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Let’s be realistic about the future of the Labour Party conference, urges Robin Pettitt

This is not my usual column for Tribune, because I want to pay tribute to a friend of mine who died last week after a battle with cancer, and who made a great contribution to progressive politics that I believe deserves to be highlighted.

I meant to write about Christopher Andrew’s authorised centenary history of the security service, MI5, The Defence of the Realm, in my last column – but my copy of the book turned up late because of the postal strikes. And because I’m a busy man and it’s more than 1,000 pages (and that’s not counting the index), I’ve only now finished reading it.

The Tory leader may regret forsaking moderate leaders like Angela Merkel for the far right, says Mary Honeyball

Let us cast our minds back to those happy days when such quaint people as local bank managers still existed. Do you remember them? They carried rolled umbrellas and often wore bowler hats which they raised to their lady customers when they met them in the high street.

In the spirit of spiritual outreach, perhaps Pope Benedict XVI should pay a visit to Stormont and attempt to stop Northern Ireland’s Protestants from splitting their faith into numerous and meaningless churches.

Only mutuality can save us from the bankers, argues Rob MacGregor

Increasing consumer confidence means Labour should not be written off just yet, says Jonathan Loynes

On the 60th anniversary of the death of JR Clynes, Phil Woolas salutes an unsung hero of the labour movement