The Socialist 29 October 2008

Worlds apart - in ‘them and us’ society

Worlds apart... in 'them and us' society

Are we heading for a new Great Depression?

Recession getting deeper - 'real world' suffering

Time to change the world - come and hear the case for socialism

Socialism 2008 pdf

Postal workers march for their jobs

Save our neonatal services!

BP - swimming in oil profits

National civil service strike 10 November

JCB - Why should we accept redundancies and pay cuts?

Unite calls off London bus strike

Israel/Palestine Moving towards a new conflict?

Ireland: Pensioners' revolt - government forced back

Italy: Mass movement to stop education cuts

Car industry in crisis: A fighting strategy

Saving jobs at Ford

Defeat NUS' undemocratic plans

Newcastle University chancellor is out of touch

Fighting cuts at Northampton Uni

Previous issues, etc

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BP - swimming in oil profits

OIL GIANT BP sparked widespread anger when it announced a record profit of £6.4 billion for the third quarter of 2008. Its profits, which averaged about £70 million a day, were a whopping 148% above the corresponding period in 2007.

BP was making huge money and paying out massive dividends (60% up in Britain) on the basis of huge prices for crude oil in the summer period. The prices have since tumbled due to the recession.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of the union Unite, called for a windfall tax on the oil giants, pointing out that this would help six million people heat their homes this winter.

Such a windfall tax should be supported but an even better way to use the wealth of these firms for the public good would be for the oil giants to be taken into public ownership and run under the democratic control of working-class people.

In this issue

Credit crunch

Worlds apart... in 'them and us' society