The Socialist 20 January 2016

Unite the fightback

Unite the fightback: Coordinated strikes needed

United workers' action can save NHS

Water firms' £1.2bn in profit off human need

Political policing: Met spy targeted socialists

Trident debate: socialist programme needed

Housing crisis reaches level of 1960s

Civil service: £1bn on consultants

Outrageous attacks on Corbyn for 'sexism'

Them & Us

1986 Wapping strike - Defeat of the print unions

People's Budget meeting success

Carmarthenshire Unison campaigns against council cuts

Unite the Union local government committee votes for no-cuts budgets

Preparing a no-cuts people's budget

Momentum and democracy in Hackney and beyond

Angry Labour meeting puts councillors under fire

Gateshead carers oppose respite centre closures

Celebrating Eleanor Marx's birthday

Nationalise Tata to save steel jobs!

Tube workers to strike again to defend jobs and conditions

Reinstatement victory for John Vasey

Shop workers lobby council against Sunday opening

Workplace news in brief

USA: Fight the billionaire class!

China: Financial turmoil spreads fear across global markets

Northern Ireland: Defy anti-abortion laws

Letters to the Socialist

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/885/22056

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 20 January 2016 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Them & Us

62 people own as much as half of humanity

Yes, you read that right. 62 billionaires now own as much as the poorest 50% of all humanity - 3.6 billion people.

Poverty charity Oxfam's latest study, 'An economy for the 1%', finds the wealth of this poorest half has fallen 41% in five years. That's a loss of $1 trillion dollars since 2010.

These 62 billionaires - the 0.000000008% - could all fit on one coach. The huge portion of human creation they control might need a few trailers, however.

Take the wealth off the super-rich. The Socialist fights for a society for the billions, not the billionaires.

Extortionate housing...

David Cameron is suddenly concerned about the housing crisis his government has created. His solution is developments like south London's 'Wimbledon View'.

Starting at £685,000, you need a household income of £67,000 a year to buy a two-bedroom shared-ownership flat.

So that will exclude even two junior doctors if Hunt has his way. And this scheme is built on former NHS land, which could have provided affordable housing for all health workers.

'Daisy', London housing worker

...housing extortioner?

Meanwhile, the same David Cameron has possibly earned a cool half a million in private rent since becoming prime minister.

The Daily Mirror reports he rents out his fancy Notting Hill home to private tenants. If he charges the same as a similar nearby property, he'll have raked in over £508,000 between May 2010 and today.

This is the same David Cameron who said he worries his children won't be able to buy a house. The Socialist can only assume he meant a second house, to rent out to those stupid enough not to have been born into a family of landlords.

What We Saw

#SportsDirectShame

Newcastle United fans unfurled a huge banner in protest at their club's exploitative owner on 12 January.

Activists with the National Shop Stewards Network and general union Unite targeted notorious zero-hours tyrant Mike Ashley. His Sports Direct retail firm forces workhouse-like conditions on its poverty-pay staff.

The banner appeared just before half time, and the match with Man United resulted in a 3-3 draw.

The Socialist says: scrap zero-hour contracts! Full-time hours for all who want them - with flexibility on workers' terms, not the bosses'. For a £10 an hour minimum wage now with no exceptions.

In this issue

Socialist Party news and analysis

Unite the fightback: Coordinated strikes needed