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News
Take the wealth off the super-rich
The top 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families in Britain are sitting on a record £771.3 billion, up £47.8 billion in a year. This astonishing fact is in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.
Privatisers sue NHS – kick out the fat cats and fully nationalise our health service!
A private company is taking the NHS to court, because its contract to run Nottingham University Hospital’s outpatient-treatment centre was not renewed.
Workload-related mistakes by GPs on the rise – health unions need to fight back
After nearly a decade of Tory austerity and attacks on the NHS, it comes as no surprise that a Panorama investigation found that GPs are making mistakes due to workload. A majority of GPs admit seeing considerably more patients in a day than is considered safe.
Knife crime tragedy linked to council cuts
In my home city of Birmingham there have been over 270 knife crimes so far this year. West Midlands Police report an 87% increase since 2013-2014.
It’s one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us.
What we think
Bosses fear revolt against capitalism
“There is a real question about whether democratic capitalism is working, when it is only working for part of the population”. This was the warning of capitalist economist Angus Deaton launching his review for the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) on inequality in Britain.
Workplace news
Mitie workers striking against poverty pay
Workers employed by outsourcing firm Mitie at Sellafield are living in poverty after working all week
Birmingham home care strikers close to victory!
Just as we go to press, Birmingham Socialist Party members have learnt that the city’s home care workers could be on the verge of claiming victory in their 20-month-long dispute against Birmingham Council.
Newham gas workers’ strike threat
Newham’s Labour council had unilaterally withdrawn call-out payments from gas safety managers. But the east London borough backed down on the eve of strike action.
Usdaw united on need for fightback – now keep pressure on for action
The annual delegate meeting of retail and distribution union Usdaw had definitely turned a corner this year
End high-stakes testing in primary schools: build the boycott ballot!
National Education Union (NEU) members in primary schools will vote in an online indicative ballot from 4 June, towards a boycott of all high-stakes ‘summative’ testing for 2019-20.
PCS union officialdom splits vote, removes Chris Baugh – but is still rejected by members
Socialist Party members in civil service union PCS are disappointed to announce that Chris Baugh did not get re-elected to the position of PCS assistant general secretary
Honda bosses confirm Swindon closure: Unite must signal it will fight
As we go to press, car workers in Swindon are reeling from the news that Honda bosses have confirmed the closure of the Wiltshire plant in 2021.
International socialist news and analysis
Revolution and counter-revolution in Sudan
The overthrow of Omar al-Bashir by the Sudanese masses on 11 April is one of the most momentous events in the modern history of the country, the continent and the Middle East. It has simultaneously inspired the masses throughout Africa and instilled fear in despotic regimes in the region.
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Trump UK visit: Protest against the billionaire bigot
Portsmouth will not be welcoming President Trump for an official state visit on 5 June. And where the leader of the richest capitalist nation in the world is not met with hatred or despair then he is met with ridicule.
Several thousand protesters including Palestinians, Muslim organisations, the Socialist Party and other left-wing groups marched through central London on 11 May to mark Nakba Day.
Climate change
Profit system rapidly destroying environment
On 6 May, one of the most ambitious reports into climate change ever undertaken – the United Nation’s Global Assessment Report on biodiversity – was released.
Socialist policies needed to halt climate disaster
After the United Nations said last year there is only 12 years left to avert a global climate catastrophe, people are rightly demanding that government and councils take immediate measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Opinion
May 1649 – the Last Stand of the Levellers
In the latter part of the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century, the hopes of those who wanted the war against the king and the great landowners to bring fundamental change for the mass of ordinary people were being dashed.
Letters to the Socialist’s editors including Tommy Robinson, the Meadow Well riots and BT bosses.