Labour is too weak to win and too strong to die The Hartlepool by-election shows Labour is rudderless in an era in which cultural values, not class, shape voting patterns. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Keir Starmer visits a building development project on the banks of the River Wear on 1 May 2021 in Durham. Commander John Kerans was an assistant naval attaché in Nanking, China in 1949 who took control of HMS Amethyst when the ship came under fire on the Yangtze river during the latter stages of the Chinese Civil War. After being detained for ten weeks, Commander Kerans led a night-time flight. His escapade became the subject of a film,