Ticket office fight moves to next phase
1 September 2023
Rail workers are stepping up the fight to save ticket offices after the end of the sham consultation at the end of August.
Rebuild our schools – assert our priorities
1 September 2023
Closing schools just before the start of term was sudden and unplanned but no surprise. Many school buildings are in poor repair and have been for some time. This is unsafe and bad for pupils’ education.
People need homes, not empty promises
Housing policy in Britain is in a mess. From missed house building targets through to exploitative land deals, mortgage inflation and homelessness, the basic needs of people have been neglected…
End the cycle: the crisis is one of capitalism
Freed from the EU, Britain’s economy can – and must – avoid the perils of globalism. But globalisation is not an aberration… it is the logical development of capitalism...
The resistible rise of the net zero dogma
The ruinously expensive rush to meet the net zero target of 2050 has never been agreed by the public, and the government and its Climate Change Committee are determined not to let the people Britain have a say…
Recruitment without retention won’t save the NHS
More places need to be created to train medical staff for the NHS, but the latest plan to address the shortages in the NHS workforce ignores one crucial question: how to retain staff in the face of low pay and poor conditions…
Muck and money
Britain’s regulators are supposed to provide safeguards for the public. Their record is woeful…
The pandemic inquiry should listen to workers
There is much to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic, but we should not look to the Hallett inquiry for the lessons. Official inquiries take ages, cost millions, and rarely come up with the goods…
How finance capital holds its rule
An analysis of finance capital forensically analyses its failings – but then fails to see that there is no turning back to a golden age. Finance capital must go…
How the NHS was won
Launched in 1948, the NHS wasn’t given to us by benign politicians. It was won by workers fighting over centuries for a health service for all. …
What’s next for workers?
No worker really thinks that one year’s success ends the necessity for future defence of pay. Yet perpetual, unending strikes are not the answer either…
Back to school - a national priority
School attendance is essential for both personal attainment and a key part of developing the skills we need as a nation.
Ticket office fight continues
Protests have been taking place across Britain against plans to shut our railway ticket offices. The action is part of the RMT union’s continuing campaign “Save Ticket Offices”.
Wales: Spending to be slashed
Spending on public services in Wales will be cut to deal with a £900 million gap in its £20 billion budget.
Mixed progress for doctors
Junior doctors in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly to accept a pay offer. In a ballot nearly 82 per cent voted for the deal on a 71 per cent turn-out.
Sewage swamps triathlon
After a recent triathlon in Sunderland, 88 people have now reported suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting. The swimming leg of the event took place in the sea off Roker beach.
Plastics: Polluters exposed
Surfers Against Sewage, a citizen science initiative, has named Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Pepsico as Britain’s biggest plastic polluters.
Students: Universities look abroad
The Russell Group of universities is now offering more places on courses to international students than to British students – and bringing in more income as a result.
University strikes resume
24 August 2023
University academic staff will resume strike action in their pay and conditions disputes before the end of September unless employers agree to return to negotiations.
Who should run London?
24 August 2023
The way London is run does not serve its people. Past improvements have given way to the dominance of the City of London and finance capital.
Teachers’ resounding victory
21 August 2023
The conclusion of the current teachers’ pay dispute has seen a resounding victory for schools in England and the unions involved, and has secured their biggest single pay rise in 30 years.
Bristol rail success
21 August 2023
Sustained campaigning has revived a Bristol rail line. The first of several new stations opened in July.
Packaging workers fight for pay and conditions
21 August 2023
Doncaster packaging workers began a 4-week strike on 14 August. They have rejected the employer's 8 per cent offer, tied to longer hours and worse conditions.
Stubborn inflation
21 August 2023
The rise in the consumer prices index in the year to July was a little lower than June – but prices are still rising faster than they have done for years.
Britain’s crippling debt
21 August 2023
Government debt headlines when it goes up or when the government says it wants to reduce it. The level of debt has spiralled out of control, and capitalism has no answer.
Campaign to keep ticket offices open
20 July 2023
Train operating companies are running a short consultation on plans to close railway ticket offices. Rail workers are campaigning in opposition.
Resistance to rail ticket office closures
11 July 2023
Nearly all railway ticket offices in England are planned to close. Rail workers face redundancy and passengers will lose that service. A campaign to oppose the closures is starting.
Making people vote in Wales
11 July 2023
Turnout for Senedd Cymru elections is low. Welsh politicians are seeking compulsory voting instead of asking themselves why voters don't bother.
Britain out of NATO - no to war, yes to defence
The NATO drums for war are beating loudly. British workers should not ignore this, still less support it…
Rail - a crisis created by government
Rail workers should ensure that the strong workplace organisation that has been developed when they built support for their campaigns of industrial action is not dissipated...