Articles
Saturday, October 19, 2024
At last the Conservatives have gone and Britain has a Labour government with a massive majority in terms of seats. Yet that huge majority masks an underlying fragility in the Labour vote. Its victory was achieved through the collapse of the Tories and of the SNP in Scotland and the rise of Reform UK. Labour only slightly increased its vote share and indeed more people voted Labour in the two general elections when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. Voter turnout was down. This demonstrates that the electorate was not really convinced by Starmer’s offering despite Labour’s shift to the right gaining the support of the establishment.
If people don’t see tangible change, they will have no reason to vote Labour in the future, and promising that things will get worse - cutting winter fuel payments and cuts to services - is not the way to achieve this. Worst of all the government is committed to pursuing the war agenda of NATO.
A vital role will be played by the trade unions, community campaigners and the peace movement to pressure Labour to adopt better policies. We can already see this happening. That is the difference between having a Labour and a Tory government. People have expectations of a Labour government. The task is making the government listen to its voters.
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Acquiring nuclear weapons for Britian was initially proposed by Winston Churchill and then pursued by the Labour foreign secretary Ernest Bevin. It should then not surprise us that Labour is wholly committed to NATO, arming Ukraine and being confrontational with China. Those aspects of UK foreign policy have long had bi-partisan support from Labour as well as the Tories
The story is also one of post-war rivalry between Britain and the United States, but ultimately with Britain forced to play second fiddle to the US. Now Britain’s so-called independent nuclear bomb is anything but, relying entirely on the United States technically, politically and militarily.
As our world becomes more dangerous and the prospect of nuclear war comes closer, it raises urgent questions about the wisdom of spending huge sums of money on these weapons of mass destruction when the government is talking about cuts.
Monday, May 27, 2024
The miners' strike of 1984-85 demonstrated the power of the state acting in the interests of capital and against working people as jobs and mining communities were destroyed. That state power was no where more evident than the systematic attack on picketing miners at Orgreave with many injured and imprisoned. There were meticulous plans formulated by the government and the police to crush the miners. Orgreave became the blueprint for the policing of dissent and sent a harsh message to working class people that strike action would be met by the full force of the state. 40 years later those falsely arrested and injured are still waiting to see justice.
Sunday, May 26, 2024
There is always money to be made from war and Ukraine and Gaza are no exceptions. The arms industry has certainly benefited from both these current conflicts. Increasingly, however, electronic systems are vital to fighting wars. the US company Palantir has contracts in Israel, Ukraine and here in the NHS. It has been described as “…the AI arms dealer of the 21st century” and works closely with the US government. So what is it doing in our NHS? Apparently “integrating health data”. Access to data is a prime objective of tech companies and Palantir’s role in the Health Service has met widespread opposition.
Thursday, May 23, 2024
in Britain we have seen a wave of strikes and massive demonstrations over Gaza. In response the Tory government has been passing multiple pieces of legislation designed to restrict free speech, the right to protest and the right to strike. This repressive agenda will give the government extraordinary tools to suppress opposition and represents a fundamental threat to democracy. And yet in defiance of these threats and ideological attacks protesters are still out in force in solidarity with the Palestinians and standing up for free speech.
Friday, February 9, 2024
We should not doubt that the UK government sees the threats posed by protest against war and unrest against the decimation of living standards and services. In the last couple of years Parliament has passed three pieces of legislation which restrict freedom of speech, the right to protest and the right to strike. A fourth which would outlaw public bodies from boycotting Israel is currently making its way through Parliament. Anti-democratic repression goes hand in hand with the militarist, anti-working class agendas of our rulers.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Even with determined trade union action and winning pay increases, wages are still not keeping pace with inflation. However, given the determination of strikers over the recent past the government is taking steps to curb strike action. Defending the right to strike will now be an essential part of working class struggle. As will campaigns which gain the broader support of the general public.
Monday, February 5, 2024
The news media and the Government seem intensely relaxed now the annual rate is “only” 4.2%. Yet vast sums have gone to the banks and corporations in the meantime, not least because higher interest rates, raised to bring inflation down, have speeded up the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. As a result, householders have permanently lost the income already spent on higher prices, and are still paying more now for gas, electricity, petrol, food and essential goods. Mortgages are higher and rents have always been high anyway. Life has been made harder, partly because of the Bank of England's so-called solutions. Even successful strikes for more pay have not fully recovered the incomes lost. The question arises: how would a progressive government tackle inflation differently, to narrow the gap between rich and poor? Can we escape from capitalist economics on this question?