Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1104/31430
From The Socialist newspaper, 7 October 2020
Under the microscope
Tory areas dodge lockdown
Wealthy areas and Tory seats are avoiding local lockdown, according to health officials' emails leaked to the Times. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, decides which areas should go into lockdown during a weekly meeting. But there is no threshold for Covid-19 infection rates to trigger this.
Richmondshire in North Yorkshire, which includes Rishi Sunak's constituency and is among the least deprived areas in Britain, has avoided lockdown despite an infection rate of 73 new cases for every 100,000 people. This is a higher rate than Wolverhampton, Chorley, Lancaster, and Oadby and Wigston, which all remain under local lockdown.
One-third of bosses plan lay-offs
Over a third of UK employers plan redundancies in the next three months, according to a YouGov poll of managers. This is evidence that the government's so-called 'Job Support Scheme' isn't working. Then again, Sunak himself said "I can't save every job."
It's not too late to extend furlough and this is what unions should be fighting for. It's not too late to save jobs! Nationalise those firms threatening redundancy under democratic workers' control.
20,000 cases at Amazon
19,816 Amazon workers in the US have contracted Covid-19 since March, the company reports. At the same time, Amazon's profits have soared. Last quarter they achieved record profits of $5.2 billion.
Vaccination - don't get your hopes up
Less than half of the UK will get a Covid-19 vaccination. Many of us, encouraged by the government, have been 'holding out for a vaccine'. The head of the government's Vaccine Taskforce says that hope for the whole population to be vaccinated is "misguided."
She also says there will be no vaccines for people under 18 - only for those over 50, health and care workers, and the vulnerable. Big pharma has huge resources and fat profits. Nationalise it to guarantee vaccines for all. Distribute them under democratic working-class control.
Tory NHS disruption hypocrisy
"We could be looking at tens of thousands of avoidable deaths within a year" - these are the words of the Tory former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The NHS that he - until recently - presided over, has found itself overwhelmed and unable to cope during the pandemic.
Despite promises to introduce weekly testing across Britain - for NHS staff - this has not happened. "Failure to do so creates a real risk that the NHS will be forced to retreat into being a largely Covid-only service during a second spike," Hunt says.
If the NHS hadn't faced years and years of austerity and privatisation, it would be much better placed to cope. Renationalise it, fully fund it, and give the staff a 15% rise!
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 7 October 2020:
Coronavirus news
Tories put profit first: Gambling with our jobs and lives
Massive testing 'glitch' caused by privatised fragmentation
Contact tracer speaks out: privatised system 'in chaos'
Workplace news
Unison: Hugo Pierre's fighting programme to transform the union
Equity 'Panto Parade' demands more support for arts workers
News
Fight for jobs and homes for all - defend the right to asylum
Spooks step up surveillance of left
Probation Service: 'angry, frustrated' staff need fighting lead
Students
Cardiff student protest demands: 'refund our fees!'
Southampton students oppose unjust collective punishment
Black History Month
Non-fiction: 'Why I no longer talk to white people about race'
International
Worldwide capitalist crisis deepens - step up the fight for socialism
'Frozen conflict' reignites in Nagorno-Karabakh enclave
Germany: "Heroes" strike to demand a pay rise
Campaigns
£9,000 for education by Netflix
Leicester: Don't let them close our hospital
Waltham Forest: Council picks over 60 sites for mass gentrification
Say no to finance capital-backed luxury tower block in Enfield
Socialist Party: Campaigning for the NHS
Final total: £73,586 raised - now let's do it again
Defend Bracknell Community Services
Readers' opinion
Film: 'Sick' - 'They've got people looking in the wrong direction'
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