Revolutionary greetings this festive period to all members and supporters of the Socialist Party, cartoon by Alan Hardman

Revolutionary greetings this festive period to all members and supporters of the Socialist Party, cartoon by Alan Hardman   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Brexit chaos… austerity… cataclysmic climate change… far-right populism… stop worrying and instead enjoy the Socialist quiz of 2018 – and step up the fight for socialism in 2019!

1. How many days into 2018 did it take the chief executives of the FTSE100 companies to ‘earn’ the average worker’s salary for the year?

2. Name the Usdaw Broad Left and Socialist Party member elected president of Usdaw?

3. Name the construction and services giant which went bust on 15 January?

4. In February, who failed to turn up for an opening ceremony?

5. What import ban by China impacted on the UK?

6. Who took 14 days of strike action to defend their pensions?

7. Which group of NHS workers sent a message of thanks to the Socialist Party?

8. What has doubled in the UK over the last decade?

9. Which city told its residents to prepare for no water supply?

10. What label was given to anti-austerity/fuel tax protesters in France?

11. Name the TUSC-supported independent anti-cuts councillor reelected in May?

12. Which revolutionary’s 200th birthday was celebrated on 5 May?

13. Who was forced to resign over the Windrush scandal?

14. Which groups of workers took coordinated strike action on 4 October?

15. How many government ministers resigned over May’s Brexit deal?

16. Who said fatal stabbings in London were due to gun control?

17. Which shooting massacre in February led to a nationwide uprising of students demanding gun control?

18. According to the National Audit Office, how much will rip-off PFI contracts cost the public purse over the next 25 years?

19. What percentage of wildlife has been wiped out largely by capitalist industry and agriculture since 1970?

20. Who warned the Tory government that Universal Credit could become the Poll Tax of the modern political era?

21. According to a US Gallup poll, what percentage of 19 to 26-year-olds had a positive view of socialism?

22. Name the Trump-nominated US Supreme Court judge who generated widespread outrage?

23. Name the far-right populist elected president of Brazil?

24. Who were jailed over a protest against fracking company Cuadrilla in Blackpool?

25. What eventually commenced in Britain after 30 years and 3,000 dead?

26. Which failed British politician was hired by Facebook?

27. What sent Putin’s popularity ratings plummeting in Russia?

28. Who ‘made history’ on 23 and 24 October?

29. Who imposed a 10% cash commission for returning a lost wallet?

30. Which Labour MP denounced “Trots, Stalinists, communists and assorted hard left” after the passing of a no-confidence vote?

31. What has been determined to cause a huge decrease in brain power?

32. Name the German city where 5,000 far-right thugs attacked migrants and anti-racists?

33. Who threw a ten-year reunion party?

34. Who issued a Section 114 notice?

35. Who succeeded after taking 80 days of strikes?

36. Where were 91 people killed in wildfires?

37. According to recently released Tory cabinet papers from the mid-1980s, how many civil servants were on a political blacklist?

39. Who replaced Jeremy Hunt as health secretary?

40. How much does the Home Office charge refugee children to register as British citizens?

41. Which MP was suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days for not declaring their expenses?

42. A Maidenhead primary school in Theresa May’s constituency asked its pupils’ parents for what?

43. Who won Mexico’s 1 July presidential election?

44. Where did an anti-austerity general strike in June remove the prime minister?

45. Who was held responsible for the railways’ timetable chaos in May?

46. How much did Boots charge the NHS for a medicated mouth wash?

47. How many school students went on strike in the Spanish state in November, against sexism and for inclusive sex education?

48. In April, where did construction workers take successful unofficial action over victimisation by management?

49. Where in Europe did abortion become legal?

50. Which daily newspaper conceded the London living wage to its cleaners?


Quiz answers

1. Four. By then they had pocketed £28,000.

2. Amy Murphy.

3. Carillion, with £1.5 billion of debt, including a huge £590 million pension fund deficit.

4. Donald Trump for the new London US embassy opening – undoubtedly fearful of mass protests.

5. Its refusal to continue taking 500,000 tonnes a year of UK plastic waste.

6. Members of the University and College Union.

7. Staff at Chatsworth rehab ward in Mansfield after they, along with community campaigners and Socialist Party members, stopped the ward’s closure.

8. Rent. Landlords pocketed £51.6 billion, double that of 2007.

9. Drought-hit Cape Town in South Africa. Ignoring warnings years before to fix the water infrastructure, the authorities instead threatened a ‘day zero’ unless ration-hit residents consumed even less.

10. ‘Gilets jaunes’ (yellow vests) – on account of them donning hi-vis vests.

11. Keith Morrell in Southampton.

12. Karl Marx

13. Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Although the Tories’ “hostile environment” policy was introduced by former home secretary Theresa May.

14. Predominantly young trade unionists at Wetherspoon, McDonald’s and TGI Fridays – demanding £10-an-hour pay.

15. Ten (and counting) since the Chequers cabinet meeting in July.

16. Donald Trump. Who else?

17. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, USA. 17 students and staff died.

18. £200 billion from over 700 contracts.

19. 60%.

20. Tory ex-PM John Major.

21. 51%.

22. Reactionary judge Brett Kavanaugh – accused of sexual assault but approved by the Senate.

23. Jair Bolsonaro – he’s like Trump but on steroids.

24. Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts and Rich Loizou. The first jailing of environmentalists since the 1932 Kinder Scout mass trespass. All three were released on appeal.

25. The Infected Blood Inquiry. A health scandal involving past Tory ministers.

26. Former Lib Dem leader Nick – ‘I lied about tuition fees’ – Clegg.

27. His decision to raise the qualifying age of men and women’s pensions by five years.

28. Glasgow women council workers, whose strike for equal pay was the biggest since the 1970 Equal Pay Act.

29. Arriva Trains Wales. Its tariff list on returning lost property items was hastily dropped after a public outcry.

30. Enfield North MP Joan Ryan.

31. Air Pollution, according to Yale School of Public Health.

32. Chemintz. The pogrom atmosphere spurred anti-racist protests throughout Germany.

33. Former Lehman Brothers bankers. The bank’s collapse was centre-stage of the 2008 capitalist financial crisis.

34. Bankrupt Tory Northamptonshire county council. It stopped all new expenditure apart from statutory services, and cut the budget by a further £65 million.

35. Mears housing maintenance workers in Manchester – winning a 20% pay rise over three years.

36. Greece. Austerity cuts had slashed the fire service budget. A similar number also died in California’s forest fires. Trump disingenuously blamed mismanagement not budget cuts and climate change.

37. 1,433. 733 were ‘Trotskyists’, many supporters of Militant, forerunner of the Socialist Party.

39. Matt Hancock – with a track record of supporting NHS privatisation measures.

40. £1,102 even though the administration costs are reportedly £372.

41. The DUP’s Ian Paisley jnr who enjoyed several family holidays paid by the Sri Lankan government of war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa.

42. Among other things, it requested toilet paper!

43. Anti-establishment candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor or ‘AMLO’.

44. Jordan.

45. Transport secretary Chris Grayling was slammed by a Commons’ select committee.

46. £3,220. It was available elsewhere for £93.

47. Over one million. It was called by Sindicato de Estudiantes and Libres y Combativas (in which the sister party of the Socialist Party plays a leading role).

48. Hull Energy Works. Socialist Party member Keith Gibson played a crucial role in their reinstatement.

49. Republic of Ireland. The country’s constitutional ban was decisively overturned in a referendum. Abortion is still not legal in Northern Ireland.

50. The Daily Mail. Its mainly migrant cleaners had threatened an all-out strike.