August 30 and close on October 19, with the union formally recommending that all members vote Yes to both walkouts and action short of a strike.... See more

 

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