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In this week's issue:
The Socialist 16 July 2008, issue 542  Global finance crisis deepens
 | Dow Jones plunges |
US banking bailout: THE REAL rate of inflation that workers in Britain face has hit 18.5%, according to the Daily Mirror, as the cost of food, fuel and household bills continue to rocket. Simultaneously with prices spiralling upwards, the economy is entering recession, writes Hannah Sell.
Feature: Price inflation - the sickness of capitalism  | Bubbles: The cover of Socialism Today, May 2007, anticipated the crash. Cartoon by Suz |
THE PRICES of food and fuel are soaring, as are household gas and electricity bills.
The main cause is the explosion of world oil, food and other commodity prices.
Yet Brown, Darling and other New Labour ministers are calling for "pay restraint"! But why should workers pay for inflation?
Lynn Walsh looks at the causes and consequences of this sickness of free market capitalism.
Global Warming
Change the system! not the climate THE WORLD faces the horrifying prospect of major climate change with its potential for catastrophic impact on food production and living conditions across the world, writes Ken Douglas.
International socialist news and analysis
Sri Lanka general strike  | Strikers rally outside the Ministry of Health in Colombo, photo CWI |
The Sri Lankan government, continuing to bombard the north of the country in the civil war, faced a warning general strike demanding increased wages to cover massive price rises, writes Siritunga Jayasuriya, Secretary, United Socialist Party, CWI Sri Lanka
Military threat to Iran stepped up SPECULATION IS once again rife on whether Israel or the US will launch air strikes on Iran. The Middle East could be on the brink of horrifying events in the next period triggered by such action, writes Judy Beishon.
Socialist Party NHS campaign
NHS - birthday greetings and warnings  | A previous NHS protest in Leicester, photo by Leicester Socialist Party |
IN SOME towns celebrations for the NHS' 60th birthday were official events, but the day organised by the Keep our NHS Public group in Leicester was a much more grassroots affair, writes Sally Ruane, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Keep our NHS Public.
Ambulances - calls doubled, no extra staff
Polyclinic courts Branson
Ex-Foley-ated! Union bashing NHS boss resigns as staff defeat pay cuts
Socialist Party campaigns
Glasgow East by-election Socialist change needed THE GLASGOW East byelection on 24 July could have political effects well beyond which big business party candidate gets sent down to Westminster. The byelection follows the resignation, for family and health reasons, of Labour MP David Marshall...
Durham Miners' Gala rejects New Labour  | Socialist Party members at the Durham Miners gala, photo E Brunskill |
An estimated 40,000 workers and their families from Durham and beyond converged into the city for the Durham Miners' Gala, writes Elaine Brunskill, Northern region Socialist Party.
One Wales rule for the rich...
Post Office Leeds: Haranguing in the rain
Greenwich: Employers' hypocrisy
Bangor: Bus protest
Workplace news and analysis
Visteon takeover: Workers' determination defends conditions The sale of the Visteon car components plant in Swansea to Canadian company Linamar on 8 July marks the end of a chapter of heroic struggle by the workforce in defence of their jobs, terms and conditions and pensions, writes Alec Thraves, Swansea.
Shop stewards conference: Workers and war
Workplace news: In brief
Anti-racism
Notts campaign against the racist BNP grows Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP campaign was set up about a year ago, after the election of a BNP councillor (subsequently expelled from the BNP) onto Broxtowe Borough Council in May 2007, writes Ben Robinson.
Anti-racism stall in Wrexham
No to the BNP's attempt to divide Stoke's communities!
'Dear Boris' - we will NOT be silenced!
The Socialist Comment
Government attacks single parents The socialist comment: The government's new welfare legislation is demanding that, by the year 2010, single parents who are claiming benefits will have to return to the workplace once their youngest child reaches seven years of age, writes Jane Harris, Winchester Socialist Party.
Socialist Party review
Live Working or Die Fighting: How the working class went global The recent revelation that child labour has been used in the production of clothes bound for high street chain Primark proves that Paul Mason's book, published last year, is an important work that will only become more relevant as globalisation causes more acute class conflict...
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