The Socialist issue 332
31 January 2004
Blair is Damaged Goods
Blair survived the vote in the House of Commons by a whisker. And because of the spinelessness of Labour MPs, students going to university in 2006 will pay up to £3,000 a year in tuition fees. …
Where Are Iraq’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction?
What Hutton didn’t ask: "I don’t think they existed," Kay said. "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last Gulf War [1991] and I don’t think there was a large-scale production programme in the 90s."…
Battered Blair Clings On For Now
BLAIR narrowly survived the vote on top-up fees. He saw a massive majority of 161 evaporate to just five, over what he himself called his ‘flagship’ policy. At the eleventh hour, spineless New Labour MPs bottled it – bullied and bribed into submission…
Brown – The Bosses’ Friend
WOULD CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown be an improvement on Tory Blair as Prime Minister? As Blair tries to dodge the banana skins, some people hope so…
Top-Up Fees – The Fight Goes On
HUNDREDS OF students braved the cold to demonstrate outside Parliament as MPs prepared to vote on top-up fees. Some spoke to the socialist about why they were there…
International socialist news and analysis
Workers Speak Out at World Social Forum
AS WE reported in last week’s issue of the socialist, over 120,000 people, mainly from the Indian sub-continent and other Asian countries, attended the fourth World Social Forum in the Indian city of Mumbai…
French Government’s Divisive Ban On Headscarves
ON 17 January 2004, demonstrations took place in many countries against the French government’s proposal to ban the wearing of the hijab (headscarf) in France’s state schools…
Socialist Party news and analysis
Socialist Party And The Respect Convention
LAST SUNDAY, 25 January, the founding convention of Respect took place and agreed to launch an electoral campaign across England and Wales, headed by George Galloway MP, for the June European and Greater London Authority elections…
"It’s Not Just Pay"
LAND ROVER workers were on official strike on 26 January, the first for 15 years. There were pickets of between 100 and 200 at the main entrances and within five minutes two deliveries were turned back…
Hackney Workers Fight ‘Single Status’
DRAMATIC CONFRONTATIONS took place last week as Hackney refuse workers began a four-day strike against big pay cuts being imposed by the council under the guise of ‘single status’…
Scotland: Nursery Nurses To Ballot For All-Out Action
AFTER EIGHT months of industrial action by Scotland’s nursery nurses, their union, UNISON is preparing to ballot for an all-out indefinite strike from March…
