12 January 2023
The Labour Party has made its pitch to win the next general election, due in two years’ time at the latest – by stealing the Conservative party’s slogan for the 2016 referendum and 2019 election, Take Back Control, and reinterpreting it.
In many ways the situation facing workers in Britain is as dire as it has been at any time since the Second World War. But there is a shining light: the army of the working class is on the move.
When a strike takes place, when workers withdraw their labour, they and their employers are confronted with the truth: workers are essential to capitalism.
21 November 2022
This government is toying with reversing the referendum vote to leave the European Union. That will get as far as it thinks the people will allow it to go.
21 November 2022
The Autumn Statement changes nothing for workers, who must take matters into their own hands. Fighting for increased pay is essential, but on its own not enough.
Another month, another prime minister. And yet underneath nothing has changed at all. British capitalism, the oldest in the world and arguably the most cunning, is out of ideas and out of time.
The TUC congress met in Brighton from 18 to 20 October. Much of the agenda was routine and predictable, but some unions are thinking honestly and hard about the future of their industries and of Britain.
10 October 2022
Instead of increasing Britain’s security Liz Truss is making the world a less safe place by leading Europe in arming Ukraine, training their soldiers and leading sanctions against Russia, with the defeat of Putin at the top of her list.
9 October 2022
Nurses are considering industrial action on pay. It is time for those of us outside the NHS to stop clapping and hear the call to arms.
5 October 2022
During the past couple of weeks the government’s contempt towards its two main domestic creditors – the pension funds and the Bank of England nearly brought about a new, devastating collapse.
As a nation, there are really only two ways for Britain to make a living. It can be an honest one as a manufacturing nation making things that people need. Or it can be a parasitic existence, relying on banking and tourism, and buying in what we need.
Capitalism cannot meet even our basic survival needs. Nor can it protect the environment here in Britain or elsewhere.
20 August 2022
None of the politicians – least of all those vying for the Conservative leadership – will talk about the daily damage caused by adherence to the mantra of net zero carbon by 2050.
Our current prime minister doesn’t know if he’ll still be in office by the end of the summer. But he does claim to know that the war in Ukraine will drag on for years.
As inflation spirals upwards, more workers are lodging and fighting for pay claims. But too many are not...
24 May 2022
The government plans laws to make rail strikes illegal unless minimum staff levels are maintained. This aims to make industrial action ineffective – and will not stop with rail workers.
18 May 2022
The Queen’s Speech signalled progress on Brexit-won freedoms to boost the use of new gene editing techniques in agriculture. But it’s taking precious years to get anything done.
6 May 2022
In the latest example of the government undermining Britain's independence, ministers are set to contract out the country’s energy security to South Korea.
The ruling class never misses a chance to undermine workers. Under the cloak of helping refugees, they can’t resist the opportunity for hiring cheap labour.
NATO, the military wing of western imperialism, is a war machine which aims to bring any nation state seeking independence to heel. Britain has no business being a member.
There’s more than something rotten in Britain. And a lot of it is exemplified by the coming rises in energy prices.
Britain has no interest in interference in eastern Europe. No good will come from British intervention. Stop interfering. Stay out!
12 January 2022
The decision to find the Colston 4 not guilty should not be misused: there should be no further restrictions on our right to protest, nor misrepresentations of the way to combat racism.
The proposed $40 billion takeover of British chip designer ARM by US technology company Nvidia is to be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority into the consequences of the sale.
A new year lies ahead. Workers need to take stock of how far they have come as a working class, and how much still has to be done.
15 December 2021
The planned government assault on the London’s transport system demands above all a collective response, and not just from transport unions.
2 December 2021
The proposed $40 billion takeover of British chip designer ARM by US company Nvidia has been referred to the Competition and Markets Authority for an investigation into the consequences of the sale.
28 November 2021
Inflation is at its highest in a decade and prices continue to rise. Trade unions are beginning to respond, but there’s opportunity for doing more.
The Welsh government, led by Labour, has announced what it calls an “Independent Constitutional Commission”.
Extreme anti-feminist activists at the University of Sussex have waged a campaign of harassment and threats against a distinguished analytic philosopher, Professor Kathleen Stock, demanding in posters and social media posts that the university sack her.
