Archive for May 2012
1 May 2012
Transport department workers vote to strike over cuts
Civil servants working for the Department for Transport (DfT) have voted for strike action to defend jobs, pay and services...
1 May 2012
17. Besieged on all sides, the coalition government is thrashing around in a desperate search to break the logjam...
1 May 2012
31. This sense of alienation - combined with heavy-handed police harassment - was one of the factors in the riots of last summer...
1 May 2012
43. As the crisis has intensified, the issue of immigration has come to the fore once more. One report asserted that 'immigration', particularly from Eastern Europe, has had an effect on employment,...
1 May 2012
49. But the primary battle of the whole of the Labour movement in the next period will centre on the public sector...
1 May 2012
69. Given all these factors the question is posed: how long can the government last? Can it defy the odds and last the full term? It is unlikely - to say the least - that Cameron, who has already performed...
1 May 2012
This document was first drafted in January 2012 by the Socialist Party executive committee; subsequently some amendments were incorporated during a discussion at the party's congress on 10-12 March 2012...
1 May 2012
Now online: Socialist Party 2012 document on Britain
To read the Socialist Party's 2012 congress document on British Perspectives, as discussed and amended by the party's congress in March 2012, go to:
2 May 2012
Kazakhstan: Socialists jailed by regime
Larissa Boyar, a prominent member of the Kazakhstan Socialist Movement, and two other opposition activists - Baxatjan Torevozhina and Kanat Ibragimov - have been arrested and imprisoned, writes Sarah Zhakupova, Kazakhstan Socialist Movement.
2 May 2012
The government's fractured energy policy
Hydro fracking, photo Creative Commons/ Mike Norton
A dangerous gas extraction practice - 'fracking' - will likely get government approval in Chancellor Osborne and energy secretary Ed Davey's new "dash for gas", writes Pete Mason, East London Socialist Party.
2 May 2012
Thug attack won't stop anti-racist work
Youth Fight for Jobs placard on the successful anti-EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets in June 2010, photo P Mason
On Saturday 28 April trade union activists were attacked by racists claiming to have allegiance to 'March for England', closely linked to the English Defence League (EDL)...
2 May 2012
Socialist MEP discusses way forward for Tamils struggle
The Tamil Solidarity meeting - Way Forward for the Eelam Struggle: what's the Role of the Diaspora? - was a great success. The headline speaker was Paul Murphy, Socialist Party Ireland Member of the European...
2 May 2012
Sheffield marches against sexism and cuts
Over 200 women and men demonstrated in Sheffield city centre on 28 April against sexism, especially in protest at the Con-Dem government and Labour council cuts to women's services in the city and nationally, writes Victoria Wainwright, Sheffield Socialist Party.
2 May 2012
Unison leadership 'woefully inadequate' in face of cuts
Unison members join the 30 November N30 public sector strike in Leeds, photo by Iain Dalton
Unison's health conference could have been a golden opportunity to establish a national strategy and campaign to defeat the relentless attacks unleashed by the Con-Dem government, writes Roger Davey, Unison health Service Group Executive (SGE), personal capacity.
2 May 2012
Bilborough College Nottingham strike Action over five-term years
On 25 April, NUT staff at Bilborough College Nottingham took strike action against cuts to frontline teaching services, writes Helen Pattison.
2 May 2012
UCU joins 10 May strike - student solidarity needed
Lecturers and academic staff in most of the UK's universities and colleges will be joining other public sector workers on strike on 10 May against attacks on pensions, writes Edmund Schluessel, Cardiff University UCU, personal capacity and Cardiff University student.
2 May 2012
Social dumping won't solve the housing crisis
Labour-run Newham council in east London decided recently to try to uproot 500 local families and dump them in Stoke, 160 miles away...
2 May 2012
Fight privatisation: Save our libraries
Over the last year more than 100 libraries have either been closed, are now run by volunteers or have been made into social enterprises, ie privatised...
2 May 2012
Leveson exposes links between Tories and Murdoch
The Ministers and the Mogul: It was a line which perhaps only the world's most powerful media magnate could have the audacity to use, writes Ben Norman.
2 May 2012
Chancellor George Gideon Osborne assured us recently that he's not quite wealthy enough to be eligible for the 50p top rate of tax which he just scrapped, so wouldn't personally benefit.
2 May 2012
Capitalist crisis: 'Up to half of all Icelandic families are bankrupt'
Iceland's economy is growing again after the deep recession that struck in 2008. But the economic and political crisis is far from over, writes Per-Åke Westerlund. From Offensiv, newspaper of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (CWI in Sweden).
2 May 2012
NUS conference Support for left and for action
Young people march for a future: Youth Fight for Jobs and Socialist Students on the 29 January 2011 London demonstration against education cuts, photo Senan
The National Union of Students (NUS) conference is usually the place to see undemocratic manoeuvring by unelected bureaucrats and New Labour careerists. But this year it was different, writes Ian Pattison, Socialist Students national chair.
2 May 2012
How socialism could save the environment Special limited offer for readers of the Socialist: £7 including postage. By Pete Dickenson.
2 May 2012
TUSC: the electoral alternative to the parties of the rich
TUSC on the 28 March 2012 NUT London strike and demonstration, photo Socialist Party
Round-up across the country: All together in Liverpool to support TUSC mayoral stand: 300 people attended the Liverpool pre-election rally for mayoral candidate Tony Mulhearn and other Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates across Merseyside, writes Dave Walsh.
2 May 2012
National Shop Stewards Network 6th annual conference
Saturday 9 June 11am - 4pm
Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Speakers include:
* Bob Crow, transport union RMT general secretary
* Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary
* A leading Rank and File member of the construction workers' campaign
* Kevin Courtney, NUT deputy general secretary
2 May 2012
Pension privatisation: Hundreds of pension staff were forced out of the public sector on 1 May. The government agency that administers pensions of 1.5 million working and retired civil servants became the first 'mutual' ...
2 May 2012
Rich list: The good times roll for the 0.00001%
Bankers protest by Walthamstow Socialist Party, photo by The Socialist
"Those with the broadest shoulders will bear the largest load... we're all in this together." These, David Cameron's famous words to his first Conservative Party conference as prime minister, asked ordinary people to close their eyes to reality, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield.
2 May 2012
A strategy to stop austerity and bring down the government of the super-rich
Marching through Leeds on 30 November 'N30' public sector strike, photo by Iain Dalton
What we think The Con-Dem coalition is Increasingly showing its weakness. Calls for an inquiry into whether Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt broke ministerial codes brings the Murdochgate scandal to the doors of Downing...
2 May 2012
Don't accept the misery of austerity
TUSC protest
Britain is in the depths of economic recession. The threat of unemployment, poverty and even homelessness hangs over the lives of millions of people. Unemployment is climbing towards three million...
2 May 2012
Kick out the Con-Dems and end austerity
Strikers marching through London on 30 November 2011, photo Senan
Step up action to defend pensions! Just when the Con-Dems thought it was all over and they'd won, the public sector pensions fight is back on, writes Rob Williams, National Shop Stewards Network national chair.
4 May 2012
May 2012 local election reports
For TUSC results see: tusc.org.uk
TUSC candidates won victories in Preston and Walsall and ran many hard-fought campaigns elsewhere. Click 'more' below for reports from Coventry, Liverpool, Salford, Swansea, Lincoln, Stroud, London and Gateshead
6 May 2012
Legitimacy of Cameron and Clegg further shattered
The Con-Dem government suffered a crushing defeat in last Thursday's elections for local authorities and in the mayoral contests apart from London, writes Socialist Party general secretary, Peter Taaffe
8 May 2012
The Scottish local government election result saw both the SNP and Labour declare victory. The SNP can point to their best ever local election result and now possess the largest number of councillors across...
8 May 2012
Profit hungry 'Big Oil' backs climate change deniers
While April may have been the wettest April in the UK for 250 years and March was the warmest March ever recorded in the US, top corporations are funding climate change denial
9 May 2012
Message of support to the 10 May strikers
Martin Powell Davies, a Socialist Party member and executive committee member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), has written the following message of support to public sector workers striking on 10 May...
9 May 2012
Con-Dems battered in Scottish local elections
Step up the fight against SNP and Labour cutting councils: Both the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Labour declared victory in the Scottish local government elections, writes Matt Dobson, Socialist Party Scotland.
9 May 2012
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition local election reports
Salford: In Salford's Ordsall ward TUSC again came second to Labour, with an improved 18.7% - nearly one in five electors voted for TUSC...
9 May 2012
Health services at risk in Cardiff and Vale
Cardiff and Vale Health Board celebrated International Workers' Day by agreeing to slash another £67 million from the NHS services it provides, writes Ross Saunders.
9 May 2012
Privatisation pushes up transport costs in Yorkshire
7% and 8%. That's how much bus and train fares went up in West Yorkshire this January, following above inflation increases of 6% at the beginning of 2011 on trains and increases of up to 20% on buses...
9 May 2012
Care home closures in Sheffield
Sheffield City Council is planning to close all of the remaining elderly care homes in the city that are still council owned after years of privatisation of social care, writes Wyllie Hume, Sheffield Socialist Party.
9 May 2012
Police restrict anti-racist protesters in Luton
The streets of Luton were almost deserted as the far-right racist English Defence League (EDL) came to the town yet again, writes Steve Glennon.
9 May 2012
Flooding in the centre of Gloucester, 2007, photo Chris Moore
We are in drought. This is Thames Water's message for South East England, appearing on giant billboard images of cracked, dry earth, writes James Ivens.
9 May 2012
MPs find Murdoch "not fit" to run media empire
A select committee of MPs has declared Rupert Murdoch "not fit" to run an international company after concluding that he displayed "wilful blindness" to illegal phone hacking practices across his media empire, writes Ben Norman.
9 May 2012
In the Unison newsletter produced in Southampton for the local elections the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Unison members standing as candidates for TUSC were criticised...
9 May 2012
Strike ballot: Transport union RMT is balloting its members working for Churchills as cleaners on the Tyne and Wear Metro...
9 May 2012
France: A weekend that shocked Europe
Demonstrations in France against attacks on pension rights, photo Judy Beishon
Rejection of austerity in Eurozone's second biggest economy: Sarkozy's downfall, alongside the crushing defeat of the pro-austerity parties in Greece, was a real turning point, writes Robert Bechert, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).
9 May 2012
I am a young mother with two beautiful children and have decided to join the Socialist party. I was brought up by my family with socialist views and ideas.
9 May 2012
Film review: 'Cocaine Unwrapped'
Cocaine Unwrapped, a film by Rachael Seifert
Cocaine Unwrapped, a documentary film directed by Rachel Seifert, went on general release from 5 May, writes Paul Heron
9 May 2012
Greece: Political earthquake sees pro-austerity parties' support collapse
Following the recent elections in Greece, which saw two out of three voters vote against pro-austerity parties and a big swing to left parties, Niall Mulholland spoke to Andros Payiatsos, from Xekinima (CWI in Greece)
9 May 2012
Coventry: Socialist campaigner Dave Nellist narrowly loses
Dave Nellist, Socialist Party councillor. addresses Socialism 2011, photo Senan
For the 14 hours of election day in Coventry, rain fell almost without ceasing. Yet despite the terrible weather conditions Socialist Party supporters in St Michael's ward campaigned relentlessly
9 May 2012
4,792 mayoral vote for Liverpool 47 candidate
Tony Mulhearn, photo Harry Smith
In the Liverpool mayoral election, TUSC candidate Tony Mulhearn received 4,792 votes, 4.73%, beating the Tory candidate and just narrowly behind the Greens and Liberal Democrats
9 May 2012
Labour's best Wales result in 21 years will not stop cuts
Welsh Labour leaders are cock-a-hoop at achieving their best results in council elections since 1991. The Tories and Liberals lost control of all their councils and nearly half their councillors
9 May 2012
iPads for MPs: Up to £660. That's how much the gadget of the moment, the iPad, will set you back. Months of hard saving for most of us - but not if you're an MP. 70 MPs have already claimed expenses for an iPad
9 May 2012
Exposed: the dirty world of NHS privatisation
A second report into 150 GMB members' complaints of bullying and discrimination at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon was published last week
9 May 2012
Duncan Smith throws insults at Remploy workers
Tory Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has claimed that disabled Remploy workers are "not doing any work...", writes Pat Atkinson, Unite LE 1111 branch.
9 May 2012
Election results: How did TUSC do?
TUSC on the NUT London strike demonstration on 28 March 2012, photo Socialist Party
This year's elections were the second set of local polls contested by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) since it was formed in early 2010 writes Clive Heemskerk, TUSC national nominating officer.
9 May 2012
London elections - TUSC: A marker for future struggles
Alex Gordon, president RMT, and lead candidate on the TUSC London list, photo Paul Mattsson
"I hadn't heard of you before, but I saw Trade Unionist on the ballot paper and I voted for it - I had to, I'm a worker", said a porter at University College Hospital
9 May 2012
Greenwich libraries - fighting back can win
Strike action by Unite library workers in Greenwich, south London, has sent a clear message to Greenwich Leisure Limited against attacks on pay and conditions
9 May 2012
We all need to strike together again There are many reasons to come to the NSSN conference this year. Whether it's to find out how the Sparks beat the construction bosses' Besna contract or just to meet other activists
9 May 2012
9 May 2012
Good result for Socialist Students candidates in NUS elections
This year's NUS National Executive Committee elections saw Socialist Students candidates receive high votes
10 May 2012
'Young Londoners - Forced Out?' campaign will be lobbying the newly elected London mayor and assembly at 10am on Friday 11th May to demand rent controls, house building, jobs and an affordable future for young people in London...
10 May 2012
Pensions strike reports - 10th May
Unite Health strike demo. Photo Hugh Caffrey
Prison officers have walked out to join hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers taking strike action in defence of their pensions, including trade unionists in PCS, Unite, UCU, and Nipsa
11 May 2012
NUT Executive "shirks its responsibilites"
Martin Powell-Davies, a Socialist Party member who is on the national executive committee of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has posted on his blog a report of yesterday's NUT executive meeting and the executive's attitude to further action on pensions
11 May 2012
Police demo shows that opposition to cuts is growing
35,000 off-duty police demonstrate against privatisation and cuts 10 May 2012, photo Paul Mattsson
On the same day as the public sector workers’ pensions strike, the Police Federation demonstrated in London against attacks to the police service
11 May 2012
Tesco imposes two year increase in pension age
As public sector workers fight to defend their pensions by inspiringly taking strike action, one large private sector employer has managed to waive through pension changes without so much as a whimper from the shopworkers' union Usdaw
16 May 2012
The battle to defend pensions continues
Photo Paul Mattsson
No matter how much ConDem ministers play down the 10 May pension strike they know this dispute isn't over, and neither are the crises faced by their government
16 May 2012
10 May sees united strike - but teacher unions shirk their responsibilities
The 10 May public sector strike sent a clear message to ministers that this fight against pension robbery is far from over, writes Martin Powell-Davies, NUT executive member.
16 May 2012
Workers demand pensions battle is stepped up
Every Unison member at my workplace came out on strike on 30 November. They are all women workers on low pay and most of them had never taken strike action before. They were nervous about their decision...
16 May 2012
This government's programme of unrelenting austerity and cuts is already causing so much misery as the cull of jobs continues, services are destroyed and benefits are stolen, writes Ronnie Job.
16 May 2012
Rebekah Brooks reveals Murdoch's reach into the heart of government
More than just good friends: Many people will have felt a sense of relief when it was announced that Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World (NoTW) and chief executive of News International, is to face charges of perverting the course of justice, writes Ben Norman.
16 May 2012
JP Morgan: banksters at it again
The financial sector is back in the news as it emerged that cowboy investors at JP Morgan's London office have lost $2 billion (£1.2 billion), leading to a run on shares which swept $19 billion off the bank's market value in just two days, writes Ross Saunders.
16 May 2012
Gas Mk 4.4 million: Centrica, the company that owns formerly nationalised British Gas, has warned that rising bills will continue...
16 May 2012
Mullivaikal 2012: Workers' unity against Rajapaksa regime
Thousands of Tamils will mark the third anniversary of Mullivaikal, the end of the war in Sri Lanka, with a commemorative rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 19 May, writes Manny Thain, secretary, Tamil Solidarity.
16 May 2012
Price of the Socialist: On 12 and 13 May the Socialist Party's national committee (NC) met for the first time since being elected at the party's 2012 congress in March...
16 May 2012
Why I joined the Socialist Party
'Socialism: the thinking person's economics!': My seven-year-old saw me reading the pamphlet 1917 - The Year that Changed the World, by Peter Taafe and Hannah Sell, writes Ravi Patel, West London Socialist Party.
16 May 2012
Solidarity against far-right thugs
Over 50 trade unionists and anti-racists rallied in Lewisham High Street on 12 May to show solidarity with the member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) who had been assaulted and hospitalised by far-right thugs
16 May 2012
The phone-hacking scandal: profits, power and corruption
The Leveson inquiry into phone hacking has gone to the heart of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, exposing its rotten and corrupt workings. Peter Taaffe reviews Dial M for Murdoch, a book detailing the scandal and its consequences.
16 May 2012
M10: Angry workers walk out across the country
PCS members on strike 10 May 2012 outside Parliament, photo Paul Mattsson
In London, Westminster was a sea of pickets. 400 Unite health strikers and supporters marched across Westminster Bridge from St Thomas's hospital to attend a lunchtime rally. 700 strikers heard Mark Serwotka...
16 May 2012
The Queen's Speech - What readers thought
More attacks on workers and their rights: This year's Queen's Speech has been dismissed by press commentators as 'lacking in substance'. But that doesn't mean it doesn't contain some more poison for workers.
16 May 2012
A short walk down Whitehall...
On the day of the Queen's speech, I was on my way to a London demo of Remploy workers. But in Whitehall there was a phalanx of police officers armed with Heckler-Koch assault weapons.
16 May 2012
The boss exploiting China (and Britain)
The Town Taking On China 1/2 - BBC documentary, photo by BBC
Tony Caldeira is a businessman in the textiles industry, manufacturing cushions in China and the UK. A two-part BBC documentary The Town Taking on China, follows Caldeira's plan to move jobs back from China
16 May 2012
Voters - not only in Greece but also in the recent French presidential elections, the German regional elections, in Italy's local elections and indeed in the UK - have punished the ruling parties for making the working and middle classes pay for the failure of the capitalist profit system
16 May 2012
Why prison officers joined the protests
Joe Simpson, POA assistant general secretary, addresses Socialism 2011, photo Senan
Interview: On 10 May, members of the POA prison workers' union took part in protest meetings outside prisons against pension cuts. POA assistant general secretary Joe Simpson speaks about the action.
16 May 2012
Victory for Greenwich Unite library campaign
Lessons in the fight against privatisation of public services: Two days of strike action led to negotiations on pay and conditions
16 May 2012
It's our NHS - Let's fight for it!
Austerity is hitting the NHS. 26,000 nursing posts have already gone, with a further 34,000 to be sacrificed - balancing budgets at the expense of patient care
17 May 2012
Work programme not reducing long-term unemployment
Unemployment statistics published yesterday show that the number of people who have been unemployed for more than one year is up 27,000 in the last three months, reaching a total of 887,000...
17 May 2012
Council workers in Cheshire strike against attacks on pay
Staff from Cheshire West and Chester Council were left with no choice but to take industrial action in protest over changes to their contracts
18 May 2012
Second strike by Tilbury dockers over attack on contracts
Dockers at Tilbury will strike again on Monday in their dispute with Enterprise Distribution Centre (EDC) over the arbitrary introduction of new contracts which will mean losing £2,500 on average a year...
18 May 2012
Public meetings against cuts in the rail industry
Rail unions and trades councils are holding public meetings and a day of action at the end of May opposing the government's proposed cuts to jobs and services in the rail industry...
18 May 2012
Russia: CWI supporters arrested during protests
Two members of the CWI in Moscow have today been arrested while participating in round-the-clock protests against Putin's rule which have taken place in Moscow since 6 May. Urgent protests needed!
21 May 2012
Youth Fight for Jobs Northern Ireland launched
Saturday 12th May saw a launch rally and gig for Youth Fight for Jobs - Northern Ireland, in the heart of Belfast, writes See:.
22 May 2012
Come to the 6th annual NSSN conference!
Saturday 9th June, 11am, Friends Meeting House, London NW1. All trade unionists who want to build the fight against the government's attacks shouldn't miss this crucial event
22 May 2012
NHS GMB members vote No to pensions deal
GMB members employed in the NHS have voted by an overwhelming 96.5% to reject the proposals on the table on changes to the NHS pension scheme...
22 May 2012
Mass TUC demonstration in London on 20 October
The TUC is to organise a mass demonstration in London under the banner of 'A Future That Works' on Saturday 20 October 2012. A march through central London will culminate in a rally in Hyde Park...
23 May 2012
Mullivaikal 2012 - Solidarity with the Tamil people
Thousands of people gathered in Trafalgar Square for the Mullivaikal massacre commemoration on Saturday 19 May...
23 May 2012
Dockers strike: Dock workers at Tilbury went on a 48-hour strike on 21 May. This is after a 24-hour strike on 7 May, the first at Tilbury since 1989...
23 May 2012
Youth Fight for Jobs Northern Ireland launched in Belfast
Almost one in five 18-24 years olds in Northern Ireland are not in education, training nor employment, writes Neil Moore.
23 May 2012
Eurovision hosts are top of the charts for repression
BBC's Panorama investigation - 'Eurovision's Dirty Secret' - looked at the 2012 host country Azerbaijan, writes Clare Doyle, Committee for a Workers' International.
23 May 2012
Building the electoral alternative in Brent
Socialist Party takes off in Brent: Just over a month ago I was thinking about how to campaign for the anti-cuts electoral alternative, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), writes John Boyle.
23 May 2012
The housing crisis - action needed now
A chronic shortage of affordable housing is leading to 'social cleansing' in many areas of London. However, the failure of the government's housing policy is being challenged by a new campaign
23 May 2012
Interview with RMT assistant general secretary candidate
National Shop Stewards Network national conference 2010, Steve Hedley, London Regional Secretary, RMT, photo Socialist Party
United struggle needed against train bosses: Steve Hedley is the London regional organiser of the transport union RMT. He was one of the trade unionists on the TUSC list in the London Assembly elections
23 May 2012
Leadership shows weakness at CWU conference
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) conference met this year at a time of growing attacks on both postal and telecom workers
23 May 2012
National Shop Stewards Network
Unite in action against austerity: National Shop Stewards Network Sixth Annual Conference, 9th June, London.
23 May 2012
Lincolnshire academies in crisis
Schools should be put back under community control: Academies are a major plank of the Con-Dems' education policy. They are outside local authority democracy and promised increased funding, at the expense of the remaining local authority schools.
23 May 2012
Big Society goes global: I think I have misjudged David Cameron. When he talked about the Big Society I did not realise it stretched all the way to Greece.
23 May 2012
Rochdale: far right attempts to exploit tragedy of abuse
The conviction of nine Rochdale men on 10 May for child sex offences has been seized upon by far-right groups
23 May 2012
More attacks on right to campaign
We tried a campaign stall at a recently redeveloped Salford shopping centre. We were putting forward ideas to fight the destruction of the NHS and made a great start.
23 May 2012
'They refuse to help kids who need extra support': Angry parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) met in New Cross, south London recently to start forming a campaign group
23 May 2012
AEI Cables: "Thrown out in disgraceful circumstances"
A worker and trade unionist who was sacked at AEI Cables in Birtley, Tyne and Wear in 2011 sent us this report on what happened last year...
23 May 2012
Hospital jobs scandal - Action now to save the NHS!
March to save the NHS, 17 May 2011 , photo Paul Mattsson
Lies about protecting the NHS helped the Tories get into government. Now the Con-Dems' destruction of the health service could trigger their downfall.
23 May 2012
PCS conference votes for more joint action against cuts
Delegates at the Public and Commercial Services union's annual conference this morning (23rd May) voted in favour of further joint-union national strike action at the end of June against cuts to pensions, pay and jobs...
23 May 2012
Con-Dems' hypocrisy over children's care
Campaigns are taking place across Britain to save children's services, photo by Socialist Party
Tory MP Elizabeth Truss has lamented the lack of quality, affordable childcare. She should know - her Con-Dem government have all but wiped out children's services in some parts of the country.
23 May 2012
Back to work? How the system fails the unemployed
Photo Paul Mattsson
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a slight fall in unemployment. But behind that headline are trends that indicate the impact of the Con-Dems' cuts.
23 May 2012
Reject the EU fiscal compact treaty: Across Europe, in the face of growing resistance at the polls and on the streets, the capitalist class is ramping up its campaign to terrify people into accepting its ongoing austerity...
23 May 2012
We stand 100% with the Greek workers
In Britain, as in every country of Europe, millions of working people are following events in Greece with baited breath, inspired by the defiance of the Greek population
23 May 2012
Disabled people's organisations condemn views of Tory minister IDS
On 14 May the Daily Telegraph printed an interview with Tory minister Iain Duncan Smith. In it he made outrageous attacks on disabled people
23 May 2012
Stockland Green march for jobs
Stockland Green Against the Cuts (SGAC) organised a successful protest and march for youth jobs in Erdington, Birmingham, on 19 May, writes Ted Smith.
25 May 2012
Demo against cuts at Salford university
Despite exams, 50 students and staff attended a lunchtime protest against swingeing cuts at Salford university yesterday, 24th May, including the closure of Italian and across the board reductions in staffing, writes Salford Socialist Party.
25 May 2012
Strike at Sussex Downs College
Yesterday NUT members at Sussex Downs College took strike action against cuts to jobs
25 May 2012
'Save Heatherwood Hospital' campaign yielding results
A partial victory has been won by campaigners fighting to keep Heatherwood hospital open, writes Terry Pearce
25 May 2012
Youth unemployment sky-rocketing
According to the latest United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) report (Global Trends for Youth) the number of unemployed young people worldwide has risen by four million since 2007...
29 May 2012
Revolt in the Tories' back yard
Over 2,000 people turned out in Northallerton for a march and rally to protest about the proposed reduction of children's and maternity services at the Friarage hospital
29 May 2012
No to Kingsthorpe Academy! No to more school privatisations!
This headline was just one of the placards outside the school gates on 23 May when teachers in the NUT were on strike to stop Kingsthorpe College becoming an academy
29 May 2012
Yes Scotland: independence referendum campaign launched
The Yes Scotland pro-independence campaign was launched on Friday 25th May in Edinburgh. While Socialist Party Scotland will support a Yes vote for independence in the referendum, it will be critical support...
29 May 2012
Hundreds walk out at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station
Over 600 construction workers walked out of Radcliffe on Soar power station this morning in protest against the suspension of Unite health and safety rep Jason Poulter...
29 May 2012
Privateers not welcome at Sussex university
University of Sussex management plans to sell off huge swathes of support services by August 2013, privatising over 10% of jobs
29 May 2012
Strike at Sheffield 'Dump It Sites'
Around 40 GMB members who work at the five recycling centres (Dump It Sites) in Sheffield took three days of strike action
30 May 2012
Bring this war criminal to justice: Tamils are outraged that Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been invited to the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations, writes Manny Thain, Tamil Solidarity national secretary.
30 May 2012
Expense oversight: Baroness Warsi says it was all an oversight. Her Ladyship, Tory peer and vice-chair of the Conservative Party, allegedly took taxpayers' cash for expenses for hotels while sleeping at a friend's house...
30 May 2012
Fight the bosses' Beecroft report
The RMT and POA call on parliament to unshackle the unions, photo by Paul Mattsson
Adrian Beecroft is a 'venture capitalist', investing money where he thinks he can make huge profits, writes Kevin Parslow.
30 May 2012
PCS shows real unity for fighting the cuts
This year's PCS conference showed that the civil service union will continue to play a leading role in resisting the government's attacks on working-class people by reaching out to all those prepared to fight alongside the trade union movement, writes Rob Williams.
30 May 2012
Wales TUC conference censures Unison's critics
At this year's Wales TUC Conference in Llandudno, Swansea Trades Council delegate Alec Thraves was first asked to apologise and then, when he refused, formally censured following a complaint from Unison, writes Ronnie Job, Socialist Party Wales.
30 May 2012
Power station walkout: 600 construction workers walked out of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station on 29 May in protest against the suspension of Unite health and safety rep Jason Poulter, writes Rob Williams, NSSN chair.
30 May 2012
Dismal prospects for Britain's economy
A few weeks ago the Bank of England was still insisting that the UK economy would not go into a 'double dip' recession. Then came the news of the second dip.
30 May 2012
Fight for our NHS, photo Senan
The National Health Service (NHS) is at a tipping point. Massive government cutbacks - 'efficiency savings' - have led to a haemorrhage of health workers' jobs, A&E and ward closures
30 May 2012
Keep the profiteers off our schools
16 February 2011 teachers at Chestnut Grove School in Balham, Wandsworth, south London, went on strike to show their opposition to the school becoming an academy.
On 23 May, NUT members were on strike to stop Kingsthorpe College in Northampton becoming an academy. Socialist Party member Nick Doyle spoke to Gordon White, NUT county secretary
30 May 2012
Monarchy - not just a 'harmless relic'
The government will be hoping that the Jubilee flotilla of 1,000 ships on the river Thames will serve as a useful distraction while it pushes through more swingeing cuts...
30 May 2012
Doctors vote for industrial action
79% of GPs, 84% of hospital consultants and 92% of junior doctors have voted in favour of action against changes to their pensions, writes See:.
30 May 2012
A walkout on Friday 1st June by staff in 39 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency offices threatened with closure will kickstart a month of rolling strikes among the Public and Commercial Services union's 8,000 Department for Transport members...
30 May 2012
Fight back against austerity - Come to NSSN conference!
The barrage of government attacks on living standards is relentless, with rich Tory boys leading the charge, writes Linda Taaffe, NSSN secretary
30 May 2012
Leveson inquiry - the offer the 'Godfather' couldn't refuse?
Cartoon by Alan Hardman
This week the Leveson inquiry called the godfather of Rupert Murdoch's daughter to give testimony. In the stand sat Tony Blair, the man who occupied Downing Street for ten years
30 May 2012
Needed: a socialist plan for the environment
Global warming: threat critical: Global warming is the overriding environmental issue facing the world. 20 years have passed since the UN 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro highlighted the problem, yet emissions have rocketed
31 May 2012
Andy Coulson charged with lying
Tommy Sheridan conviction must be overturned: Labour MP Tom Watson commented: "The detention of Andy Coulson further highlights why Mr Sheridan’s conviction was unsound"
31 May 2012
Socialist Party Ireland members elected to NIPSA presidency
At the Nipsa (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) conference yesterday in Derry, Socialist Party members won both the union's President and Vice President positions and the Left also took the postion of Hon Treasurer...
19 Nov Socialism 2022
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