Chartist

First global AI safety Summit held in the UK, 2023. Credit - Wikimedia Commons “Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.

Radicals by Geoff Andrews published by Yale There are many books on the history of the British labour movement. This one is very different. The subtitle is ‘The Working Classes and the Making of Modern Britain’, and the author claims the book’s originality is its class focus. However, the book’s focus is much more specific – it is on the role of adult education in developing a labour ethos in the British working class.

The results of the recent local elections were, for many, a jarring wake-up call. While the headlines focused on shifting seats, changing council majorities and a new political landscape across the country, those of us in Durham saw an all too familiar outcome. In Sunderland, the neighbouring authority to Durham, we saw the majority of council seats fall directly into the hands of Reform UK. For many commentators, this came as a shock.

Cenk Uygur was banned from entering the UK in late May 2026 - Pic credit Wikimedia Commons : Gage Skidmore What links a spate of property vandalism in a London suburb to the UK Home Office’s cancellation of entry visas for two Turkish-American online “influencers”?

In the French local elections in March, the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) was defeated in Marseille, Toulon and Nîmes, cities that seemed within grasp. But the party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella deepened its hold in France’s southeast and northeast by winning dozens of mayoralties. Journalist Victor Mallet looks at the rise of the far right in France, past, present and future.

Earlier this year, Mainstream did something unusual for a Labour network. We stopped talking about what we thought the party should believe, and we asked our members to decide. Hundreds of Labour members, councillors, trade unionists and campaigners gathered for our first policy assembly to agree on the values that will shape everything we do. What came out of that (virtual!) room surprised even the organisers.

Housing on Latchmere Road, Battersea - Credit Wikimedia Commons: Robert-brook The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA) is a significant piece of legislation which will have ramifications throughout the housing sector. Abolishing Section 21 no-fault evictions, moving to periodic tenancies and tightening rules on rent increases are real gains for tenants long exposed to insecurity and arbitrary power. The Act deserves support but it in no way solves the country’s housing crisis.

Andy Burnham - credit: Wikimedia Commons These are the fundamental questions needing answers and speedy actions, which must animate socialists, greens and progressives over the next period. Burnham’s resounding victory as Labour leader and Prime Minister, in which only MPs had a direct hand, comes on the back of his success in the Makerfield by-election and seeing off Reform UK.

The revival of interest in Marxian studies of political economy follows cycles which mirror what is happening within the capitalist system itself. As crisis tendencies bubble up, there is an almost inevitable turn towards Marx’s Capital to gain understanding as to what might be going on. For this generation, the chances are that this will be via the work of British-born David Harvey, a US-based academic who has been wrestling with Marx’s opus since the 1970s.

Marine Le Pen - Credit : Rémi Noyon / Flickr Commons For over a decade, the far right has been on the march. In Europe, a cursory look suggests that the marchers are about to storm the citadels. In France and Germany, the two historic “motors” of EU integration, far-right parties (Rassemblement National (RN) and AfD) are leading in the polls.