We need a national plan, not division
The Scottish referendum stimulated local authorities in England to look to their own version of fragmentation…
News/Views
We are changing
This journal is changing. In fact, the whole way the CPBML produces news is changing, starting with a free electronic newsletter.
The NHS: unsafe in their hands
By the end of the next parliament the NHS could become a thing of the past, regardless of who is elected. Only workers can save it…
Arts: National Gallery strike
Staff at the National Gallery in London held a 24-hour strike on 15 October, the opening day of the blockbuster Rembrandt exhibition.
Property: The vultures gather
An international feast of property speculators visited London for the first time in October – networking, partying, and carving up Britain’s assets.
When Britain ran its roads
Thatcher did not start the roll back of postwar nationalisation. Capitalism’s unease at state control of the British economy surfaced as early as 1953…
The politics of Hong Kong protest
19 October 2014
The so-called “pro-democracy” demonstrators seeking to occupy central areas of Hong Kong are for the return of Hong Kong as an independent capitalist statelet, severed from mainland China.
Union organisation answer to benefits freeze
17 October 2014
Chancellor Osborne told the Tory conference in Birmingham he will freeze working-age benefits re-elected. The consequences might – and should – be a rise in trade union organisation.
More doublespeak over TTIP
17 October 2014
On 9 October the European Union released the text of its “negotiating mandate” for the TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership treaty that it is negotiating with the European Union. Perhaps inadvertently, it includes one telling admission.
Midwife anger over private ads
15 October 2014
Adverts for private care displayed at maternity units are outraging midwives. On the picket line at an east London hospital, one midwife explained why.
Survey reveals scale of teacher workload
15 October 2014
Excessive workload has driven nine out of every ten of teachers to consider giving up teaching during the past two years, according to an online survey carried out by the National Union of Teachers.
Ambulance workers’ power blunts emergency provocation
The first strikes in the NHS for 32 years on 13 October – especially in the London Ambulance Service – gave the lie to the idea that workers are weak and that unions don’t matter.