Housing - empty investments
London has tens of thousands of “safe deposit boxes” positioned on its public streets – houses and flats bought for investment but untenanted.
News/Views
1944: Britain and the battle for Athens
22 February 2015
Britain’s repressive role in the world remains for many a hidden history. One such episode occurred in Greece, after that country had been liberated from the Nazis…
SNP rule hits education
22 February 2015
For all the SNP’s talk of being a party that puts money into public services, statistics show that teacher numbers and college places have both fallen under its rule.
The NHS - for sale all over Europe
22 February 2015
THE NHS in England is now advertising across the private sector in the European Union to sell off the “back office” or administrative functions of GP practices.
Behind the scandal of tax avoidance
22 February 2015
Tax avoidance has been much in the news. That it happens is no surprise to workers – but the extent to which it is engrained in our economic system might be.
EU tries again on trade deal
22 February 2015
A worried EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström paid a visit to London on 16 February. The successful signing off of TTIP is a priority for Malmström’s boss, EU president Jean-Claude Juncker, but he has handed her a poisoned chalice.
‘Fair pay’ fortnight launched.
18 February 2015
The TUC’s “Fair Pay Fortnight” runs from 16 February to 1 March, supposedly a time for Britain’s trade unions to campaign over Britain’s depressed wage rates. But it seems a muted campaign.
US, NATO stoke the flames of open war over Ukraine
8 February 2015
The drums of war are beating again as the US attempts to maintain its aggressive attitude to Russia. While peace talks brokered by France, Germany and Russia are taking place, the US and NATO are moving to a war footing.
Cypriot workers fight aftermath of EU-ordained closure
8 February 2015
Unions in Cyprus are still fighting the aftermath of the shutdown of the national air carrier, Cyprus Airways. An EU ruling that financial help given by the Cyprus government was illegal state aid effectively shut it down in January, with the loss of 560 jobs
Who needs the private sector?
7 February 2015
A fascinating book studies the respective roles of the state and private enterprise in innovation. It challenges the false image that businesses are an innovative force while the state is not, and shows the opposite is closer to the truth.
National Gallery: fighting on
7 February 2015
National Gallery workers were on strike for five days against privatisation proposals. They are part of a wider fight to defend Britain’s cultural heritage.
Health workers to ballot on pay offer
7 February 2015
Unions in the NHS are balloting their members on the pay offer that their industrial action has extracted from a reluctant government. But no one on the union side is claiming victory.