£1.20 Weekend edition Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

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MIGRANT DETENTION STRUGGLE ON THE STREETS UNEMPLOYED YOUTH Diane Abbott: p9 Protest pics of the week: p8 John Green: p17 www.morningstaronline.co.uk Labour surges in council For a sustainable food by-elections future SIMPSON: P10 Tories punished by voters in local polls by Lamiat Sabin Parliamentary Reporter THE Tories were facing yet another humiliation yesterday as a tally of council by-elections over the last six months showed voters punishing them time and again. The ruling party gained nine, Poets muse over 2017’s lost 25 and held 43 over the period, an overall loss of 16 since Theresa May called her ill-fated fi nest verse ARTS: P16 general election in May. Labour by contrast found itself solidifying and extending its gains, picking up 15 new seats, losing six and holding 50 — a net gain of nine on top of the 30 gains it made at the last election. The Liberal Democrats have also made some gains, picking up 13 seats, losing four and hold- ing eight. The Greens have gained three seats and Ukip has lost another two seats after being nearly wiped off the map in June. In the latest by-elections held this week attention focused on two contests at Newcastle-under- Lyme. The council has been rocked by a scandal over the running of the ballot in their marginal Commons constitu- ency, which was held by Labour’s Ryanair to recognise Paul Farrelly with a majority of when Labour’s Elizabeth Shen- The turnover came after coun- last month, following a report by just 30 votes. ton stood down as council leader, cil chief executive John Sellgren former Electoral Commission Conservatives took minority having lost support from inde- and head of audit and elections high-up Andrew Scallan. unions WORLD: P7 control of the council last week pendent councillors. Elizabeth Dodd were suspended Turn to page 2

PROGRESS IN BREXIT TALKS POLAND RISKS EU CENSURE RACING EU leaders agree to start stage two: p4 Brussels reacts to judicial reforms: p6 Cheltenham tips: p21 Morning Star 2 NEWS HOME Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

DISABILITY FRONT PAGE LABOUR Millions wasted on benefi ts appeals SURGES by Lamiat Sabin overturned since April 2015. She noted that the govern- the person’s favour. Over three quarters of PIP ment wanted to use PIP to cut Disability charity scope AHEAD IN appeals in the past three its spending. chief executive Mark Atkin- MINISTERS have wasted £35 months have been won by the Since April 2015, 104,198 son: “It’s imperative that million processing appeals claimant, revealing the deep people have won their PIP assessments for PIP and ESA BY ELECTIONS against disability benefi t deci- injustice of the government’s appeal at a tribunal, and are overhauled to iron out the sions in the past year — and assessments. another 100,600 had their mistrust, lack of transparency FROM P1: Mr Scallan lost most of the case, accord- Offi cials claim this is original decisions changed at and routine inaccuracies found more than 500 postal ing to new government fi gures because more evidence is sub- the prior mandatory reconsid- which disabled people report voters in the Newcastle- published this week. mitted for the appeal. eration stage. on a weekly basis.” under-Lyme constituency Most people win their Tory peer Ros Altmann, a And for employment and The DWP said it would drop had been disenfranchised, appeal against cuts to their former minister Department for support allowance (ESA), for its entirely unmet target of close to 1,000 potential benefi ts, with 200,000 deci- Work and Pensions (DWP) min- the most recent year of fi g- having four in fi ve appeals electors were not included sions on the Tories’ personal ister, obtained the spending fi g- ures, 68 per cent claims taken uphold the cuts decision. in the election register and independence payments (PIP) ure in a parliamentary question. to appeal were overturned in [email protected] two people not entitled to vote actually did so. Council staff from neighbouring Stoke-on- LIVERPOOL Trent assisted with running the two by-elec- tions which saw the Conservatives take one seat (Newchapel) from Merseyrail evacuation Labour while Labour held the other (Bradwell). The turnouts were very low at 18.4 per cent and ‘underlines need for guard’ 16.6 per cent respectively. Writing in an article for weblog LabourList London by Steve Sweeney Mayor Sadiq Khan called yesterday for the “energy and optimism” displayed THE evacuation of a smoke- by party activists during fi lled train underneath Liver- the snap election to be pool city centre underlines the carried through to 2018’s need for a guard on the new local elections on May 3. Merseyrail service, transport He said there is now “no union RMT warned yesterday. corner” of London where RMT members have written Labour could not win. to Liverpool Mayor Steve Mr Khan wrote: “Under Rotheram and other leaders, Jeremy Corbyn’s leader- urging the Liverpool city ship, Labour in London is region combined authority to continuing to go from suspend its “untenable” sup- strength to strength and port for driver-only operated we are seeking to build on trains in light of last week’s that success.” incident. GUARD DUTY: Merseyrail has been accused of undermining safety on the lines [email protected] A guard was forced to evac- uate the train after smoke bil- RMT general secretary “But if Merseyrail get their seytravel — must now reverse lowed into the front carriage, Mick Cash said the “frighten- way those guards will be its decision to support leaving the driver to isolate the ing incident invokes the night- removed once the new trains the removal of guards incident and call for support. mare scenario of a fi re aboard are introduced in 2020, and a from Merseyrail trains. Labour mayor Mr Rotheram a Merseyrail train with no serious incident under the city He said rail bosses is reminded in the letter that guard on board,” something centre could have [had] disas- were using the decision the union’s position of retain- that the union has long warned trous consequences as a to stand in the way of ing the safety-critical guard of. result.” negotiating a “sensible on Merseyrail has the over- Fortunately there was a RMT regional organiser and safe solution” to the whelming support of the pub- safety-trained guard on board John Tilley said the Liverpool staffi ng of the new Mer- CHECK OUT OUR by Steve Sweeney lic along with local constitu- who was able to evacuate the city region combined authority seyrail trains. DIGITAL EDITIONS ency Labour parties, local train with nobody being — a collaboration of six coun- stevesweeney@ MORNINGSTAR MPs and two local councils. harmed, he added. cils that work with Mer- peoples-press.com AT STRIKES on Virgin West ONLINE.CO.UK Coast were “solidly supported” by workers yesterday, rail unions said as they warned of MEDIA further action over the Christ- WE’RE HIRING mas period. Members of rail unions Trinity Mirror close to a deal RMT and TSSA walked out for 24 hours yesterday on north SUBEDITOR for Desmond paper empire Wales and Chester lines in a dispute over pay and condi- EFFORTS by Trinity Mirror cent as advertising and circu- tions. We are seeking a subeditor to join the The successful applicant will need… to buy the Sunday and Daily lation incomes fell in the last Union members are angry production team at our busy east London ■ A fl air for the English language and Express newspapers from quarter. over a pay deal which offered newsroom from January 19. for snappy, punchy presentation Northern & Shell have made It is understood that the low-paid workers far less than Regular Sunday working is required as ■ Attention to detail “good progress,” the publish- publisher intends to cut costs drivers. ing giant said yesterday. by merging back-offi ce and Under the offer, drivers part of a fi ve-day 35-hour week in order ■ The ability to operate well as part Trinity, Britain’s largest printing operations. were given a 9 per cent pay to cover the paper’s six publication days. of a small team and off er new regional newspaper fi rm, The National Union of Jour- rise and a one-off payment of Wages start at circa £21,100 per annum ideas announced earlier this year nalists (NUJ) has sought £500 while lower-paid workers subject to a probationary period. ■ Good knowledge of Adobe that it intends to acquire 100 transparency and reassur- received just 3.6 percent, Holidays start at 28 days a year rising to Creative Suite or similar software per cent of Northern & Shell’s ances on jobs following the amounting to as little as £10 ■ Tight copy-editing skills publishing assets, which also takeover. per week for some staff. 30 days, plus bank holidays. include the Daily Star. Northern & Shell is owned by Virgin Trains director Phil If you have the skills and you’re ready ■ An interest in labour movement The publisher, which had pornographer Richard Des- Whittingham accused the to take on a new challenge at a national and progressive issues originally sought to acquire a mond, who acquired the Express union’s leadership of attempt- newspaper which isn’t afraid to tell it like minority stake, said “further titles in 2000 for £125 million. ing to cause disruption during it is, email [email protected] for Women and minority ethnic candidates updates will be provided as The fi rm ran at a loss last the busy festive season. and when appropriate” in a year as it slashed cover prices However TSSA general sec- an application pack. are particularly encouraged to apply trading statement yesterday. in an effort to boost sales and retary Manuel Cortes urged Trinity said that it expects spent heavily on digital pub- Mr Branson to “drop the CLOSING DATE: Friday December 29 its own revenue to fall by 9 per lishing. Scrooge act and get this dis- Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 HOME NEWS 3

MANCHESTER Walkout looms at Fujitsu after union reps are targeted by Steve Sweeney

IT giant Fujitsu faces further strike action in one of the country’s longest-running industrial disputes after it was accused of backtracking on a deal to end discrimination against union activists. Around 300 Unite members working for the Japanese tran- snational corporation in Man- chester are to vote on action after talks broke down when the company sacked a worker with no warning. Unite said the dismissal of UNHAPPY: Len McCluskey Saj Patel violated an agree- ment reached between its gen- IT sector Louisa Bull said the eral secretary Len McCluskey union had worked tirelessly to and Fujitsu boss Duncan Tait, resolve the dispute, but she which paused redundancies for said Fujitsu did not want to six members while alternative listen and was discriminating options were explored. against union representatives. The union argued that Ms “It looks now as if we are Patel had an unresolved griev- heading for further industrial ance over her redundancy. She action because this union will claimed that her selection for never accept this sort of dismissal was part of a pattern behaviour from an employer,” of bullying and sexual harass- warned Ms Bull, ment. She said Fujitsu’s refusal to The majority of those engage constructively was selected for redundancy are blocking the possibility of a from an ethnic minority back- negotiated agreement, adding: ground, according to Unite, “We urge the company to think and most have a disability. again and work with us to set- In addition, two Unite rep- tle this dispute.” resentatives, Ian Allinson and Over 2,100 people have Denis Morris, allege that they signed an online petition are being unfairly victimised against the victimisation of for their union activities. union reps at Fujitsu. Unite national offi cer for the [email protected]

POLICING VIRGIN WEST COAST Charges dropped against Hillsborough horse offi cer RMT and TSSA out CHARGES were dropped yes- semi-fi nal, at which 96 people terday against a police offi cer lost their lives as they were alleged to have falsely claimed crushed in pens at the stadium. his horse was burnt by football The constable alleged that fans at Hillsborough. football fans were burning his Police watchdog the IPCC horse with cigarettes and the over low pay deal had submitted evidence to the farrier, a friend of the offi cer, Crown Prosecution Service described seeing serious burn (CPS) from its investigation marks on the animal. Further strike for equal wage rises planned to December 22 into allegations that the offi cer However it was alleged that and a civilian farrier had fal- the pair gave false accounts pute settled so peace is refusing to speak to his work- sifi ed evidence. to protect the police constable restored on the railways by force and pointed to the Complaints were raised by from disciplinary action. Christmas.” bumper £55 million a year a group of Liverpool fans in The CPS said there was not RMT general secretary profi ts Virgin is raking in. 2015 after the mounted offi cer enough evidence to prosecute the Mick Cash said members were “Whether he’s sulking or was seen lashing out at sup- offi cer and it wasn’t in the public standing solid and determined thinking he’s union-busting from porters before the 1989 FA Cup interest to charge the farrier. in their fi ght for workplace his sunbed on Necker Island, the equality and justice. only thing we get from Virgin “Virgin is a wealthy outfi t West Coast when we ask to meet and there is no excuse what- them is the sound of silence,” Mr soever for Sir Richard Bran- Cortes said. Communist Party son to under value and dis- “But this mess is Virgin’s criminate against the very making and it will only be set- of Britain same staff whose hard work tled by negotiation.” North London fi nances his luxury lifestyle. FIGHTING BACK: Pickets at Euston Station and in Carlisle (right) Further strike action is “Virgin should stop trying Pics: Guy Smallman and Craig Johnston (top-right two) planned for next Friday, Red December Christmas Social: Saturday 16 to play divide and rule and December 22, however both should address the fundamen- Mr Cortes apologised to rail operation, all of whom want to unions said they were availa- December, 7-10.30pm Inca CGIL, 124 tal issue of workplace equality passengers but explained that be treated fairly. ble for talks to resolve the Canonbury Road, London N1 2UT which is at the heart of this Virgin West Coast employs He accused Mr Branson of dispute. With music, entertainment, food, red punch, short dispute,” he said. around 1,400 staff to run its behaving like a “jilted lover,” [email protected] fi lms, fi nd money in the cake, raffl e. Morning Star 4 NEWS HOME Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

CORPORATE GREED EUROPE Building boss quits over £123m bonus EU leaders agree to

by Will Stone Homeless charity Shelter, which carried out the study, called the huge numbers of move talks forwards A HOUSEBUILDING boss is families living in temporary set to rake in £1,000 for accommodation a “national every child who wakes up scandal.” Corbyn argues green light should have been lit months ago homeless on Christmas day Shelter head Polly Neate as a bonus. said: “Many of us will spend by Lamiat Sabin The PM is also suspected to Persimmon chief executive Christmas day enjoying all of Parliamentary Reporter be drawing up a compromise Jeff Fairburn could enjoy a the festive traditions we cher- to avoid another Commons massive £128 million windfall ish, but sadly it’ll be a differ- THE green light to start nego- defeat over Brexit after 11 as part of a bloated bonus ent story for the children tiations on a Brexit deal should Tory rebels this week helped scheme — believed to be Brit- hidden away in cramped have been given “months ago,” secure a “meaningful vote” for ain’s biggest payout ever. B&Bs or hostel rooms.” Jeremy Corbyn said in MPs on the fi nal deal. The company’s chairman Announcing Mr Wrigley response to EU leaders’ agree- A Downing Street spokes- Nicholas Wrigley quit yester- and Mr Davie’s departures, ment to move to the second man said that there are “no day for his part in orchestrat- Persimmon admitted that the stage yesterday. plans to withdraw” the govern- ing the long-term “incentive” generous pay out plan pre- At the European Council ment’s amendment to cement plan, introduced in 2012, that sided over by the duo “could summit in Brussels yesterday, the March 29 2019 Brexit date could see management share have included a cap.” 27 leaders of the remaining EU in law, after Tory rebels £600m. However, the group went states agreed to begin the sec- ABOUT TIME: PM Theresa May arrives at the European threatened a second challenge. Remuneration committee onto defend the scheme, ond phase of talks which Council summit in Brussels where leaders discussed Brexit But he repeatedly refused chairman Jonathan Davie has claiming limply that it had addresses Britain’s future to deny that the government also left the company follow- played a “signifi cant factor relationship with the bloc. said that while he welcomes from day one, arguments over could change the wording of ing outrage at the bonus, in the company’s outstand- But negotiations will not the agreement from the Euro- money and threats from Brus- the amendment to fend off which is awarded based on ing performance” since properly start until the next pean Council, the govern- sels to impose a hard border another humiliation. meeting profi t and house- 2012. summit in March 2018. ment’s “chaotic” handling of between the Irish Republic and Guidelines agreed at the building targets. Persimmon’s success has Speaking in her Maidenhead the Brexit talks has already Northern Ireland. summit revealed that the EU The huge sum stands in in fact been put down to the constituency, Ms May said: “I “fuelled uncertainty and European Council President expects Britain to remain stark contrast to recent government’s Help to Buy am pleased that it has been risked economic damage.” Donald Tusk said that the EU under the jurisdiction of the homelessness fi gures, which subsidy introduced in 2013, agreed that we should make Opening the second phase needs “more clarity” on Ms European Court of Justice and have revealed that 128,000 with around half of Persim- rapid progress on an imple- of negotiations was delayed by May’s “vision” for Brexit after permit freedom of movement British children will be home- mon’s homes sold through the mentation period, which will the government’s months-long all parties signed off a fi rst- during a transition period less over the Christmas scheme last year. give certainty to businesses refusal to offer EU citizens the round agreement on citizens’ expected to last two years period. [email protected] and to individuals.” right to remain in Britain, rights, the £39 billion divorce after the offi cial date of Brexit. Labour leader Mr Corbyn which Labour proposed to do bill and Northern Ireland. [email protected] Morning Star We rely on you, our readers, to keep the only working-class FIGHTINGFUND voice in the British media going with regular donations

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HMP WINCHESTER ROYAL FLEET PAY Defence Staff shortages putting jail in ‘fragile’ position minister by Will Stone their cells for just an hour a “If it wasn’t for the dedica- day for all domestic activity tion and professionalism of and association,” the monitor- BOILING OVER: those in the service, things urged to CONDITIONS at a Hampshire ing board’s report said. HMP will be far worse. prison are so “fragile” that it “This is neither restorative Winchester, “We’ve seen riots, disorder, scrap cap is “teetering on the edge of a nor rehabilitative and only Hampshire prison violence and it’s only major incident,” inspectors adds to the frustration of the by the grace of God that we’re UNIONS stepped up their warned yesterday. prisoners.” not seeing our members fi ght to scrap the pay cap at A shortage of staff at HMP The report noted that only killed.” the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Winchester has led to a “steady the “resilience” of staff had There was renewed rioting Prison Offi cers Association Mr Gillan warned that staff yesterday as they called on deterioration,” the jail’s inde- prevented a serious outbreak at the prison earlier this year (POA) general secretary Steve shortages and the general cri- Defence Secretary Gavin pendent monitoring board said. of disruption, as seen at other in protest at the smoking ban, Gillan told the Star: “It doesn’t sis in jails would continue until Williamson intervene in a Inspectors found a “noticeable prisons. which was introduced in pris- come as a surprise to us, as the government started paying row over pay. rise in tension,” with an increase In one of the most high- ons on September 1. we’ve been warning about this prison offi cers a decent wage. In a joint letter, the in self-harm, assaults on offi cers profi le cases, rioting at HMP And on October 12, prison since 2010. The Ministry of Justice had general secretaries of the and disruptive behaviour. Birmingham saw hundreds of staff at Long Lartin in Worces- “The government needs to not commented at the time of PCS, Nautilus and RMT “The prisoners who are prisoners take control of four tershire were attacked with realise that its austerity has going to press. unions called for an end to unemployed are allowed out of wings in December last year. pool balls. cut the service to the bone. [email protected] seven years of restraint. Representing 2,000 merchant seafarers and their shoreside colleagues, REFUGEE CRISIS the unions explained their members were suffering under the pay cap. Dubs: Most The letter said talks with the employer had Brits are on reached a stalemate and asked for an urgent our side meeting with Mr William- son (pictured) to try and MOST Brits want refugees to reach a settlement. be treated humanely, Lord Alf PCS general secretary Dubs said yesterday. Mark Serwotka said: “Staff The former minister, who at the RFA have suffered came to Britain as a child years of pay restraint as a refugee from the nazis during result of the government’s World War II, said he believes austerity programme. public opinion is in favour of “Alongside the rest of offering help. their colleagues The Labour peer was speak- in the Civil ing in support of the Refugees Service they (Family Reunion) Bill, which need an passed its second reading in above-infl ation the Lords yesterday. pay rise to Measures in the Bill end this include allowing refugees in injustice.” Britain to seek permission for members of their wider fam- ily to join them and reinstat- MODERN SLAVERY ing legal aid for reunion cases. Lord Dubs said: “I believe Government fi rmly we have got to keep pub- lic opinion on our side if we’re failing to going to deal humanely with refugees. understand “I still believe ... that public opinion, if informed of what is going on, if informed of the scale of crime experiences that refugees have been through, is still by and GOVERNMENT ignorance large on our side. is holding back efforts to tackle the scourge of modern slavery, a parlia- mentary watchdog warned PROBATION SERVICE yesterday. Efforts to stamp out the by Steve Sweeney crime will fail unless there is a great improvement in Thousands of off enders the government’s knowl- THE privatisation of probation edge and identifi cation of services was branded a “colos- those at risk, according a sal failure” yesterday as a report by the National scathing report revealed tens Audit Offi ce (NAO). of thousands of offenders are ‘managed’ over the phone The NAO found that supervised by phone calls there is inadequate every six weeks instead of bilitation companies (CRCs). managed by phone calls with oversight of the support face-to-face meetings. In her annual report, Chief no face-to-face contact after offered to victims and said Probation watchdog inves- Inspector of Probation Dame his release from jail. few cases have led to tigations found the service Glenys Stacey found that thou- Some offi cers were oversee- prosecution. lacks management focus, with sands of offenders were met ing an astonishing 900 case. NAO head Amyas Morse workloads too high, inexperi- only once before they were Some CRC models allow four in said: “To combat modern enced offi cers and extremely placed on “remote supervision,” 10 of their caseload to be man- slavery successfully govern- poor oversight leading to a lack which could involve a brief aged remotely. ment will need to build of control. Some offenders are phone call every six weeks. Shadow justice secretary much stronger information not seen for months. The inspection report high- Richard Burgon said the and understanding of The National Probation Serv- lighted that a man convicted of report “highlights what a perpetrators and victims ice was created to deal with supplying class-A drugs was colossal failure the Conserva- than it has now.” high-risk cases in 2014 in a dis- charged with wounding while he tives’ part-privatisation of Modern slavery includes astrous £3.7 million partial was being “managed” by phone. probation has been.” social services Lord Laming He urged the government to forcing people into privatisation, with the supposed And another with more than And in a House of Lords said the report’s fi ndings were review its “ideological com- servitude and labour, as “easy pickings” handed out to 30 convictions, including for debate yesterday, crossbench another legacy of the unmissed mitment” to the sell-off. well as human traffi cking. 21 private community reha- domestic violence, was also peer and chief inspector of Chris Grayling. [email protected] Morning Star 6 NEWS WORLD Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

POLAND EU ‘set to censure’ attack on judiciary Plan for political control of judges ‘may breach European values’ by Our Foreign Desk Poland passed laws last week Teresa Brykczynska, a agers of public-sector broad- forcing all Supreme Court spokeswoman for media regu- casters political appointees. judges over the age of 65 to lator KRRiT, said the coverage A declaration that Poland is BRUSSELS could be poised to retire, unless they receive a had created a “climate of ten- in breach of fundamental declare Poland in breach of presidential extension of their sion and threat” and “failed to European values requires a fundamental European values term, and providing for their inform viewers that the qualifi ed majority and could over its bid to exert political replacements to be picked by December 16-18 [2016] pro- well pass, but taking away the control of the judiciary, a the president. The legislation tests held outside parliament country’s voting rights would European commissioner said also allows the justice minister were unlawful.” require unanimity and is yesterday. to reopen cases at will. The protests in question unlikely. Guenther Oettinger told The laws are part of a raft were marches against the gov- Hungary’s Prime Minister German radio station Deutsch- of authoritarian measures by ernment’s judicial reforms. Viktor Orban has himself been landfunk that the commission Poland’s ruling Law and Jus- Mass resistance has forced accused of attacking the inde- would decide next Wednesday tice Party, which has also been Warsaw to back down on some pendence of the media — with whether to take the step, the accused of a clampdown on of its agenda, such as suspicions that the closure of fi rst of a two-stage process independent media. increased restrictions on abor- the biggest opposition newspa- that could theoretically strip US-owned channel TVN24 tion and a bid to bar journalists per, Nepszabadsag, last year Poland of its voting rights in was slapped with a 1.5 million from covering parliamentary was politically motivated. the European Council. He said zloty (£310,000) fi ne this week debates. But the government He has vowed to veto any he “suspects” the commission for its coverage of anti-govern- has succeeded in pushing punitive action against Poland. will be prepared to take action. ment protests. through a law making the man- [email protected]

Something to say? Join the debate! Send letters (of PALESTINE up to 300 words) to [email protected] or to 52 Beachy Road, London E3 2NS Two killed in new protests over status DON’T FORGET! of Jerusalem TWO Palestinians were killed and many more WE ARE NOW TAKING wounded by Israeli soldiers yesterday as FIGHTING TO DEFEAT THE COUP: angry protests erupted Hondurans block a road with again over the status of rubbish and rocks yesterday in ORDERS FOR OUR ongoing protests against the Jerusalem. Israeli authorities said rigging of the country’s presidential Palestinians had set fi re to election to keep the right in power NEW YEAR ADS! tyres and thrown stones at troops in the Israeli-occu- pied West Bank and along the borders of the besieged Gaza Strip. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said two people had been killed by by Ben Chacko gunshots to the head — Place your including a double amputee. PRESIDENT-ELECT of India’s new year Ibrahim Abu Thraya Congress party Rahul Gandhi had been confi ned to a is seeking an alliance with the wheelchair since he lost communists, saying he wanted greetings in both legs and an eye when to ask his “friends in the Com- our special 2018 he was struck by an Israeli munist Party of India-Marxist artillery shell during (CPI-M) whether they actually 2008’s Operation Cast want to fi ght the fascist forces edition Lead, an Israeli assault on in the country.” ADVERTISE Gaza that killed around Mr Gandhi takes up the published 1,400 Palestinians. leadership of the party today, Another 82 Palestinians succeeding his mother Sonia. on January 2 were wounded yesterday They are members of the IN THE STAR in clashes along the Nehru-Gandhi clan, descend- (deadline border. ants of Jawaharlal Nehru’s Full Page: £1,600 A man who apparently daughter Indira and Feroze stabbed an Israeli offi cer Gandhi, who have dominated Friday Half Page: £800 in Ramallah was in a Indian politics for decades. 1/4 Page: £400 Direct line: critical condition after He made his pitch for com- December 22) 1/8 Page: £200  (020) 8510-0815 being repeatedly shot. munist support in a speech The Israeli military attacking Indian Prime Min- 1/15 Page: £100  ads@ stated that its soldiers had ister Narendra Modi on Thurs- Box ads: £50 peoples-press.com “fi red selectively towards day. Both Congress and the main instigators” of DYNASTY: Rahul Gandhi is CPI-M have denounced Mr disturbances. replacing his mother Sonia Modi’s Hindu chauvinist BJP as Congress president government as fascist. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 WORLD NEWS 7

INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT Facing strikes, Ryanair off ers to recognise pilots’ unions by Ben Chacko disrupted by industrial action. the minimum, and not enough.” “If the best way to achieve Irish pilots’ union Ialpa, this is to talk to our pilots a section of the Irish Munici- BUDGET airline Ryanair is through a recognised union pal, Public and Civil Trade ready to recognise pilots’ process, then we are prepared Union (Impact), also appeared unions for the fi rst time, it to do so,” he conceded. sceptical. announced yesterday. It’s an abrupt volte-face for Its members voted by 94 per Pilots in Italy organised the airline, which had faced cent last week to strike on with the Anpac union sus- warnings of legal action from December 20 over the airline’s pended a walkout that had the Fit-Cisl union in Italy for refusal to recognise it or the been due at 1pm on receipt of threatening employees with European Employee Represent- the letter from Ryanair, which consequences if they dared to ative Council, and Ryanair had also went to unions planning take action. as recently as Thursday threat- strike action in Ireland, Ger- Fit-Cisl said the threat was ened to bring in pilots from out- many, Spain and Portugal as unconstitutional and the Ital- side the Irish Republic to break well as Britain’s Balpa. ian government asked Ryanair the strike by staff at Shannon, Chief executive Michael to clarify what it meant. Eco- Cork and Dublin airports. O’Leary said the move was nomic Development Minister The union said it was con- intended to reassure passen- Carlo Calenda was unim- sidering the contents of the gers who were concerned that pressed at yesterday’s offer of airline’s letter. their travel plans could be union recognition, saying: “It’s [email protected]

SECURITY PRECAUTION: Police guard the entrance to the Charlottesville circuit court on Thursday as James Fields faced a preliminary hearing over the August killing of anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer

UNITED STATES Murder charge for Charlottesville killer THE man accused of killing surveillance video of the kill- injured and a few now had to anti-fascist demonstrator ing on Thursday. use wheelchairs. Heather Heyer by driving his James Alex Fields, 20, was Mr Fields could face life in car into her during a white- taking part in a white suprema- prison rather than a maximum supremacist rally was cist “unite the right” rally in tariff of 40 years for fi rst charged with fi rst-degree Charlottesville, Virginia, on rather than second-degree murder on Thursday after August 12 when he drove his murder. serving four months in prison vehicle into a crowd of coun- Virginia only imposes the INDIA on a less severe murder ter-protesters, killing Ms death penalty for “capital mur- charge. Heyer, 32, and injuring 36. der,” the gravest form of the A judge agreed to prosecu- Giving evidence, police offence under state law which tors’ request to alter the detective Steven Young said applies to contract killings and New Congress party charge after they presented some had been severely the murder of children. leader seeks alliance “Man To Man The World O’er Shall Brothers Be For A’ That” with communists The Morning Star & William Paul Society They point to its virulent cally: “Do you accept that the However former leader Pra- Socialist Burns Supper nationalism and use of street biggest challenge to the coun- kash Karat is reportedly wary fi ghters organised in the try is from the fascist ideas of the consequences of a pact Saturday January 20 6.30pm-9.30pm National Volunteer Force — a spread by the BJP?” with Congress because of its Niagara Suite, The Waterfall Bar, paramilitary organisation A recent two-day meeting neoliberal economic policies Railway Terrace, Derby linked to the BJP — to harass of the CPI-M politburo debated and lack of credibility with (directly opposite Derby Railway Station) and murder political oppo- whether an electoral alliance poor Indians. nents as well as Muslims and should be formed with Con- Mr Karat was leader of the members of other minority gress against the BJP, but the CPI-M when the Left Front, an £15 per head – 6 tickets for £80 faiths and races. party has yet to decide on the alliance of socialist groups, Low waged and unwaged concessions “It is very important that issue. withdrew support from the [the CPI-M] make their posi- Current general secretary Congress-led government in Tickets in advance before Jan 10 at latest tion clear at the national level Sitaram Yechury is said to be 2008 in protest at a nuclear Pay bar throughout. Contact williampaul … not standing against the in favour of an alliance given deal with the US it said tied [email protected] or 07780 220-391 BJP means supporting the the scale of sectarian violence New Delhi into support for US BJP,” Mr Gandhi claimed, ask- and the urgency of unseating foreign policy. ing the communists rhetori- Mr Modi. [email protected] Morning Star 8 FEATURES Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

LEFT: People call for ABOVE: Greek physiotherapy climate action outside students march in Athens against the Pantheon in the government’s plans for yet Paris. The placard more austerity measures reads: ‘Our planet, my future’ Struggle on the streets The best photos from the week’s protests around the world ABOVE: People rally outside a courtroom in San Salvador, El Salvador, to demand the release of women sentenced to 30 years in prison for having an abortion LEFT: Argentinian trade unionists stage a demonstration in Buenos Aires as MPs debate deep cuts to the country’s pensions BELOW: People dressed up as 1930s-era Chinese soldiers demonstrate outside the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong to mourn the victims of the 1937-38 Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese occupation forces murdered up to 300,000 people Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 FEATURES 9

opinion Britain’s shameful indefinite detention for migrants has to end The inhuman conditions in Britain’s immigration jails are all part and parcel of the Tories’ ‘hostile environment,’ writes DIANE ABBOTT

ECENTLY, Home Office based violence such as female genital Minister Brandon Lewis mutilation; for those with a diagnosis told the House of Com- of post-traumatic stress disorder; for mons: “We don’t have transsexual people; for pregnant indefinite [immigra- women; for those with learning dif- tion] detention in this ficulties and for those with mental country.R We just keep people as long health problems. as necessary.” Yet, the government has failed to As with so many other issues, here act. Over a year later the government was a government minister showing have shown no real movement on that once again the Tories are in implementing these important recom- denial about the effects of their own mendations or those from the earlier policies. Parliamentary inquiry. The reality is that last year over Both reports agreed that there 200 immigration detainees were must be a time limit for detention — detained for over a year and Britain a maximum of 28 days — and Labour is the only EU country that does not MPs have long been calling for an set a specific time limit on immigra- end to indefinite detention as one of tion detention. the steps needed to fix the system. Within this system, more than half Furthermore, the government’s of all immigration detainees are approach is also a colossal waste of eventually released and allowed to money, with the private-sector oper- remain in Britain, which raises the ators of the detention centres making question of why it was necessary to a lot of money in yet another failed deprive them of their liberty in the privatisation. first place. The overall length of detention has o give just one illustration, been increasing since the beginning the average cost of one of 2010 when the Tory-Lib Dem coa- detention place is £34,000 lition came to office. a year, which compares to The number of those held has also Cartoon: Noel an average cost of elec- been rising and, contrary to the min- tronic tagging of just ister’s assertions, some of these peo- Tunder £5,000 a year. ple are are held for 12 months or more Additionally, in the last few years — there are even cases of people being knew about the abuses in immigration there has also been £4-5 million paid detained for longer than 48 months. detention were saddened and horrified. each year in compensation for unlaw- The most important thing to In 2015, the UN’s rapporteur on ful detention. remember about immigration deten- violence against women was denied What makes it worse is that Home tion is that was never meant to be access to Yarl’s Wood and, in my Office has long been aware of long-term. capacity as shadow home secretary, improper conduct by G4S staff and I was an MP when the legislation I have also been blocked for a year by other private companies such as was introduced in the 1990s and Par- the government from visiting Britain’s Serco who operate in Yarl’s Wood liament was assured that detention largest and most controversial immi- detention centre as exposed in the would only be for a matter of months. gration detention centre for women. aforementioned Panorama. Yet this When some of us raised the lack It seems that we have both indefi- Tory government continues to sign of safeguards and due process, min- nite and secretive immigration deten- off millions of pounds worth of con- isters insisted that this detention tion taking place. tracts to these companies. would be very short-term indeed. But This issue gets far less attention As in so many home affairs policy the truth is that, almost from the than it should, as in the current toxic areas, change is desperately needed. beginning, detention has lasted for debate around immigration it is hard Yet the reason the Tories will not much longer periods than Parliament to engage public and media concern. reform immigration detention is originally envisaged. One particularly serious area that because it is all part and parcel of More generally, Britain’s current needs action and more public aware- Theresa May’s vision of a “hostile immigration detention system is inhu- ness is the issue of children being environment” for immigrants, where mane, costly and not fit for purpose. detained. the notion is that if individuals were This was recently highlighted by While in six out of the last eight detained in this way — quietly, con- noToRioUS: my colleague Kate Osamor MP, who years there have been no children Inside the trary to any due process and with no courtyard at Yarl’s Wood went undercover to a detention centre detained at year-end, children are consideration of their human rights and was shocked at the conditions she still be detained over other periods. — it would somehow deter others found there, writing that “the reality This year, there were still 21 chil- from seeking to come here as immi- is brutal.” dren who sent into detention in the Christine Case, there was a parlia- Shaw OBE, the former prisons and grants and asylum-seekers. Osamor’s experience followed the third quarter of this year, although mentary inquiry into the use of immi- probation ombudsman for England This approach has failed — it’s recent Panorama programme looking this is down from previous year — but gration detention. and Wales. time for a new, fairer approach. into the harsh conditions in the Brook there should be none at all. This was soon followed in 2016 by He recommended a series of House detention centre. The pro- In 2015 following a string of scan- a Home Office-commissioned review exemptions for vulnerable immigra- n Diane Abbott is shadow home gramme’s findings were so shocking dals involving detention, including into the welfare of vulnerable persons tion detainees, including: for victims secretary and a Labour MP for Hack- that even those of us who thought we the deaths of Jimmy Mubenga and in detention, conducted by Stephen of rape and other sexual or gender- ney North and Stoke Newington. Morning Star 10 FEATURES Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 Tomorrow’sFOOD SECURITY food crises will need new solutions

EAKED papers from the EU-Latin America (Merco- The key is to put safety, sustainability and accountability at sur) trade negotiations have set alarm bells ringing. The EU offer to allow an the centre of the conversation, says ALAN SIMPSON extra 70,000 tons of beef importsL a year is worrying because of the absence of any environmental standards or (enforceable) “precau- tionary principles” (about food safety) attached to it. We’ve been here before. Earlier this year the scandal about Brazilian “rotten food” triggered an international ban on their beef and chicken exports. China, Japan and Hong Kong led the way, with the EU being not far behind. How quickly we forget — or perhaps the negotiators of trade deals aren’t bothered by such trifling details. It is a recurrent problem within free trade mentalities: standards get thrown out of the window. In the 1990s, British shoppers staged supermarket boycotts to stop the dumping of GM food products into our shopping trolleys. Latin American states, then, lined up alongside US GM multinationals, opposing any European ban (or even labelling obligations) on GM foods. It has ever been thus. In the battles over global food supply, multination- als have been happy to exploit the poor at both ends of the market; low- ering pay and standards of produc- PROGRESSIVE: The tion, on the back of lower consumer first premises of the prices, but poorer quality goods. Rochdale Pioneers My childhood baptism into food safety debates has a different origin. Liverpool may have been 350 miles from Aberdeen but, as far as my mum tre of the conversation. Whenever we to an outlet. But Co-ops became a col- was concerned her shopping trolley have done so, a much better set eco- laborative economic model that has was the front line of the 1964 contro- nomic choices have emerged. lasted for over 180 years. The dec- versy surrounding contaminated Britain, in the 1840s, didn’t have ades ahead will need us to remember Argentinian corned beef. foodbanks. The period we now call and reclaim this vision. The typhoid infections associated “The Hungry Forties” did, though, In a similar vein, Indian dairy farm- with it never reached Liverpool, but have similar levels of poverty and ers in the 1940s (often with no more the corned beef never again reached social disruption. than a single cow to their name) faced our house. From that point on, my The move from hand looms in the same problems when they took on mum insisted, we were going upmar- homes to powered looms in factories, the might of Nestle, in the battles over ket. Thereafter it was Spam. during the industrial revolution, fresh milk versus dried baby milk. Today’s twist in the food supply/food changed the lives of working people. What began as a local struggle in safety debate will hopefully get beyond Exploitation was as ruthless in the Gujarat turned into a national pro- the Spam option, but only if it forces shops as in the factories. gramme — From a Trickle to a Flood Britain past the narrowness of the In- “Food prices were very high and — endorsed by both Gandhi and Out Brexit debate currently obsessing many shopkeepers added weights to Nehru. It also spawned the world’s Parliament. Tomorrow’s food crises the scales so that customers did not biggest co-op, AMUL. will need different solutions. receive the amount of food they had It made our 1970s food co-op, run Turbulent weather is already dis- bought. Food adulteration was com- from the back of our garage, look rupting everyone’s seasons. This will mon, with water being added to milk, rather feeble. But this too allowed become the new norm. chalk being added to flour and gravel families to buy fruit and veg, collec- Different approaches to “buffer being mixed with oatmeal.” tively, at prices they could afford. It stocks” will be needed, at both The visionaries of the day didn’t was a model the Italian “slow food” national and transnational levels. call for an EU-Mercosur deal. Instead, movement was soon to turn into their Tomorrow’s food security will also they founded the Rochdale Society of national network of slow towns be umbilically linked to climate secu- Equitable Pioneers — the Co-op. and villages. rity. The carbon footprint (hoof-print) It was the point at which people, Wherever this happened, the key of foods will become a feature of the collectively, established a “fair trade” was to put locality, affordability and carbon budgeting we will all have to agreement — with themselves. accountability into the same pot. So live within. No more dodgy flour, no indigest- it is now. It is a sad reflection on our times ible oatmeal. The co-operative prin- What the EU-Mercosur negotia- that Tory zealots who defend auster- ciple enshrined quality, fair pay and tions highlight is a point Jeremy Cor- ity economics — “you cannot spend fair pricing at the heart of a different byn and John McDonnell were more than you have in the household economic model. blocked from raising during the EU purse” — refuse to see that the bigger Milk, too, got in on the act, with what referendum debate. It was to take challenge is to get the planet to live became a national network of sustain- issue with the corporate takeover of within its carbon purse. able production and distribution. what passes for internationalism. All of this is possible, we just need It was hardly surprising that the Where Corbyn wanted to challenge a different mindset to connect with most exploitative producers (and shop the transfer of rights from citizens it. The key is to put safety, sustain- owners) of the day didn’t even want to corporations, free-trade Labour ability and accountability at the cen- the Rochdale Pioneers to have access would have none of it. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 FEATURES 11

MIDDLE EAST 12 days in a state of apartheid ay 1: Bethlehem. There are lots of warnings to group members before Last month, MARY ADOSSIDES went on we arrive: “If asked just say you are visiting the Holy Land and Israeli a short study tour of Palestine with the sites,D suspend your Facebook and Twitter accounts, don’t mention divestment, boycott and sanctions.” Israeli Commission Against House We catch a sherut (shared taxi) from Ben Gurion airport to Hotel Demolitions to witness the realities of Jerusalem, meet the Israeli Commis- sion Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) group and transfer by Palestinians struggling to survive under minibus to Bethlehem, a Palestinian neighbourhood under the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israeli occupation. This is her diary of From our hotel window, we can see the eight-metre-high separation wall with its barbed wire running along who she met and what she saw the top, watchtowers and cameras. The wall is covered with graffiti and poems by local Palestinians. The city, surrounded by two bypass REPRESSION: Grafitti roads for Israeli settlers, leaves the on the apartheid wall 170,000 inhabitants squeezed into a small area surrounded by the separa- tion wall which cuts it off from its sister city, East Jerusalem. Day 2: East Jerusalem. We meet Jeff Helper, ex-director of ICAHD, who explains that the Oslo II accords divided the West Bank into three administrative divisions, each with a different status. Area A is exclusively administered by the PA, Area B by both the Pales- tinian and Israeli authorities and Area C — 70 per cent of the West Bank — under Israeli control. All the land surrounding these first two areas is defined as Area C, with 300,000 Palestinians living in very restricted conditions. After, we go on a bus tour of Greater Jerusalem to witness the growth of Israeli settlements, all ille- gal under international law. The occupation is perhaps Israel’s biggest national project. The high-tech This is how we ended up with a Lit- industry that develops advanced com- tle England versus Corporate Europe bat and surveillance devices profits parody of a national debate. many Israeli corporations and the Roll the clock forward to whatever thousands who patrol the streets, man the next food crisis is. Drought, flood, the checkpoints and survey the wall. famine, civil wars or snap frosts, it There are profits too for the busi- won’t matter. We will be unprepared. nesses in the West Bank. European buffer stocks have been Following land confiscation, they derided. United Nations relief appeals have developed tourist sites and set- fall massively short of needs. Brit- tlement expansion or just about any ain’s own “resilience” stocks are non- industry that relies on cheap Palestin- existent. ian labour. And localised, low-carbon-mileage Day 3: Bethlehem. We get up early food supply systems go unsupported to walk through checkpoint 300, the (and even opposed) by Treasury crossing through the wall which sepa- policies. The answers go back to the rates Bethlehem from East Jerusalem. co-op. Thousands of Palestinian workers have Nothing can now avert climate been queuing, some since 3am. As we instabilities already in the pipeline. go through, they show their ID card The state provides infrastructure not provided, electricity is generated preventing them from getting into What we can do is manage, collec- and their permission letter, which must for Israeli housing but Palestinians by bought solar panels and as the PA difficulty with security forces.” tively, our way through them. Another be renewed regularly. must buy water, electricity and serv- is not allowed to build new schools, We drive to Aida Refugee Camp round of free-trade free-for-alls Digitalised thumbprints are taken ices at inflated prices. They have no Palestinian children attend schools and on the way we see Palestinian would accelerate the crisis. before the soldier allows them access to mains water or electricity with increasingly overcrowded classes. houses, with the black water tanks Safety — food, soil, air and water through. Eight-hour shifts “dehuman- and install black cisterns to hold the The aim is to wear down Palestin- on the roof. They’re occupied by sev- — will be found in the embrace of ise” soldiers, we are told. water they have to buy. The daily house ians and impoverish and divide them. eral generations living vertically or interdependencies. There are five different kinds of demolitions in Palestinian neighbour- All families can do is survive. This in shacks and they’re subject to fre- As my much missed mentor Tony ID which provide different kinds of hoods cause homelessness and despair. apartheid regime is embedded in quent incursions by the Israeli Benn used to say in answer to the rights separating Palestinians from Palestinians need a permit to build Israeli law. Palestinians are Defence Force. question: “Am I my brother’s each other — orange denotes West a house but they are not easily obtain- described as enemies, seen as Arab At the camp we listen to three youths keeper?” the answer must be a Bank, red is Gaza Strip, green able. So they build illegally and very terrorists and denied their identity. performing plaintive Palestinian tunes resounding “Yes ... and my sister’s, denotes Palestinians barred from fast, sometimes in the Jewish holi- “We provide counselling,” the psy- and then walk around the camp. At its my neighbour’s, my parents’ and my entering Israel. days, the psychologist explains. chologist tells us, “a sort of emer- entrance is a huge key, symbol of the grandchildren’s.” As we cross back to Bethlehem, we But, without forewarning, the gency first aid to try to alleviate the Palestinian right to return. Israeli sol- In doing so, we will not only find buy coffee from a stallholder at the Israeli army arrives in the middle of trauma of Palestinians and focus on diers are not far away. tomorrow’s security, we might also entrance of the checkpoint. He tells the night with bulldozers, evicts empowerment and issues of identity. rediscover ourselves. us he has been blacklisted for throw- families and cordons off the area. “We focus on the mother as the n The second part of this feature ing stones and can’t leave the area. The demolition takes up to four mother holds the family together. We series will appear on Monday. Infor- n Alan Simpson was MP for Notting- We go to the Palestine Counselling hours and families are fined thou- visit families regularly, as soon as mation on ICAHD study tours to Pal- ham South from 1992-2010. He now Centre at Beit Hanina, where a clini- sands of shekels. If they can’t pay, we have heard of a house demolition. estine is available at icahduk.org and advises Jeremy Corbyn on environ- cal psychologist explains how Israel’s the father is sent to prison. Our volunteers work with children, on the BDS movement at bdsmove- mental policy. apartheid housing system operates. Roads are not paved, services are helping adolescents stay in schools, ment.net. Morning Star 12 FEATURES Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 Star REPORT Comment Bloated bonuses An opioid crisis at Persimmon THE resignation of Persimmon chairman Nicholas Wrigley over a disgusting £128 million bonus given to the housebuilding firm’s chief executive Jeff Fair- hits Britain burn gives the lie to Tory and business claims to be “responsible” and “fair.” And it is truly disgusting —equivalent to £1,000 for each of the 128,000 children who will wake up As studies already demonstrate, the origins of this homeless on Christmas Day. The fact that Wrigley, an ex-banker, failed to im- crisis are much more deeply rooted in lack of pose restraint on Fairburn’s sordid payout — or any of the £800m Persimmon is paying to 150 senior community and capitalism than in any somatic bosses — should also be a reason to rethink placing workers on company boards or pay committees. illness or bodily demand, writes JULIAN VIGO Wrigley must surely realise what these bumper bonuses will do for the firm’s reputation and, if he tried at all, could not stop them from going ahead. HE opioid crisis in the Unlike the United States where the Now he’s resigned his £200,000 a year post over it. United States has taken over pharmaceutical lobby has actively media reports this past year recruited future opioid addicts since It is reported that the chairman pressed Fairburn with CNN running several the 1990s, Britain’s medical system is to hand over some of the shameful stash to charity major stories that profile vastly different such that prescrip- but was rebuffed, the poor thing. parents and couples over- tions are better managed. Not that it would change the fact that Persimmon Tdosed in their automobiles with chil- Yet despite having five times the has since 2013 been the beneficiary of a ludicrous dren in the back seat. population of Britain, the United States amount of government support, as have all private These images strike straight to the only has twice the number of heroin housebuilders, through the humongous handout heart as one feels immediate disgust addicts. that is the Help to Buy loan scheme. and outrage about the harm potentially A cursory glance over the prices of posed to children with a combination street heroin tell this story clearly as HIH of empathy towards the parents who one gram sells for $60-90 (around £40- are themselves victims in a larger big £60) in Britain compared to $200-450 Help to Buy has effectively served as a gigantic pharma-fabricated addiction cri- (£133-£298) in the US. subsidy — inflating prices by handing out nearly £5 sis. And often one is left wondering, Add to this equation the availability billion in loans to buyers by the start of this year. “What is wrong in the United States?” of methadone within the NHS and the It has restored firms’ profit margins to pre-crash The problem is that despite the Brit- availability of street valium for £1 a levels of about 25 per cent, boosted their share “ ish media reports of grandparents pop, the use of opioids overall is clearly prices, padded shareholders’ dividends — and done What if it raising their orphaned grandchildren, less than that of street drugs in Britain. absolutely nothing to close the yawning gap be- the many stories relating this matter Yet the fact that British drug users tween the amount of houses built each year and is not the to Prince’s untimely death, and Louis are not opting for the stronger opioid Theroux’s investigation into the heroin painkillers as they are in the US, with the amount of new houses needed each year. amount of crisis in Huntington, West Virginia, the exception of Tramadol and codeine, Such companies have no incentive to close that the sad fact is that Theroux could have does not mean this trend will continue. gap, because it would mean a hit to their profits. money one stayed back home and made his film. The fluctuating costs of street drugs It’s easy to recognise Help to Buy as a colossal What he calls “America’s love affair can change this reality at any moment. failure — if you’re interested in increasing the does not with prescription painkillers [which] Also Britain has had its problems with number of new homes and ending the housing cri- has led to widespread dependency on methadone deaths in the past, a crisis sis. have, but opiates” is very much a problem in the 2015, the deaths from all opioids rose that many experts thought worsened If you’re a Tory government looking to prop up United Kingdom, albeit with a twist. 294 per cent. the landscape of addiction rather than your mates in the construction sector, however, it’s rather the According to the European Monitor- Like the rise of Oxycodone in the improving it. an inordinately successful scheme. ing Centre for Drugs and Drug Addic- US, Fentanyl in Britain has become In the UK deaths from heroin and It has even provoked the ire of those notorious measure tion (EMCDDA) annual report for that ground zero drug through which morphine have more than doubled over 2016, the UK is currently the number individuals have been made dependent the past three years. In 2015, 2,479 peo- critics of capitalism at the Financial Times, with mar- of human one country in the EU for drug over- upon a powerful opioid, driving these ple died in England and Wales because kets commentator Bryce Elder describing it as “liter- doses with approximately one in three individuals to crime, impoverishment, due to illegal drug use with a rise of 10 ally the worst housing policy it’s possible to think worth of the EU’s overdose deaths. and even death. per cent from the previous year. of. As in the US these deaths are mainly Even if one were to be a functioning A total of 3,674 people died from created related to heroin and other opioids. addict, as many are, the risks to one’s legal and illegal drug use in 2015, the HIH And like the US there is a connection employment are well-documented as highest since records began in 1993. through between how illegal drugs like heroin well as to the ability to function day 2015 was also the year that saw Fen- “We’ve had 400 per cent returns for an effective are the result of a reckless opioid drug to day — from the inability to sleep, tanyl, a synthetic opioid which is 50 cartel industry that has been incentivised by hope- money ” market and medical industry. to meeting one’s economic obligations, time more potent than heroin, kill 58 less government policy to hoard, landbank and not Yet, despite the evidence of record to being disqualified from home or people in Britain. build houses.” drug overdoses in the UK, an investi- personal loans. Then in 2016 3,744 people were killed Which is of course why Theresa May promised in gation by the Guardian found that 11 Yet survival is not a luxury when in England and Wales with 1,209 of early October to funnel another £10bn into it. local councils in England made aver- overdose comes into the picture: for these deaths being uniquely heroin and Only a drastic change of course can correct this age cuts of 17 per cent to drug treat- the first eight months of 2017 in the morphine. Also last year MDMA killed — and that must be to strip private housebuilders ment services (£15m in total). UK 60 deaths were linked to Fentanyl. 63 and cocaine killed 371, total of the control they wield over our lives. Detailing how seven people died of Conversely the fact is that the great- increases of 103 per cent and 167 per The idea of a home as an asset, a thing of value drug overdoses in Barnsley in the first est link to opioid addiction is unem- cent respectively from 2012. This is a to be sold and traded and leveraged, is an affront half of 2017, the Guardian reports that ployment. In a study published by the record high for drug deaths in the UK. “the council cut its drugs and alcohol US-based National Bureau of eco- And there is every reason to believe to basic human dignity. services budget by more than a third nomic Research (NBER) earlier this given the partial statistics for 2017 It is absolutely unacceptable that so many thou- between 2015-16 and 2016-17.” And year, it reports that as the unemploy- that deaths from Fentanyl will likely sands of families, and 128,000 children, will wake many of these deaths are not from ment rate increases by one percentage be far higher for 2017 than ever up without a home of their own this Christmas. It is heroin alone but Fentanyl and even a point in any given county, the opioid- before. unacceptable that so many people are forced to mixture of the two. death-rate rises by 3.6 per cent and The Guardian reports that most of sleep rough on our streets, suffering while the likes So while, on the one hand, we are emergency-room visits by 7 per cent. the overdose deaths were accidental, of Jeff Fairburn drink and be merry. And it is unac- told that the opioid crisis is an “Amer- And this is not the only study to the ONS said, while others were a ceptable that so many are impoverished by high ican problem,” the reality is it’s any- provide such correlations as a Princ- result of suicide or mental and behav- rents and mortgages, only one pay day away from thing but. And some publications are eton labour economic Alan Kruger ioural disorders caused by drugs. homelessness. well aware of this fact. demonstrates. There are huge links, And more than half of all deaths A massive programme of council housebuilding While deaths from synthetic opioids we are currently learning, between involved an opiate, such as heroin or can change this — homes for human need and not such as Fentanyl, a drug 100 times deaths brought on by joblessness, morphine, followed by antidepres- more powerful than morphine, rose hopelessness, homelessness, as well sants, benzodiazepine, cocaine, para- private profit. by 1,125 per cent between 2000 and as physical and emotional pain. cetamol, and amphetamines. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 FEATURES 13

HISTORY REVISITED Christmas and the poor after seven Tory winters KeiTh FleTT compares the fate of the poor at Christmas in Victorian times and today – and finds that little has changed S THE government presses Bad winter weather provided work ahead with universal credit as well. The beggar might gather a lit- and winter weather grips tle more charity in cruel winter condi- much of Britain, it’s worth tions, particularly as Christmas neared. looking at what happened to Rain or snow provided custom for Athe poor during Victorian winters the many cabs that waited near rail- because that is the period which the way stations and theatres. hardline neoliberals of the present gov- Snow was a particular boon. People ernment dream of taking us back to. ready to sweep road crossings before Then as now in the pre-Christmas the well to do went on their way for a period there was a large army of small consideration. labour employed in seasonal and often Samuel quotes Augustus Mayhew casual work. It was as Thomas Wright on what happened when it actually noted in The Great Unwashed a “pre- snowed: “Snow sweepers went from carious” existence. house to house, offering to clear the Trade unions and legislation can path, as then required by law for the bring a degree of security to some in regulation consideration of 2d [1p].” this class today but it is a matter of Frosts too offered labouring oppor- degree not a fundamental difference. tunities. Ice harvests-collecting ice The classic text dealing with the sub- for commercial use took place on ject is an excellent essay by the late Finchley Common and Hampstead socialist historian Raphael Samuel titled Heath, while frost fairs also offered Comers and Goers. The details of the a chance to earn money. Ice could be seasonal existence of the “wandering swept for skaters or warming drinks tribes” as Samuel labelled them has and food sold at a profit. never made for popular labour history. Samuel’s description of the uncer- These are not heroic groups that tain, unpleasant and unrewarding life lead decisive battles with capital. of the poor 130 and more years ago However, an understanding of their sounds very much like the kind of RAISING AWARENESS: The drug and conditions of labour and exploitation society that Tory (and until 2015 Lib alcohol charity Addiction took to the tells us a good deal about capitalism Dem) ministers have spent their time streets of London to launch its new then and now. in office trying to recreate. advertising campaign to highlight that Samuel notes that the pre-Christmas It was an age when, even in harsh one in five people is affected by drug period was a kind of “winter harvest” winters, the poor could just about sur- or alcohol addiction in Britain today for those seeking employment. vive. And if they didn’t it would, The winter weather was colder in mostly, be beneath the notice and the the Victorian period than now, climate interest of the well to do anyway. What drives people to take these But what, precisely, is the pain to be studies already demonstrate, the ori- change notwithstanding. So even if The people who swept snow from drugs? Usually the story goes like this: managed? From all reports on this gins of this crisis are much more work could not always be obtained, their paths or provided a cab in poor patients are prescribed strong opiates epidemic, we are seeing that much of deeply rooted in lack of community there was more hope of finding some weather were faceless and anonymous in response to an illness or accident, the pain is not at all physical but instead and capitalism than in any somatic warmth and something to eat in the individuals. the opiates are eventually either not emotional and very much linked to illness or bodily demand. metropolis. The range of pre-Christmas occupa- enough or the prescription comes to a unemployment where depression and What if it is not the amount of money Charity was not government pro- tions, when the wealthy were more sudden end due to a doctor’s interven- pain have become symbiotic agonies. one does not have, but rather the meas- vided, much as now in many respects inclined to spend more — “please put tion in shutting down future prescrip- In other words, not only does ure of human worth created through one suspects. Soup kitchens were open a penny in the poor man’s hat,” was a tions or medical insurance fails to pay depression make people more sensitive money in a society largely disembow- to all those who needed them, there popular rhyme for a reason — from due to limited coverage on opioid pre- to pain but opioids have been shown elled by a fragmented, virtual reality were some night refuges and the ves- the street selling of holly and oranges scriptions and the refusal to cover to help relieve the symptoms of which serves a surrogate for the social, tries employed people in public works to the hawking of Christmas novelties alternative non-opioid treatments. depression. as the masses, rich and poor, are in severe weather. The provision was provided seasonal employment. Dependent upon pain relief, these Clearly, this cultural tragedy largely driven down by debt, further neither systematic or comprehensive. Until, that is, January and February individuals are forced to turn to other requires more research, especially fuelling this cycle of pain and depend- It depended on the able-bodied labour- came, the toughest months of the year drugs just to manage their pain. that related to the social sciences. As ency we are currently witnessing? ing poor seeking it out. for insecure workers. Morning Star 14 FEATURES Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

15 days COMMIE CHEF The Quizmaster with William Sitwell 1. Was the former Monarch Airlines based at Test your left Gatwick, Luton or Stansted? FIGHTING general Butternut risotto 2. Was Les Nabis an early 20th-century group knowledge of French writers, painters or musicians? with our daily HE butternut squash In this risotto it combines quiz – and see 3. True or false: woodlouse is also the name of FUND is a close relative of with the rice, cheese and if you can beat the pumpkin and just onion to provide a pleasant a British spider. The like pumpkin it has a and nutritious meal which Answers on Monday… Quizmaster… mild,T sweet fl avour which could hardly be easier to pre- WITH IVAN BEAVIS makes it immensely versatile. pare. ■ Yesterday’s answers YOU’VE RAISED 1. For how many years did the trade WE STILL NEED Ingredients union Amicus exist? Six (from 2001 ■ 250g/9oz round-grain white wine until 2007, when it became part rice ■ olive oil of Unite) £9,536 £8,464 ■ medium onion, chopped ■ 250g/9oz butternut 2. What had a “legend” from very small squash, peeled and cut 1983 until this year? The £1 A NICE bump of £677.88 sends retail workers forced to mani- ■ 55g/2oz butter into dice the size of a coin. The legend is the us into the weekend, with the cally grin on pain of sacking ■ 300g/11oz mild cheese, standard stock cube script on the edge (right warmth of your generosity desperately try to lure in a grated ■ salt and freshly ground — bottom coin is keeping me going on these percentage of passing trade. counterfeit) ■ 50 cl/17fl oz light stock black or white pepper chilly days. Now is the time of family ■ small glass (about 10cl) 3. A “prial” is a group of how Three readers mark, as we gatherings, of goodwill to- many playing cards with the should all do, the 90th birth- wards all our fellows. And yet same denomination? Three day of our great comrade for many of us it is a time of George Wills — and we are harrassment, accelerated graft What to do Pic: Ajuk/Creative Commons £160 better off because of it. and whip-cracking bosses. A festive raffl e in Lancashire A greedy time that sucks us Preheat the oven to aside for a diff erent dish — brought in £309 from our gen- and our family members dry for 170°C/325°F/mark 3. unless it’s really burnt it’s erous northern friends. the sake of the rich who even Beyond the border, readers now demand that we open our Spread the diced nice mixed with mash). Sudoku Intermediate and supporters in Dumfries wallets to fi ll the charity gap left butternut on a baking tray Add the rice and stir to gave a very specifi c donation by their lack of taxpaying. and douse it lightly with coat it in the oil mixture. of £44.88 to round up the tak- There is only one way to truly olive oil. Bake for 40 Add the wine and stir ings of this year’s fantastic bring a sense of cheer to Christ- minutes, then remove from until all of it has evaporated. Glasgow Bazaar to £1,000. mas, and that is to cast out want, the oven but keep it warm. Repeat this process with Finally, £144 in standing to provide sustenance and joy One way to do this is to the stock. orders rounds out a very solid to all rather than just to a few. open the oven door for a When it’s all boiled away, showing for the day. Our The Morning Star off ers a couple of minutes to allow it add the seasoning. thanks to you all! diff erent spirit of Christmas to As we head into the penul- that of the rightist press, with to cool, then put the squash Melt the butter into the timate Christmas weekend we their plastic poverty-porn back into the oven. rice mix and then add the are as always overwhelmed by charity drives. It’s a red spirit, Fry the onion gently in grated cheese. a burble of commercial croon- old and embracing the best in one tbsp of olive oil until it Serve on a large plate ers on loop bursting out of us. That is what we ask you to is transparent (it’s vital with the butternut every shop in the land, while support. not to let it arranged on top brown — if of the rice. it does, You can give by… set it POST Payable to PPFF to: Fighting Fund, 52 Beachy Road, London E3 2NS PHONE From 10am-5pm on (020) 8510-0815 Pic: George Chernilevsky/Creative Commons ONLINE At morningstaronline.co.uk/support WEEKEND WEATHER Sunny max 2°C Solution on Monday… ABERDEEN Sat Sun Heavy rain max 7°C BIRMINGHAM Sat Partly cloudy max 4°C Crossword 1,218 set by Alamet Sun Light rain max 8°C CARDIFF Sat Sunny max 7°C ACROSS DOWN Sun Light rain max 10°C 7. Need to panic about joke 1. Explain star losing head to EDINBURGH Sat Partly cloudy max 2°C that’s promised (7) composer (7) Sun Light rain max 8°C 8. Provocative but good 2. Stop pub serving up chianti, fashion designer (7) heartlessly uncivilised (8) GLASGOW Sat Partly cloudy max 2°C 10. Girl goes on walk for a bet 3. Get to know about report Sun Light rain max 9°C (6) concerning this (6) LIVERPOOL Sat Light rain max 6°C 11. Contend with comic actor 4. Criminals’ wicked sin: returning in some distance (8) holding up house (8) Sun Heavy rain max 10°C 12, 22. Pirate cut broken oar in 5. Way of working unions pick LONDON Sat Sunny max 4°C (3-5) up about start of strike out of Sun Light rain max 8°C 13. Let fun be unrestrained habit (6) about movie and satisfaction 6. This month worker is on MANCHESTER Sat Light rain max 3°C results (10) short time (7) Sun Heavy rain max 9°C 14. Bursary needed when chars 9. Got together and dealt NEWCASTLE Sat Sunny max 2°C polish bananas (11) magma a blow (11) 19. About to dispute fact: noise 15. Check best cola is fi zzy (8) Sun Light rain max 9°C is appropriate (10) 16. Image worshipper’s NORWICH Sat Sunny max 3°C 22. see 12 statement of affi rmation in the Sun Light rain max 6°C 23. College entrance includes future (8) PLYMOUTH Sat Sunny max 8°C current lesson, they say (8) 17. Revolutionary drops into 24. Unconsciousness of school with a dagger (7) Sun Light rain max 11°C portion of hospital being axed 18. Sauce boat at university (7) SHEFFIELD Sat Partly cloudy max 4°C (6) 20. Absconds when rector is Sun Light rain max 9°C 25. Disturb president ahead of involved with philanderers (6) empty words (7) 21. Settlement in story at noon SOUTHAMPTON Sat Sunny max 6°C 26. Conceal love for America’s written up (6) Sun Light rain max 10°C ugly (7) Outlook: An exclusively sunny Saturday for everyone throughout Britain — so do enjoy the outdoors as a miserably wet Sunday follows. Temperatures Solution on Monday… continue to disappoint as expected this time of the year. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 FEATURES 15

ALABAMA Unions step in and mobilise Democratic vote for victory With the Democratic Party and AFL-CIO organisations on the ground totally out of touch, the United Steelworkers union stepped in and successfully organised a Democratic win in Alabama’s senate election. MARK GRUENBERG reports

AN FLIPPO, the Bir- Church, killing four young black Works outside Birmingham. That’s when Alabaman union den- mingham-based United choir girls, in 1963. “We think Jones can really help sity was higher than its current fi g- Steelworkers (USW) They may have heard Moore the state and can bring in more man- ure, 8.1 per cent. A decade ago, union district director wanted to repeal every US constitu- ufacturing jobs,” Flippo explained. according to the only federal data for the Deep South, tional amendment since the Bill of Those are well-paying jobs “and available, it was 8.8 per cent, but it noticed something Rights — including the post-Civil War that’s good for organised labour. was over 10 per cent from 2009-2015. interestingD when he looked at Repub- amendments outlawing slavery and When workers prosper, everybody The federation sent two regional lican US Senate nominee Roy Moore’s guaranteeing citizenship to everyone prospers.” fi eld reps, skilled in get-out-the-vote, last run for statewide offi ce, several born in the US regardless of race, So the union put seven reps into to help out. That’s not enough, says years ago. creed or prior servitude. Mobile for a month and a half in the Riley. Moore barely won his state supreme And white women with college run-up to the December 12 vote, “The South is the new North,” he court seat statewide. He also won degrees, upset and disgusted by Flippo said. They went door-to-door, explained, referring to the area’s Mobile, and Republican presidential Moore’s sexual predations among averaging 1,500 door-knocks daily, growth, its low wages and its workers nominee Donald Trump won Mobile teenage girls when he was a rising and ran an extensive phone bank, too. whom unions can help, if they really by 14 percentage points in 2016. local prosecutor in his mid-30s — 40 “We kind of thought we could move commit to organising. If we can reverse that result in years ago — voted for Jones, too. Mobile,” Flippo said in an understate- “Employers are coming south to Mobile, Flippo thought, we can beat White women without diplomas went ment. try to exploit” what businesses call Moore. for Moore. They also sent canvassers into “the dumb white rednecks,” Riley And that, in so many words, is what But Mobile was the case study for Montgomery — that city went for noted. the USW’s door-to-door canvassing, how a union, working in harness and Jones, 72 per cent for and 26 per cent That can change, both on the shop phone -banking and mobilisation in going door to door, can make a dif- OUT AND ABOUT: Dan Flippo (on against. fl oor and electorally if labour puts in Mobile did. ference electorally, even in deep-red the right) Pic: USW The state federation concentrated the effort. There’s a perfect oppor- In the December 12 vote, Demo- Alabama. on Montgomery and Alabama’s tunity in next year’s governor’s race, cratic nominee Doug Jones won The Steelworkers’ campaign in “Once we saw what happened on “Black Belt” in the South, an area he adds, where Tuscaloosa Mayor Mobile by 56-42 per cent and the state Mobile was augmented by the Amer- the Republican side, we decided to named for its fertile soil, but also with Walt Maddox is already seeking the by 1.5 percentage points. ican Federation of Government play big,” Flippo said in a telephone one of the state’s highest concentra- Democratic nomination against Mobile’s shift was not the only rea- Employees (AFGE) union in central interview the day after the December tions of African-Americans. incumbent governor Kay Ivey, who son Jones won 49.9 per cent of the Alabama, the building trades in sev- 12 Jones win. That’s because Jones Sometimes the Democratic Party endorsed Moore. vote to Moore’s 48.4 per cent. Afri- eral areas and the teachers — the faced the controversial Moore, who structure was so out of it the unions Of Ivey, Riley said: “We believe we can-Americans, who were 30 per cent Alabama Education Association — in sexually victimised teenage girls had to step in with basics, such as can tie her statement ‘I believe those of the electorate — a higher share Birmingham. when he was a prosecutor in his mid- yard signs, for Jones, Riley said. women, but I’m going to vote for the than when Barack Obama ran for Together, the unions made up for thirties. But until the fi nal weeks, Ala- boy,’” Moore, “around her neck, just president — went for Jones by a 96-4 the absolute lack of a Democratic And Jones “had a Steelworker his- bama’s unions were on their own, he like the Republicans tied Obama per cent score. Party organisation in the state, say tory,” having worked in unionised added. When the national AFL-CIO around our neck.” They knew Jones successfully Flippo and state AFL-CIO President steel mills as a teenager during sum- fi nally called, three weeks before the prosecuted the racists who bombed Bren Riley — also a Steelworker from mers, while his father was a career voting, he asked them “Where were ■ This article appeared at Peoples- Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Gadsden. Steelworker at US Steel’s Fairfi eld you 20 years ago?” world.org.

The pick of the box for This week’s TV the next seven days

Thursday Monday Film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Old People’s Home for Four-Year- Saturday Doom, 1.45pm BBC1 Olds at Christmas, 9pm C4 The Hunger Games, 9pm E4 Christmas movie about a professor hitting cultists. Heartwarming cross-generational activities. Jennifer Lawrence stars in this softball take on Friday Tuesday Battle Royale, with added dystopian hairstyles. Puss in Boots, 3.40pm BBC1 Young, Gifted and Broke, 10pm C4 Tuesday Delightful spin-off from the monster hit Shrek. Exploring why it is that a working class musical Carol, 9pm Film4 prodigy can’t hit the big time. Well-produced and very stylish love story set in Documentary Thursday 1950s Manhattan. Hungry, Homeless and on Benefi ts: Wednesday Monday Tonight, 7.30pm ITV James and the Giant Peach, Myanmar: the Hidden Truth, It may be poverty porn, but it’s still important. 12.25pm C5 7.30pm BBC1 Friday Great conversion of the class children’s book, Panorama reporter Justin Rowlatt investigates Putin’s Revenge, 9pm ITV with astonishing stop-motion. state attacks on the Rohingya. The planned In one sense US hysteria over The Russian Menace operation has been devastating to the minority is neither new nor terribly interesting. On the group, and Rowlatt talks to some of the survivors. other, watching Trump squirm is delicious. Tuesday THURSDAY: The World’s Most Expensive Toys 10pm C4 Entertainment KKK: The Fight For White What Presumably there’s an audience of temporarily inconven- Supremacy 11.45pm BBC1 ienced millionaires out there who’ll watch this with eyes Saturday Ho, ho, ho! Sorry, this isn’t the most Christ- to miss agleam. Mine are just glazed over. Word of the Year, 6pm C4 massy preview to be leading with but it is FRIDAY: Al Murray’s Make Christmas Great Again 9pm ITV Looking at some of the wonderful words which quite a strong one. Dan Murdoch follows Nod nod wink wink he’s not really playing to jingoist Little have taken advantage of modern communications around and questions some of the younger Englanders we know it’s all just an act har har. Bog off . to become, all of a sudden, part of our lexicon. recruits to the most famous US hate group. Morning Star 16 CULTURE Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

H 2017 ALBuMS OF THE YEAR Tracey Browne who, in Paint This never ceases to amaze. ences travelling around the south hip-hop and dance is superb and BOB ORAM Prison, brings the heroic women to Four Lost Souls is a masterpiece, and contrasts the friendliness of they’re well worth catching live. life, especially on the story of an truly befitting this multi-talented the people with all its history. You Their first album Missing Peace anonymous suffragette prisoner. artist. certainly feel it when he sings: is a triumph and opener P.O.P SADLY overlooked earlier this year, Along with the songs of struggle, Ditching writing for guitar in “There is no end to this, the wars (Profit over People) delivers a Quiet Loner Matt Hill’s stint as song- such as the harrowing St Peter’s favour of piano, he forgoes his of class and race”. scorching attack on the current writer in residence at the People’s Field, there are also songs of joyful natural punk rock to create a truly History, relationships, injustice, system. “Pushing up their nose, History Museum spawned Battle for solidarity, Banners Held High — unique blend of Americana, coun- space and hope all provide memo- whilst they see their rolls stack, the Ballot, an absolute gem. and shared purpose — Half a Dozen try, soul, bluegrass and rock’n’roll. rable images in the best US album Profit over People is ever so lethal.” Hill is an incredibly talented writer Demands and the brilliant Nothing Aided by awesome musicians and by far. They create a life-affirming joy and these 10 superb songs and his slow Less Than Revolution is the perfect brilliant vocalists, the songs were Manchester’s The Moods are a on all 12 tracks, while the intelli- measured voice paint pictures that song for the election we are about recorded at Muscle Shoals straight superbly talented 10-piece collec- gence and vocal skills of their sing- celebrate all those who campaigned to fight. after Trump’s victory. tive of producers, poets and musi- ers and rappers dissect war, pov- and fought for our right to vote. After celebrating four decades A proud Welshman in the US, cians, whose organically crafted erty, class, love, life and death. He’s aided by splendid vocalist of making music, Jon Langford, Langford chronicles his experi- mix of drum and bass, reggae, rock, Album of the year.

H 2017 POETRY ROund-uP Page-turning pleasures Fellow poets tell ANDY CROFT what collections they couldn’t put down in the last 12 months

immersive, performative and pro- Vision Press) shows how small presses In one poem you almost feel the He’s an inimitable, unstoppable foundly eco-conscious record of take on big themes such as displace- breath when she’s accosted by a sec- writer, and his fantasies of sad sex, twelve wild swims — and At Hajj by ment and the infinite “etcetera” of tarian who whispers: “I’m looking flick-knives and insane, painful con- Amaan Hyder, which slips between modern suffering caused by conflict. forward to the twelfth.” He leaves sumption are unlike anything else limpid prose and elliptical poetic n The Nagasaki Elder by Antony before she can explain that she has I know. Best final line: Melissa Lee- forms to explore the concurrences of Owen (pictured left) is published by recently become an atheist. Houghton, Cumshot in D Minor: faith, family and culture. V.Press. It reminded me of hearing Eamonn “‘You like it when people are genu- Doire Press of County Galway also McCann speak about filling out an ine?’ I repeated back at him. ‘Why?’” kept the metaphysical candle burning official form and being asked if he n James Womack (below) is a trans- with Myra Vennard’s stark and med- was a Catholic atheist or a Protestant lator from Spanish and Russian. He itative Soul Station. atheist. recently translated a selection of n Naomi Foyle is a poet and science- n Karl Riordan is a Disability Sup- poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky for fiction novelist. She recently edited port Worker. His first book, The Tat- Carcanet. His most recent collec- the anthology A Blade of Grass: New tooist’s Chair (Smokestack Books) tion is On Trust (Carcanet Press). H STEPHANIE BOWGETT Palestinian Poetry (Smokestack was published this year. The Raven and the Laughing Head Books). (Calder Valley) is Mark Hinchliffe’s first collection and he starts with the H JAMES WOMACK familiar and then spins it in the natu- H NICHOLAS MURRAY Anna Moschovakis’s They and We ral and spiritual world, weaving real- My head full of the received poetic Will Get Into Trouble For This (Cof- ity with ancient myth. canon from my Liverpool school, fee House Press) gives experimen- His syntax and vocabulary are Douglas Dunn’s Terry Street in 1969, tal poetry a good name — three long deceptively simple but layered with as I took my A levels, was a revelation. poems that have new things to say ancient mythologies — Sioux, Green Here was poetry made out of the mate- H KATE FOX about form and translation and biog- man, Gilgamesh — with the most com- rial of a contemporary working-class Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and raphy.

monplace given complexity and dig- street in Hull and it got me going on Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Prose or poetry, the single best Pic: European Literature Festival 2016 nity. People interact with lions, ravens, the idea that poetry could be about Arches) is a great collection of poems book I read this year was in Span- jaguars and hares who ride on trains now. but also a manifesto, compendium and ish, Manuel Vilas’s Poesia Com- and inhabit care homes, bringing com- So his latest book, The Noise of a multimedia experience. pleta 1980-2015 (Visor de Poesía). fort, dignity, truth and tenderness. I Fly (Faber), was a must and doesn’t Edited by Sandra Alland, Khairani have read some exceptional poetry disappoint. Younger readers might see Barokka and Daniel Sluman, it feels books in 2017, but none more original, a senior poet coasting at times but for essential, while Composition in challenging and exceptionally moving me it’s reflective and moving: “Aware White (Smokestack), Jackie Lither- POETRY than this one. of time keeping its promises,/Facing land’s astonishing collection, looks n Stephanie Bowgett has been run- what happens without self-pity.” back over a full life threaded with the ning the Albert Poets in Huddersfield n Nicholas Murray runs Rack Press. red of socialism and evokes a Mid- Facts on the Ground for over 20 years. Her most recent col- His latest publication is A Dog’s lands rarely captured in poetry. lection is A Poor Kind of Memory Brexit (Melos Press). The Best Poetry Book in the World by Michael Rosen (Calder Valley Press). (Burning Eye Books) is a biased choice because I’m in it — but it’s still How wise and thoughtful the MPs sound H ANTHONY OWEN ridiculously revolutionary to suggest talking about Israel and the ‘facts on the ground’! New and Collected Poems By Paul poetry for performance can also work They have ‘reservations about Donald Trump’, Sutherland (Valley Press) is a mono- on the page and this ensures that lots they get a few laughs by calling him a chump lith of work spanning several decades. of its powerful voices don’t become Then they add it’s such a terrible pity This is serious poetry, often reflect- lost or forgotten. he’s declared that Jerusalem’s the capital city ing on the frailties of close relation- n Kate Fox (pictured above) describes but then on cue they bring it back round ships, yet in his quest to define these herself as a “stand-up poet.” to talk of Israel and the ‘facts on the ground’. fragilities Sutherland shows us his Her most recent collec- strength not only of character but tion is Chronotopia Funny they should mention that word ‘ground’ of his lyrical writing quality. (Burning Eye Books). Highly recommended. ’cause anyone who’s looked has always found Other impressive works that that ground, that land, has always had facts: include Ruth Stacey and Katy H KARL RIORDAN they are people who, after many attacks Wareham Morris’s Inheritance My favourite book of no longer have great stretches of that land (Mothers Milk Press), medita- the year was Martina It’s almost as if, from the start, it was planned tive poems on motherhood, an Evans’s The Windows so if it was ‘clever’ that I wanted to sound H NAOMI FOYLE anthemic working-class collec- of Graceland (Car- I could say these people are facts OFF the ground This year I was captivated by We Go tion by Jamie Thrasivoulou canet). Wandering at Night and Are Con- Best of a Bad Situation (Sil- The narrative skill So a logical, factual, thoughtful little phrase sumed by Fire (Sidekick Books), in houette Press) and Every- drawing upon an Irish is used by our politicians to give some praise which poet Rowyda Amin and illustra- family history and later one Is Now Unhappy to premiers and generals with a serious intention tor Hetti McArthur conjure a sensual by Fergus McGoni- her expatriation is invit- journey through a furtively futuristic gal (Burning ing and she picks out to uproot, remove, destroy (but not mention) cityscape. Eye). Broken details from the locale the ground and the facts where this takes place. I also admired two new collections Stories by that shifts the reader Politicians on TV with solemn face from Penned in the Margins, Swims Reuben Wool- into a world made appear to condemn Trump for what he’s said,

by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett — an ley (20/20 strange. Pic: fourth friday but choose to ignore the dispossessed and the dead. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 CULTURE 17

PICTURE THIS

YOUTH unemployment, the bleakly laconic title of a newly published volume of photographs by Trish Murtha, belies her creative engage- ment and interpretative talent. She was no privileged, middle- class photographer from the south, slumming it among the northern working classes. She was born and brought up among the children, the teenagers and families portrayed in the book. Murtha was one of the foremost members of the movement of inde- pendent documentary photographers active in Britain during the 1970s and ’80s. After taking a course in pho- tography in her home town of New- castle, she was accepted at Newport College of Art’s pioneering documen- tary photography department under the inspirational David Hurn. She financed her own way through college by working in a nightclub during the evenings. Eschewing a career in glossy magazines and the mainstream press, she returned to her home city after graduating and concentrated on photographing the marginalised, ignored and forgotten. She did this with an understanding and compassion unlikely to be found among those who just swan in and out to snap a few “northern” images for the mainstream press. As a single mother with a young daughter, life was hard, but she was not one to look for an easy road. Pho- tographing the daily realities of her own people was what gave her life a meaning and a purpose. black-and-white photos of the young lives as effectively as bullets do. It’s a powerful document of the n Youth Unemployment is published Sadly, she died at the relatively unemployed families living on the Apart from a short but informa- period and, by implication, a condem- in hardback by Bluecoat Press, price young age of 57 and this commemo- edge is to witness how early unem- tive introduction about Murtha, this nation of an iniquitous system. It £25. A less expensive paperback rative volume has been lovingly put ployment can damage and truncate book contains only photographs but prompts the question whether New- version will be available early next together by her daughter Ella. lives as surely as cancer does. these speak more eloquently than castle is very different today under year. To leaf through these haunting The associated poverty destroys any words could. the present draconian government JOHN GREEN

THEATRE REVIEW THEATRE REVIEW Christmas cracker Creative sparks fly in Narnia full of delights SUSAN DARLINGTON recommends an imaginative staging of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe The Box of Delights to Kay who, with the help of Wilton’s Music Hall, London friends Mariah and Peter, tries to The Lion, The Witch HHHHI keep it safe. and the Wardrobe SCARY: Carla The source material means West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Mendonca there’s a slight danger of this HHHHI EVERY Christmas, the battered being a rather white, middle-class old VHS tape of the 1984 BBC pro- story, but that’s mitigated by the duction of The Box of Delights casting. THE LION, The Witch and the Wardrobe made an appearance in my family All the actors perform with has been staged many times but rarely home and I can still vividly recall panache, with Matthew Kelly and as magically as in this latest festive pro- the opening credits to the TV show. Josefina Gabrielle both doing a duction by Sally Cookson. So the Wilton’s Music Hall fabulous job. Foregoing the usual whizz-bang tech- Christmas seasonal offering, an Kelly plays both Hawkins and nicality of big shows, the in-the-round adaptation of John Masefield’s Brown, while Gabrielle doubles as adaptation adopts a basic design that’s 1935 novel penned by award-win- Pouncer and Kay’s guardian, Caro- as stark as winter in Narnia, enhanced ning children’s author Piers Tor- line Louisa, and there’s also a won- by an array of visually creative moving day, had a fair amount to live up derfully energetic performance props. Wardrobe doors spin from one to. from Safiyya Ingar as Kay’s friend side of the stage to the other, standard But this fun and energetic pro- Mariah, the swaggering schoolgirl lamps are held aloft by servants and the duction, directed by Justin Audib- with an excellent knowledge of personification of Spring performs ert, makes clever use of puppetry firearms. aerial acrobatics. Pic: Brinkhoff Mogenburg and video to aid the storytelling, The plot is perhaps a little com- They brings a freshness to CS Lewis’s three-piece live band, electronic and modulation of mood, so that the take- absolutely lives up to expectations. plicated for the very young, but story, aided by its emphasis on the percussion heavy, for the scene in which home message is one of positivity and The fantastic venue adds an extra the production had the children in human cost of conflict and the Oz-like the White Witch grows to frighteningly good triumphing over evil. The musical magical layer to proceedings. the audience spellbound and parallels drawn between the two worlds. tall proportions, the fabric of her dress motif for the dawning Spring is brightly The Box of Delights tells the there’s some entertaining doubles Housekeeper Mrs Macready is twinned consuming the entire stage. folksy and Celtic, with the audience story of Kay Harker, whose trip entendres for adults. to the White Witch (a brilliantly scary And it helps build the tension during invited to participate in the budding of to his guardian’s for Christmas While some of the movement Carla Mendonca), while Professor Kirke a scene in which ghouls and sprites go saplings during a scene that’s positively takes a fantastical turn when he sequences slightly lack edge at and his aptly named pet cat Schrodinger to battle, their hunchbacks and gro- pantomime. gets embroiled in the ongoing bat- times, this is a great Christmas double up as Aslan (a rather unimposing tesquely oversized masks striking terror These homely interactive elements, tle between Cole Hawlings, keeper show. It’s got more story than a Iain Johnstone). into the audience. The puppetry also and the use of simple but devastatingly of the magical box, and Abner pantomime and bucketloads of Such parallels underscore the empha- breathes life into Aslan, initially por- effective props, enhance the play’s cel- Brown, whose evil machinations charm, magic and energy. sis on war and loss, with Edmund seen trayed as a larger than life marionette, ebration of the power of the imagination. are ably assisted Sylvia Pouncer. Runs until January 6, box office: as a vulnerable, scared child as well as creating a sense of might all too often Highly recommended. To keep the box out of Brown’s wiltons.org.uk someone who betrays Aslan. missing in stage versions of the book. Runs until January 27, box office: hands, Cole Hawkins entrusts it KATHERINE M GRAHAM The dark tone is drawn out by the Another production strength is its wyp.org.uk. Morning Star 18 LETTERS Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

Pic: Andrew Walker (walker44)

COVENTRY A city steeped in red history LIKE John Green, I am an old Cov- REVOLUTION entrian and his article (M Star, December 13) brought back memo- The blurry ries of seeing the city rise as I grew up. A Marxism Today article in the 1970s stated that Coventry was the line of force most trade union-organised city in western Europe. and violence I was a fi rst aider at Coventry speedway stadium, home of the COMRADE Tony Briscoe Brandon Bees when it was the fi rst (Letters December 14) venue in Britain to host the Soviet stresses some essential speedway team. I went to school at points in revolutionary one of the fi rst comprehensives, theory and practice. Caludon Castle, and did a paper However it should be round where I fi rst discovered our acknowledged that the paper when it was still the Daily distinction between force Worker. and violence in struggle Our childhood playgrounds were may not always be as clear bomb sites and we were still fi nding as he suggests. bombs that would these days cause The fi rst use of revolu- an evacuation. From my bedroom tionary violence may window I could see Binley pit where never be necessary, but to the famous trade union activist and deny it as a possibility and fellow Coventrian Tom Mann wait for the response of started work as a child. the counterrevolution to Thank you John Green for taking fundamental social, me down Memory Lane. economic and political GERRARD SABLES change, could prove Barnstaple disastrous. BRIAN TOPPING North Shields

RELIGION NEW LABOUR, OLD IDEAS Belief is only We see through BBC’s Blair agenda of the head, TONY BLAIR is alive and deceiver, should be dead and government as is most likely, He would have to go and kicking thanks largely to BBC buried. But no, the BBC wheels the BBC would prefer it to be work on his farm in Wales. it is the heart Radio 4. The article by Callum him out whenever it can to give New Labour led by Blair and No, the motives of the BBC Alexander Scott (M Star, an opinion on almost any sub- not Old Labour led by Jeremy are very clear — reanimate December 12) paints a very ject, no doubt at the drop of a Corbyn. Blair, bury Corbyn. Labour for that matters clear picture of the character cheque. It is terrifi ed of a Corbyn- the few, not the many. No of “Bliar.” And the reasons for this? led Labour. What would thanks. KEN KEABLE is so right This man, who many accuse It is trying to repopularise grossly overpaid John Hum- Dr CHRISTOPHER when he says in his letter “can of being a mass murderer, a Blair. phrys do if there was a redis- BUTLER the popular democratic anti- war criminal, a liar and If we are to have a Labour tribution of wealth? Shipley NOT WANTED: Tony Blair monopoly alliance that the Morning Star is fi ghting for be built by atheists only?” (Mr GRAHAM STEVENSON explores our online archive of the Daily Worker Star December 8). Both belief in God, and dis- belief, can be ideologies, just 80 YEARS AGO TODAY... as belief in the political right or left are ideologies. The people we need to beware Fife council in bed with private landlords as it New communist councillor plans to deliver of are fanatics. Fanatacism kills proposes ramping up rents for its tenants much needed services to Scottish town out the heart, and is found in all areas of politics and religion. THE Daily Worker of lors would act together in a THE Daily Worker of Decem- nor medical ambulance.” Lewis I’ve known right-wing Conserv- ■December 16 1937 reported united front to stop increases, as ■ber 17 1937 reported on the win Scott would be “setting about atives who actually put into that tenants were getting they had successfully done a in local council elections in getting them right away.” practice what they believe, and together only a few days after year ago. The local MP was a Fraserburgh by Lewis Beddie Living as he did in one of the who are loved and accepted as the paper had exclusively communist and there was also a Scott, who had become the fi rst cottages of School Street, near the a result. Likewise, with genuine revealed that Fife County block of six communist council- communist councillor elected in the harbour, he fi red the fi rst shot in socialist non-believers. Council’s fi nance committee was lors at county level — some even “far north” of Scotland. the campaign at Broadsea Hall, by A “belief” is only of the head: planning to ramp up rents. elected unopposed — and more Municipal elections were then advocating more house-building, it is the heart which matters. The council’s headquarters than twice that number in the usually held in November but which was met with considerable MARILYN WARBIS were based in Cupar, a royal local boroughs. Fraserburgh held off until late in support. Plymouth borough, but support for tenants’ Now, with the council acting the year “to give the local He also thought the west defence committees was in the for private landlords in fi shermen a chance to vote,” as shore could be made a “decided mining villages of the county. anticipation of the expiry of they were still chasing the herring attraction,” while a fishermen’s Yesterday’s Tiny Thornton, for example, the Rent Restriction Act in shoals the month before. shelter was needed. At Dalrym- Sudoku solution could turn out 100 tenants for a 1938, an even worse There had been 10 nomina- ple Hall, the brothers argued for mass meeting at the swing of a scheme was proposed, You can tions for six vacancies but a shore-side child’s playground bell. which would impose read editions of Scott had won his seat and paddling pool, with a “rest Committees periodically a tax of two the Daily Worker with 1,134 votes, while park” in the summer, with sprang up to lead highly effective shillings a week, (1930-45) and his brother Alex came music. rent strikes and there were some maybe 5 per cent Star (200 0-today)Morning “within an ace of As councillor, Scott would also , online at 2,000 tenants already signed up, of wages, on mstar.link/DWMSarchive victory.” The town, try to move the council’s daytime with a view to defeating the tenants for each which had 10,000 meetings to evenings, so that the council’s scheme. Fife County lodger, which Ten days’ access costs people, was “the employed could more easily was then dominated by a Tory Tory obstruction just £5.99 greatest herring port attend. The town’s businessmen front, but it was hoped that both to house construc- and a in Scotland, yet it has were not sympathetic, although a Labour and communist council- tion boosted. year is £72 no child welfare centre 3pm start was conceded. Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 LETTERS 19

ATOMIC WEAPONS BREXIT We must abolish nukes EU is racist to its core and cripples or face total extinction poor countries LAST week there was some “deterrence.” The Japanese supports Trident with its news other than Brexit. representative, 85-year-old huge killing power aboard Thanks to modern technology Setsuko Thurlow, a Hiroshima a number of sub- LABOUR’S fi nely calibrated those already living here from thousands of us were able to survivor, described the hor- marines — not policy on withdrawal from the the Indian subcontinent, the watch live the Nobel Peace rors she, as a 13-year-old to mention the EU was to respect the refer- Caribbean and Africa, while Prize ceremony for ICAN (the schoolgirl, had witnessed billions of endum while seeking protec- punitive trade tariffs enforce International Campaign to when the atomic bomb pounds of tion of rights and retaining underdevelopment in Africa. Abolish Nuclear Weapons). dropped. All her classmates p u b l i c tariff-free trade. It had appeal While I’m at it, can any social- If you didn’t watch and if burnt to death. money, to both Remainers and Leav- ist explain to me what is good you can manage to get to a She said: “Nuclear weapons o u r ers. For no good reason there’s about free movement of capital? computer at all I would urge and humanity cannot co- m o n e y , been drift since it was formu- It is described as the most pow- you to watch and listen to the exist.” I am unclear how many which it takes lated. erful of the four freedoms speeches from the two ICAN of the MPs, some of whom fol- to maintain and Britain seeks to withdraw because it is not restricted to EU representatives. low religion, can square it with replace it. from an economic bloc which borders. Or does that rather give Beatrice Fihn, celebrating support for weapons threaten- RAE STREET has as its only elected body a the game away? the support of 122 states for ing genocide and suicide. Littleborough non-legislative Parliament PAUL LEFLEY the draft abolition treaty, In particular, PM Theresa which is dominated by London N10 spoke clearly of the stark May who apparently wants us bureaucracies. The Council of choices before us. We must to know that she attends the Ministers, which does not even abolish nuclear weapons or Anglican church every Sunday FIGHTING FOR PEACE: publish minutes, determines face extinction. She thor- and is often called “principled” Anti-Trident protesters the bloc’s largest budget oughly dismissed the idea of by her fellow Tories yet still items, eg the CAP, independ- ently of the parliament. This bloc has effectively ROHINGYA deposed two elected lead- ers in southern Europe and continues to impose Myanmar military is carrying out genocide terms on Greece which Have your say – send a letter YOU were correct to publish December 7). I hope we can worked for disabled children even the IMF fi nds too (of up to 300 words) to Ramzy Baroud’s description do more to help them reassert in the same edition of the paper harsh. In addition it is [email protected] of what’s happening to the their human rights and regain was also well worth including. intrinsically racist. It dis- or by post to 52 Beachy Rohingya Muslims in Myan- livelihoods and dignity. CHRIS PURNELL criminates in favour of white Road, London mar as genocide (M Star The article on the poet who Orpington migrants over relatives of E3 2NS

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NEW! Star One year’s The Story of The A Star torch keyring subscription to lapel badge Light the path to A Modest our e-edition Daily Worker Wear your socialism with our Proposal Can’t get the paper A unique insight into star on the highs and lows your Morning Star Mary Davis in your local shop? and Angus No problem! Get our at Britain’s only sleeve! keyrings Reid on what Or lapel! Holyrood can digital version socialist daily – told do for the instad by the paper’s fi rst people editor, Bill Rust Get all this in our Morning Star Star polo (price inc. postage) shirt Christmas bundle Quality and exclusive clothing! Have yourself a very Retail value £250 red Christmas But, you pay A Bit Morning Star of a Leftie Dave Puller £150 greeting cards poetry * PLEASE SELECT M/L/XL A unique collection Get two collections WHEN ORDERING of Dave Puller’s of top designs to witty, angry, So, you save send to your loved poignant and playful poems ORDER FROM ENQUIRIES PEOPLESPRESS.COM ones OR CALL 020 85100815 £100!! Morning Star 20 GOING OUT Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

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AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Indianapolis Colts tight end Brandon Williams was “doing well” yesterday after being carted off the field during their 25-13 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. Williams was diagnosed with a concus- sion when he was sent to hospital after initial fears of a much more serious inury.

RACING: YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEKEND’S ACTION Try to strike gold at Cheltenham today Our tipster casts his expert eye over the pick of the weekend’s meets

HE Caspian Caviar I think this thorough test of Farringdon’s Gold Cup at Chelten- RACING stamina is exactly what he is doubles ham (1.55) is the big crying out for and he should betting highlight of TIPS not be missed. SATURDAY the day and several of with Earlier on Apple’s Shakira theT 11-runner field lock horns (12.10) and Coo Star Sivola CASTAFIORE again after running in the Farringdon (12.45) should take the world Doncaster 12:00 (nap) BetVictor Gold Cup last month of beating in the first two races KILBRICKEN STORM when that old warrior Splash on the card while Ron’s Dream Cheltenham 2:30 of Ginge beat Starchitect, Le off a rating of 155. is set to outrun her price off Prezien, Ballyalton, Romain Just over half an hour later top-weight in the finale due off SUNDAY de Senam, Foxtail Hill and Count Meribel, Equus Secretus at 3.40. LAGENDA Guitar Pete. and Global Stage put their Over at Doncaster, the filly Chelmsford 3:25 (nap) At the weights there is little unbeaten seasonal records on Castafiore looks sure to relish between the first five there and the line in the Grade Two Bris- the good ground in the two LINE OF BEAUTY the deciding factor could well tol Novices Hurdle over three mile handicap hurdle at 12.00. Chelmsford 12:45 be the state of the ground. miles. She has fallen from a mark Any more rain would cer- However, they could all be of 122 down to 112 and with Paul Houseman’s tainly suit the winner and thwarted by Kilbricken Storm. O’Brien taking another 5lbs off King’s Odyssey who returned A point-to-point winner in her back, Charlie Longsdon’s choice to the track with a good open- April, Colin Tizzard has charge looks weighted to play The Bet365 Handicap Chase three miles which could well ing salvo at Carlisle. brought this young horse on a part in the finish on her pre- at 3.20 looks a cracking affair be the making of him and the SATURDAY However, all of them may slowly as he matures and ferred good ground. and Kilcrea Vale from the prevailing good ground is a MELON well be eclipsed by the top- strengthens into his frame and The main event of the day Nicky Henderson yard looks bonus for this strapping son weight Clans Des Obeaux. his victory over two miles at at the Town Moor track is the the one to be on. of Beneficial. Cheltenham 3:05 His trysts with Whisper Wincanton last time signalled Summit Juvenile Hurdle at A fair novice hurdler, he Finally, have a look at the SUNDAY have since been cemented by he was getting the hang of 2.45 and I am expecting Act was always going to make a evening card at Wolverhamp- TELLOVOI the latter and it could be that things. of Valour to retain his 100 per better chaser and has run two ton where both Rapid Rise Chelmsford 2:25 the Paul Nicholls-trained five- This big step up in trip as cent record following a smooth solid races at Haydock and (6.45) and Daily Trader (7.45) year-old is well handicapped well as class should tell us a opening success at Newcastle Ascot this season. should go well at each-way here despite his welter burden whole lot more about him but at the beginning of December. However, it is the step up to prices. Morning Star 22 SPORT Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017

Weekend TV MEN’S FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND Saturday BOXING: WBO world middleweight title bout, Billie Joe Saunders v David Lemieux — BT Sport 2 12.30am Rodgers compares Brown to Gerrard (Sun). CRICKET: Fourth day of the third by Our Sports Desk the former Kop midfi elder and raise their game 10 to 15 per always invite that and it is He said: “When they were Ashes Test from Perth, Australia v Brown, whom he claimed had cent because they are up great that the young guy has looking for a manager Hearts England — BT Sport 1 2am (Sun). DARTS: World Championship — Sky bossed fellow Scotland inter- against a top player and that ambition to want to do were very sensible in putting Sports Main Event 7.40pm. CELTIC skipper Scott Brown national John McGinn in last Browny has the same up here. well.” in someone like Craig with his FOOTBALL: Premier League, Leices- has the same effect on domes- weekend’s 2-2 draw with Hiber- “Every week, every player Cochrane may not be the experience. ter v Crystal Palace — Sky Sports tic opponents as former Eng- nian at Easter Road. who comes up against only 16-year-old in the Hearts “He’s done terrifi c as a club Main Event, Sky Sports Premier land captain Steven Gerrard, “Browny always him knows how good midfi eld tomorrow, as the manager here, worked in Eng- League 11.30am, Manchester City v Tottenham — BT Sport 1 5pm; Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers invites that he is so they always home side look to end Celtic’s land and was the international Championship, Cardiff v Hull — Sky said yesterday. because of the see it as a real test. domestic unbeaten record of manager and, of course, was Sports Main Event 5.15pm; Scottish Ahead of the Scottish cham- type of player he “Whether is it 69 games. overseeing the football side Premiership, Aberdeen v Hibernian pions’ trip to Hearts in the is,” said the the young guy at Former Dundee United, there. — BT Sport 1 12pm; Serie A, Inter Milan v Udinese and Torino v Napoli Premiership tomorrow, Jam- Northern Irish- Hearts or some of Leicester and Scotland boss “When they needed someone — eir Sport 1 1.55pm and 4.55pm; bos’ 16-year-old midfi elder man, who the other players, Craig Levein gave youngster to step in, among everyone that A-League, Newcastle Jets v Adelaide Harry Cochrane looked for- revealed Aus- Browny faces that Anthony McDonald his debut was in for the job, there was United followed by Central Coast ward to coming up against tralia midfi elder every week. in the 2-0 win against Dundee probably no-one better suited Mariners v Western Sydney Wander- Brown, twice his age, saying: Tom Rogic would be “That’s why it’s on Tuesday night. to taking the job. ers and Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix — BT Sport 2 from 6.30am; “I’ve been watching him since out until the new year remarkable how well Rodgers believes Levein, who “So it was a really sensible Welsh Premier League, Cefn Druids v I was a young boy so that with a knee problem. Scott Brown has done here had been director of football at decision to put him in place Bangor City — S4C 5pm. would be something special.” “I seen it over many years, because of the challenge he has Tynecastle when he replaced and having that knowledge of GRIDIRON: NFL, Detroit Lions v Chi- Rodgers worked with Ger- seen it working with Steven had for the last 10-plus years of Ian Cathro as boss in August, the youth system, I am sure cago Bears — Sky Sports Action 9pm, Sky Sports Main Event 11pm, rard at Liverpool and he made Gerrard. Every player that everyone that he is up against. should be praised for promoting that Hearts will reap the Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles favourable comparisons with came up against Steven would “So yes, good players will from within his youth squad. rewards for that.” Chargers — Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Action 1am (Sun). RACING: From Cheltenham — ITV4 1.30pm. RUGBY UNION: European Champi- ons Cup, Montpellier v Glasgow and CARTED OFF: Bath v Toulon — Sky Sports Action Kenny Miller 12.45pm and 5.15pm, Leinster v Exe- ter — BT Sport 2 2.45pm, Racing 92 v Castres — Sky Sports Action, Sky Sports Main Event 3pm. SNOOKER: Scottish Open — Eurosport 1 12.45pm and 6.45pm. SQUASH: AJ Bell World Champion- ship — BT Sport 2 5.30pm. SWIMMING: European Short Course Championships from Copenhagen — Eurosport 1 4.30pm. Sunday BASKETBALL: NBA, Toronto Raptors v Sacramento Kings — BT Sport 2 8.30pm. CRICKET: Australia v England, third Test — BT Sport 1 2am (Mon); India v Sri Lanka, one-day international — Sky Sports Cricket 7.50am, Sky Sports Main Event 8am. DARTS: World Championship — Sky Sports Main Event 7pm. EQUESTRIAN: Olympia 8.17pm — BBC Two England 1.30pm. FOOTBALL: Premier League, West Brom v Manchester United and Bournemouth v Liverpool — Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Pre- mier League 1.30pm and 4.15pm; Scottish Premiership, Hearts v Celtic — Sky Sports Main Event 12pm; Serie A, Hellas Verona v AC Milan — eir Sport 1 11.25am, BT Sport 1 11.30am, Bologna v Juventus — BT Sport 1 1.45pm, Sampdoria v Sas- suolo, Benevento v SPAL and Ata- lanta v Lazio — eir Sport 1 1.55pm, 4.55pm and 7.40pm; Bundesliga, Hannover v Bayer Leverkusen and MEN’S FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND RB Leipzig v Hertha Berlin — BT Sport/ESPN 2.30pm and 5pm; Ligue 1, Lyon v Marseille — BT Sport 1 7.45pm. GRIDIRON: NFL, four matches — Sky Sports Action from 5.30pm, Sky Rangers could be without Sports Main Event from 11am. RUGBY UNION: European Champi- ons Cup, Wasps v La Rochelle — Sky Sports Action 12.45pm, Clermont Auvergne v Saracens and Leicester v Munster — BT Sport 2 3pm and 5.15pm; European Challenge Cup, Cardiff Blues v Sale — Sky Sports Miller for Old Firm derby Action 3pm. SNOOKER: Scottish Open — Eurosport 1 12.45pm and 6.45pm. SWIMMING: European Short Course Striker picked up a hamstring injury in midweek victory over Hibernian Championships — Eurosport 1 4pm. by Our Sports Desk It is another blow for Murty year and the game at Celtic to discuss reports linking the bear fruit and he’s now under- ahead of facing Dundee today may come too soon for him. Ibrox side with a move for gone a surgical procedure that after it was confi rmed mid- We’ll just keep our fi ngers Brighton midfi elder Jamie will leave us without him for RANGERS caretaker boss fi elder Graham Dorrans will crossed and see how he Murphy. an extended period of time. Graeme Murty said yester- be sidelined for the next three progresses.” “We may [have to alter their “We’re hopeful it’s not too day that Kenny Miller is a months as he recovers from Dorrans has not featured transfer plans] as we were long but we’ll get a better major doubt for the Old ankle surgery. since Pedro Caixinha’s fi nal expecting Graham to be back steer on it when he comes Firm derby at Celtic Park Murty said: “We’re hopeful game in charge against Kil- in that area,” said Murty. back from London and we can on December 30. it’s not as big [a tear] as it marnock almost two months “Those conversations are get some more detail from the Have your say – send a letter Miller tore his hamstring looked, because it looked big. ago. ongoing but this may change surgeon. (of up to 300 words) to during Wednesday night’s “But he has quite a big range And he is unlikely to be seen the tone of them. “It’s a sore one for him as [email protected] win at Hibernian and faces [of movement] and we’re hope- again before March. “We initially went down a we were really hoping the fi rst or by post to 52 Beachy a race against time to be fi t for ful he’s not going to be out for Murty says that may force conservative route on his course of treatment would Road, London Rangers’ clash against Brendan too long. Gers to rethink their January ankle after medical advice. work and that hasn’t turned E3 2NS Rodgers’s rampant outfi t. “However, the end of the transfer plans but he refused “Unfortunately that did not out to be the case.” Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 SPORT 23

WINTER SPORTS: BOBSLEIGH MEN’S RUGBY UNION Johnson furious Baxter: We didn’t play well with doper’s win enough to win last week by Our Sports Desk Jackson is himself set to receive a retrospective bronze by Our Sports Desk medal from Sochi after two BRITISH bobsleigh pilot John Russian four-man crews which Jackson labelled his sport a finished ahead of him were EXETER director of rugby “complete farce” yesterday disqualified earlier this month Rob Baxter wants more indi- after convicted drugs cheat due to doping. vidual commitment and edge Elena Nikitina claimed victory “Yet another week, this com- from the Chiefs as they bid to in the Skeleton European plete farce continues to ruin overturn three-time European Championships in Igls. the true results for the sup- Cup winners Leinster in Dub- Nikitina was stripped of her porters and fans of these slid- lin today. Sochi 2014 bronze medal and ing sports,” Jackson said. Premiership leaders Exeter banned from the Olympics for “Don’t know how anyone out are second behind Leinster in life by the International Olym- there could be genuinely Champions Cup Pool Three pic Committee last month happy with these results. and were beaten 18-8 by them after being found guilty of Clean sport continues to get a at Sandy Park last weekend. NOT ENOUGH COMMITMENT: Exeter (pink) lost against Leinster last weekend doping. big slap in the face and “Although our game plan But she is still allowed to laughed at.” stood up very well on the day, edge. It was there in patches, will replace the injured Rhys in Italy, with the Welsh region compete in races sanctioned Deas actually finished sixth our individual commitment to but it wasn’t there enough.” Ruddock (hamstring) in the currently third behind Toulon by the International Bobsleigh in a race which doubled as a certain areas wasn’t at the Phil Dollman is ruled out back row. Sean O’Brien and Bath. and Skeleton Federation World Cup meeting, but came level it needs to be to ram with a rib injury so Lachie switches to blindside flanker Head coach Wayne Pivac because her initial, provisional fourth in the European stand- home a victory,” Baxter said. Turner is recalled, with Exeter with Van der Flier taking the said: “At the moment we’re ban was lifted after a hearing ings as two of those who fin- “You can dress things up making one more change in No 7 jersey. still in the area where we con- earlier this month. ished above her were Canadi- in all kinds of ways, but at the back line with England Bath host Toulon at the Rec trol our own destiny. Nikitina took full advantage, ans. the end of the day we didn’t international Jack Nowell in Pool Five following the nar- “If we can improve on the storming to victory by over Reigning Olympic champion play well enough to win the replacing James Short on the row 24-20 defeat in France performance from the week- half a second and denying a Lizzy Yarnold finished in a game. wing. with Matt Banahan set to make end hopefully after this week- European bronze medal to disappointing 16th place over- “At times we were probably Josh van der Flier looks set his 250th appearance for the end we’ll still be alive.” Briton Laura Deas, who fin- all, one place ahead of World uncharacteristically lacking to be the only change for Lein- West Country club. Today’s other game sees ished fourth in the continental Cup debutant Madelaine in what I would call that ‘go ster after making an impact Benetton host Scarlets, who Castres travel to Racing 92 in standings. Smith. and win the game’ type of from the bench last week and claimed a dramatic 33-28 win an all-French clash.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: PREMIER LEAGUE Rafa will get cash to spend in Jan by Our Sports Desk ideas. After, we might say: ‘We’d like to sign this player’ and you’re quoted £40 NEWCASTLE boss Rafael million and it makes it Benitez was given the unrealistic. We’ve had this go-ahead yesterday to conversation and we have to identify January transfer move forward quickly.” targets despite the ongoing Asked if he had been given uncertainty over the club’s an indication of a budget, ownership. Benitez replied: “I don’t The Spaniard met manag- know the details, but at least ing director Lee Charnley we were talking about that. this week to discuss what he “If you’re saying ‘Is may or may not be able to do everything fine?’ and [if] I’m to strengthen his squad happy, I don’t know. We have during the winter window to progress and it’s so after a demoralising run of obvious that we can improve eight Premier League games things.” which has yielded just a In the meantime, the single point. Magpies will attempt to end Benitez is still to be told their near-two-month wait what funds will be available for a league victory at and whether or not zero- Arsenal, where the manager hours billionaire Mike knows the odds will be Ashley remains in charge, stacked against them. with Amanda Staveley’s PCP He will be without the Capital Partners still suspended Jonjo Shelvey and engaged in negotiations to the injured Aleksandar buy the club, but he is Mitrovic, but full-back Paul keeping his fingers crossed Dummett is available for the that he will be able to first time since damaging a recruit. hamstring on the opening He said: “I had yesterday day of the season. a conversation with Lee. We Benitez said: “If you have were talking about what we a couple of chances and want to do and the players score a goal or two, maybe maybe we want to bring in the other side has anxiety and others to go out. We’ve and makes mistakes. already started this discus- “The main thing is to keep sion and we’ll see if we can us competitive, and we have progress in a few days. to carry on with this “It was just to talk about message.” 24 Morning Star Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 Sport MEN’S FOOTBALL: PREMIER LEAGUE Weekend Football Premier League Leicester Crystal Palace, 12.30pm Arsenal Newcastle Brighton Burnley PEP WARNS LEAGUE: Chelsea Southampton Stoke City West Ham Watford Huddersfi eld Man City Tottenham, 5.30pm West Brom Man United, 2.15pm* Bournemouth Liverpool, 4.30pm* Championship Birmingham Queens Park Rangers Bolton Burton Brentford Barnsley WE CAN GET BETTER Bristol City Nottingham Forest Derby County Aston Villa Ipswich Town Reading Manchester City currently sit 11 points clear at the top Leeds United Norwich City Millwall Middlesbrough Preston North End Sheffi eld United by Our Sports Desk Sunderland Fulham STRIVING FOR Cardiff City Hull City, 5.30pm PERFECTION: League One PEP GUARDIOLA warned the Pep Guardiola rest of the league yesterday Wimbledon Wigan that his Manchester City team Blackburn Charlton Doncaster Oldham can get even better despite Gillingham Bristol Rovers sweeping almost all comers Northampton Walsall aside this season. Portsmouth Bury City are 11 points clear at Rochdale Oxford United the top of the Premier League Rotherham United Plymouth Scunthorpe MK Dons after winning their last 15 Shrewsbury Town Blackpool games, a record in the English Southend United Bradford City top fl ight. Fleetwood Peterborough* Plaudits have poured in for League Two the stylish and resilient foot- Barnet Morecambe ball City have played this term Cambridge United Newport County but, for Guardiola, there is no Carlisle United Port Vale resting on laurels. Coventry City Cheltenham Town He said: “What’s important Crewe Alexandra Crawley Town Exeter City Stevenage is to focus on the pitch what Forest Green Rovers Luton Town we have to do to play better, to Lincoln City Accrington Stanley increase our chances and con- Mansfi eld Town Yeovil Town cede few. That’s what we have Notts County Grimsby Town to do. Wycombe Wanderers Chesterfi eld “When I’m happy, it’s not Scottish Premiership because of the result but the Aberdeen Hibernian, 12.30pm way we play. That’s what I’m Dundee Partick Thistle Hamilton Academical Ross County more satisfi ed by. Kilmarnock Motherwell “I have the feeling we can Rangers St Johnstone do better — much, much bet- Hearts Celtic, 12.30pm* ter. That’s what we have to try Scottish Championship to insist in them.” Falkirk Brechin City The City boss is already Inverness CT Dumbarton convinced, however, that this Livingston Morton team would have been too good ager. The Catalan won 16 day are going to be broken. Guardiola said that today “is Captain Kompany missed Queen Of The South Dundee United for Guardiola the player. league games in succession at “Statistics are statistics. It’s an important game. The oppo- the midweek trip to Swansea St Mirren Dunfermline Athletic Asked if he could have got Barca and bettered even that good to write about that but nent, Tottenham Hotspur, are after suffering a minor muscle Scottish League One into the side, Guardiola, who with Bayern Munich, winning with the way we play I am sat- so, so tough. They remain a top problem in the fi rst half of last Alloa Athletic Arbroath enjoyed a glittering playing 19 in a row. isfi ed the most.” team. [The table] doesn’t mat- week’s derby win at Manches- East Fife Ayr United career with Barcelona, said: But such fi gures are also of Spurs were among the sides ter. The results are the results. ter United. Queen’s Park Airdrieonians Raith Rovers Albion Rovers “No way. Fernandinho is much no interest to Guardiola, who tipped to challenge City for the I see what they do, I don’t see Guardiola said: “He’s much Stranraer Forfar Athletic better.” must prepare his side to face title at the start of the season the table.” better. He’s got a little, little City’s current winning run Tottenham at Eastlands this but, despite sitting in a City will be without centre- problem. I don’t know if Scottish League Two may be unique in England but weekend. healthy-looking fourth place, backs Vincent Kompany and Annan Athletic Stirling Albion [today] he’ll be fi t, but hope- Berwick Rangers Peterhead it does not yet match Guardi- He said: “The record is OK, they already trail the leaders John Stones, but both are close fully in the next games he will Cowdenbeath Clyde ola’s personal best as a man- but records stay there and one by 18 points. to returning. be ready.” Edinburgh City Stenhousemuir Montrose Elgin City

All kickoff s 3pm unless noted MEN’S FOOTBALL: NORTHERN IRELAND * denotes Sunday game OUR SPORTS EDITOR O’Neill in talks to extend Northern Ireland role LETS RIP IN SIMMONDS by Our Sports Desk opened negotiations with the tion since the World Cup play- “There’s been no discus- Irish Football Association off defeat [to Switzerland] — sions [with other national SPEAKS about extending his Northern speculation driven by others, teams] at all. MICHAEL O’NEILL warned Ireland deal — which expires driven by the media. “People are always assum- EVERY the Scottish Football Associa- in 2020 — for another four “At this minute in time, I’m ing that I’m going to make a WEDNESDAY tion yesterday they may strug- years. still under contract with the decision to leave the position gle to prise him away from the O’Neill — who has also been IFA and there’s two years to but I’ve never said that.” Northern Ireland job. linked with the Untied States go on that contract. Hampden chiefs have been vacancy — led his country to “Discussions have begun Published by the People’s Press MSTAR 2017-12-16 SAT 1.2 granted permission to talk to their fi rst major tournament about extending that contract. Printing Society Ltd, William Rust the 48-year-old about becom- in three decades when they There’s not a deal on the table. House, 52 Beachy Road, Bow, 5 0 London E3 2NS. Telephone: (020) ing Gordon Strachan’s replace- qualifi ed for Euro 2016. It’s early days in the discus- 8510-0815. Fax: (020) 8986-5694. ment as Scotland boss. But he has been tipped to sions but my focus is on doing Email: enquiries@peoples-press. But a month after the SFA call time on his six-year reign the job I’m in at the minute. com. Registered with Companies House as Morning Star (in- made their approach, O’Neill after failing to reach next “I’m contracted to 2020 and corporating the Daily Worker) No says discussions have yet to summer’s World Cup. hopefully in 2020 I can take N5559. Printed by trade union even begin. However O’Neill said: the team to the European labour at Trinity Mirror. MAY STAY: Michael O’Neill Instead, he confi rmed he has “There’s been a lot of specula- Championships again. Saturday/Sunday December 16-17 2017 9 770307 175367