Them & Us

No-go zones

A third of the country is now effectively a no-go zone for low-income families because of high rents.

A recent report from the Resolution Foundation shows that a couple with one child and an income of Ł22,000 would have to spend more than 35% of their income on rent in all but a third of local authority areas in the UK.

Rents that bear no relation to what people can afford to pay are the main reason for the rocketing housing benefit bill - essentially a huge subsidy to private landlords that allows them to charge whatever they like.

A rent cap combined with investment in building affordable social housing is the only sensible solution.

Tax inequality

Figures from the Office for National Statistics:

36% of income paid in tax by poorest fifth of households
35.5% of income paid in tax by richest fifth of households

Golden goodbye

Being knighted wasn't quite enough for turning his back on the trade union movement for former TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

Now it's emerged that he received a one-off payment of Ł104,379 when he retired in 2012. It's alright for some - the public sector workers who he failed to lead to victory in the dispute over public sector pensions won't be living quite the same retirement lifestyle as him.

What type of jobs?

Whenever unemployment figures show a tiny increase in the numbers in employment, the government cheers its success at solving the jobs crisis.

But what type of jobs are people getting? More than 75% of the net rise of jobs in the last three years has been in low-paying sectors like retail and care.

Most of these new jobs are paying below Ł8 an hour - in reality well below what people actually need to live, particularly in the cities and the south east.

Looks like a corporation...

The committee set up to investigate tax avoidance by companies like Google and Starbucks has also challenged Prince Charles on his tax affairs.

A landed estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, pays Charles Ł19 million a year but pays no capital gains or corporation tax itself.

The aide who represented Charles at the committee insisted the estate is a "force for social good" and should not be counted as a corporation. Yet its properties include a distribution warehouse used by Waitrose.

We can't help but agree with the MP on the committee who commented: "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck you sort of assume it's a duck."

Home alone

A record number of children may be left home alone this summer because of unaffordable childcare costs.

The average cost of just one week's childcare during the summer holiday this year is expected to be Ł109.23.

Many childcare centres have closed completely after local authority cuts. And youth services have been ravaged by austerity so parents with older children are likely to particularly struggle.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.