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Support the NHS? Join the march!

Angry about cuts? Worried about privatisation?: The NHS was founded to provide healthcare for everyone. Yet increasingly, cuts mean NHS services are becoming ‘no longer viable’ or harder to access. The BBC reckons two-thirds of hospital services in England are about to be scaled back.

Health cuts responsible for rise in deaths – reverse all austerity now

Cuts to NHS and social care are the major cause for the rise in mortality rates and excess deaths, research recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine has confirmed.

Stop victimising NHS whistleblowers

In Worcestershire, Socialist Party members have played a leading role in a campaign against abuse of NHS staff. ‘Betrayed by Their Trust’ (BBTT) will have its second annual general meeting in February.

Dublin: #JobstownNotGuilty

Defend the right to protest: “We are more akin to a banana republic, and the rotten nature of the Irish state has been exposed.” These were the words of TD (MP) and Socialist Party member Ruth Coppinger in the Irish Parliament on 15 February as she rose to question Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny.

Leicester Unison no-cuts budget call

Leicester is a city dominated by Labour, with a Lib-Dem/Tory opposition group composed of just two councillors. However, like all other Labour councils up and down the country, they have been busy passing on Tory cuts with gusto (and crocodile tears).

Bristol: Hundreds march against council cuts

The Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance (Badaca) has written a letter to every councillor in Bristol calling on them to vote against the £101 million cuts budget being proposed by mayor Marvin Rees. Councillors met to vote on the budget on Tuesday 21 February, as the Socialist goes to press.

Tower Hamlets anti-cuts budget lobby

Tower Hamlets council plans to vote through cuts in its budget of £58 million on 22 February. Labour Party mayor John Biggs essentially thinks there’s no other option but to implement the Tory government cuts.

30% of people on inadequate incomes in UK

19 million people in the UK – nearly 30% of the population – live below the ‘minimum income standard’ (MIS) and “are just about managing at best,” according to a recent report by the poverty think-tank Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Stop the student loan sell-off – scrap all fees

The Tories are once again trying to privatise student debt.

Argos fails to pay staff minimum wage – taxman cuts fine in half!

Retail giant Argos has recently been caught red-handed paying 37,000 workers less than the national minimum wage.

What we saw

What we saw including an appalling Tory attack on the homeless, an NHS tale, refugee solidarity and a train robbery.

February revolution 1917 – what lessons for today?

23 February 1917 (8 March in today’s calendar) marked the beginning of the socialist revolution in Russia, which sparked a revolutionary wave that would travel around the world.

Aslef members reject Southern deal – now for coordinated action to fight to win

Train drivers in the trade union Aslef have delivered a tremendous answer of working-class solidarity that will astound Southern Rail management and the Tory government but also their own union leadership and that of the TUC. Despite the recommendation by Aslef leaders to accept the deal to end their dispute, drivers have rejected it by 54%-46% after a 72% turnout.

Tata pension deal: ‘Gun to the head’ offer accepted

Tata steelworkers have reluctantly accepted a ‘gun to the head’ pension deal which will end their final salary pension scheme and see it being replaced by an inferior defined contribution pension scheme.

Unison Women’s Conference

Socialist Party members attended the Unison Women’s conference in Brighton on 16-18 February, selling a dozen copies of the Socialist paper. Mia Hollsing, a national executive candidate for Wales, spoke calling for nationalisation of public transport to ensure safe travel for women and all passengers.

Workplace news in brief

Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles including tube strikes and Show Culture Some Love.

Socialism not Trumpism: Thousands more protest and plan to walkout

Reports of further nation-wide protests against Donald Trump on 20 February, the day Parliament debated his visit and Day X walkout plans.

A world to win – give us the resources!

Members of the Socialist Party throughout England and Wales will be attending our upcoming congress to discuss political developments both in Britain and across the world.

Socialist Party regional conference reports

Reports of Socialist Party regional conferences in East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire.

Obituary: John Pickett – 1954-2017

John Pickett, Socialist Party comrade and postal worker, has died very suddenly at the age of 63. I first met John in the early 1980s, just after he returned to Portsmouth after being at college in Stoke.

Wallasey Labour remains suspended despite collapse of allegations

The allegations of homophobic abuse, bullying and intimidation levelled by Angela Eagle and her anonymous and cowardly supporters against Wallasey constituency Labour party (CLP) have now collapsed due to the fact that there was absolutely no credible evidence.

Worried about fake news? Start with Labour councils’ budget lies

‘Fake news’ is in the headlines – and while Trump is the most obvious purveyor of what used to simply be called ‘lies’, the method is alive and well among Bristol’s Labour councillors and mayor.

Organise to reverse 28% rise in violence against retail workers

News that violence against shop workers has gone up by 28% in a year will come as no surprise to those who’ve worked in the industry. The British Retail Consortium reports that half of retail workers have been verbally abused, and over 8% assaulted.

The Socialist Inbox

Web series review: Cooked – “How capitalism ruined eating”

The title ‘Cooked’ doesn’t exactly sound like essential political viewing. But in this adaptation of Michael Pollan’s 2013 bestselling book of the same title, the author examines the contribution of cooking to human development and progress.