The Socialist 6 January 2016

Fight the flood of cuts

2016: Crisis-ridden capitalism will meet with bitter mood of resistance

No retreat on resisting council cuts!

Fight the flood of cuts

Support junior doctors' and student nurses' action

Another black man shot dead by the police

UK's private rail fares six times public rates

Birmingham Labour to axe at least 1,200 jobs in £165m cuts onslaught

UK wage growth will be lowest since 1920s

NHS England chiefs block hospitals from publicising emergencies

What we saw: Sadiq Khan's promises on London transport

Them & Us

Floods, climate change and capitalism

Carlisle Socialist Party's action plan on floods

Profit system exacerbates flooding

Tories' hypocritical green policies pledge

Renationalise the water industry

No government majority as Podemos partially recovers

Union action needed to defeat attack on student nurses

Nationalise rail now! Rail workers strike around the country

Steel: public ownership needed as private buyers threaten pay and pensions

Condescending Tories savage Yorkshire fire service

Workplace news in brief

Dark comic book fantasy throws light on abusive relationships

"I chose to be involved in politics, Michael Crick"

Letters

A 'People's Budget' to defeat cruel cuts

Stop the closure of Calderstones hospital!

2015 marks best fighting fund total this century!

Eleanor Marx: celebrate a life of struggle for socialism

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NHS workers under attack

Support junior doctors' and student nurses' action

Matt Whale, student nurse

The attack launched on student nurse bursaries underlines the continued campaign the Tories are conducting against our NHS. NHS spending is at its lowest as a percentage of GDP since 1951, and the treasury is demanding a further £22 billion worth of cuts by 2020.

There is a huge shortage of nurses within the NHS. The current shortage is already over 20,000 and is likely to increase. The logical solution to this would be to invest in student nurse places and increase the funding to cover the shortfall. Some 37,000 applicants have been unsuccessful in their efforts to get onto a nursing a course. Demand is there for places on courses, yet the government is cutting the £1.2 billion bursary for the training of the next generation of nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals.

The government is claiming this will allow for a lifting of the block on recruitment as costs will be kept down. But the reality is people will be unable to afford to train to be a nurse. There may be more places but what's the point if people can't afford to take them up?

The NHS is one the greatest victories the British working class has ever won. The Tories hated it from its inception and are determined to destroy it. Nye Bevan famously said that the NHS will last as long as there are folk left with faith to fight for it.

The fantastic fight by the junior doctors and the huge public support for their struggle shows people will still fight to defend the NHS. Junior doctors are being forced once again to name strike days as the government attacks their terms and conditions and risks the safety of patients. The other health unions should join forces with the BMA and launch a national campaign to defend the NHS.

Join the student nurses' demonstration on 9 January at 12pm, St Thomas' Hospital, London and support the junior doctors' strike action on 12 January.