Them & Us

Them and us fishes, photo Suzanne Beishon (Click to enlarge)

Handouts for prince

A multibillionaire Saudi prince receives over Ł400,000 in European Union handouts - just to breed racehorses.

Khalid Abdullah al Saud is one of the UK's top farming subsidy recipients. The EU parcels out taxpayers' money on the basis of amount of land owned, rather than benefit to the public.

The queen is also a top beneficiary. Estates she owns or part-owns get Ł557,707.

To be fair, Elizabeth II only owns one manor house in Norfolk. And a castle in Scotland. And 18,454 hectares of land.

Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are actually loans from the public. Apparently we can find no other use for their combined 465 bedrooms.

The Socialist says: stop subsidising big landowners. Nationalise the land. Spend the cash on homes, green energy, conservation and sustainable farming.

Homelessness for us

A top property developer has kept a Mayfair apartment block built for working class tenants empty for a year.

British Land bought up land in the exclusive London district to throw up more luxury apartments. But planning rules meant it also had to build some low-rent flats for social tenants and key workers.

The firm claims it had "no concern that the marketing of one would affect the success of the other."

But it also blames the delay on the difficulty of attracting or becoming a registered social landlord. The only reason to do this is because such landlords have the power to filter out some 'undesirable' council tenants.

Other developers have kept super-rich clients happy with segregated entrances - known as "poor doors".

No to poor doors. Reverse the social cleansing of inner city areas. For high-quality, genuinely affordable, secure homes for all.

Donate to the Socialist Party

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.