The Socialist 21 February 2018

We can save our NHS

Chatsworth ward victory shows we can save our NHS

Tories raid £1bn from NHS facilities budget - unions must act

Blairite mayor faces open election after democratic 'irregularities' - fight for a no-cuts mayor

Facebook sides with state repression - reinstate the Tamil Solidarity page

Like rats from a sinking Ukip

Usdaw victory - Socialist Party member Amy Murphy wins presidential election

Bosses divided - university pension strikes can win!

After 80 strike days Mears workers achieve victory

Newham academies strike continues with three schools to strike together

Northern Ireland talks process paralysed

How can students and young people fight the Tories?

Leicester Uni makes Tory fee tripler David Willetts chancellor - sack Willetts!

South Africa: Ramaphosa is a safe pair of hands for capitalism

Russia: Ali Feruz, journalist and human rights activist, freed from jail

Building the campaign against clearances of the working class

Northants council crisis - protesters demand an end to cuts and privatisation

Victory: Pontllanfraith leisure centre saved

Save Salford nurseries!

Labour councillors push through savage cuts in Kirklees budget

May Day, May Day! Celebrate solidarity!

Bradford protests against kids' service cuts

Successful Socialist Party Wales conference sets tone for the year ahead

Tremendous determination on show at West Midlands conference

Lively discussion at East Midlands Socialist Party conference

Nottingham hospital black alert

Cardiff Refugee Rights gig success

Outrageous sentence for TUSC agent in 'misleading electors' court case

German engineering strike puts shorter week on agenda - but could have won more

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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/983/26934

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The Socialist inbox: letters to the editors, photo Suzanne Beishon (Click to enlarge)

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Stock answer

A quote from an Australian market strategist earlier this month - I thought it was funny: "Everyone is just running for the hills because nobody actually knows what is causing this move."

Pete Watson, Nottingham

(Click to enlarge)

Course cruelty

I have long been campaigning for the whip to be removed in horse racing, whereby jockeys lash the horses to make them run faster or harder.

That was partially successful where they have been limited in the number of times they can hit a horse.

Of course, that has been shown to not really work, jockeys continue to hit and are then fined or banned.

You only have to think of how sensitive a horse's skin is when they feel a fly land on them to realise how much it must hurt.

The other major issue is the number of horse deaths on the race courses. A tally has been kept since 2007 and, despite talk about increasing safety on the courses, more horses are dying every year.

No horse has the choice whether to run or not, even though every race could be their last, and I think it is safe to say that if the jockeys died in the numbers that horses do then racing would be outlawed.

A total of 1,649 deaths have now been recorded out of 3,994 days of racing, with more than 1,500 in the ten years up to 2017.

Living near Cheltenham race course, which has the worst death rate of any around the country, brings it home all the more - as the posters say: "You bet, they die." Racing is not natural - these horses have been specifically bred to go faster.