Four Palestine Action activists have been handed sentences of up to eight years under terrorism-linked charges, in a case human rights groups warn signals a dangerous expansion of Britain’s counter-terror powers. Read the harrowing details of the Filton 4 trials, the restrictive prison conditions imposed on the defendants, and why Liberty and Amnesty International say these prosecutions threaten the fundamental right to protest.

As American industrial power crumbles and debt soars past 120% of GDP, Washington is responding with record military budgets, proxy wars, and escalating confrontations from Ukraine to the South China Sea. This sharp analysis draws on Lenin and Fidel to argue that U.S. imperialism has entered its parasitic final stage, and explains why the rise of BRICS+ and dedollarization may signal the definitive end of the unipolar moment.

Is football the new religion of the masses, and have sports commentators become its most zealous preachers? From Clausewitz to Orwell to a Marty Feldman sketch about a Nazi referee, Raymond O’Connell takes a sharp and witty look at how the World Cup has reshaped culture, jingoism, and the so called People’s Game.

As the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick faces the threat of EU sanctions, Irish government ministers admit they cannot reassure workers about their future, prompting fresh questions about whether Brussels has truly neutered Irish independence. Meanwhile the EU drags its feet on banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements even as it rushes through twenty sanctions packages against Russia, exposing a troubling double standard worth examining.

While some hail Andy Burnham’s rise to British prime minister as a fresh chance for progress in Anglo Irish relations, Eoin Ó Murchú argues this optimism ignores his Blairite record, his commitment to endless war in Ukraine, and his pledge to slash social spending in favour of military budgets. This is why the Dublin establishment will welcome him with open arms, and why the working class on both sides of the border cannot afford to be fooled by warm words about Irish heritage.

From the Battle of the Boyne to the Brexit referendum, history is often rewritten to serve those in power while working class voices are conveniently pushed aside. Ernest Walker cuts through the myths of religious division and political spin, exposing how selective storytelling shapes what we believe about our past and present.

From the streets of Johannesburg to the farmlands of India, a new generation of left movements is rising to challenge decaying elites, mass unemployment, and the grip of hyper-imperialism on the global economy. Vijay Prashad reports from the Conference of the Left in South Africa, drawing lessons from over a century of revolutionary struggle to argue why the world urgently needs a living, fighting left.

As UK ministers resign over defence budgets and Andy Burnham faces the “Moscow test” before even launching his leadership bid, Mike Morrissey asks whether the panic over Russian aggression matches the reality on the ground. With 1.4 million Russian casualties and a stalling war in Ukraine, is Britain being sold a threat by those who profit most from fear?