The Socialist issue 373
4 December 2004
Private hands off public services
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PRIVATE FINANCE Initiative (PFI) deals have always been extremely profitable for private contractors. But recent reports show what a bad deal it’s been for public services such as the NHS and how much greedy private companies use it to fill…
Pre-budget statement: Workers will pay for economic failure
CHANCELLOR GORDON Brown’s pre-budget statement will probably be the last before the expected general election in May. This could come just in time for the New Labour government as they will have to face some unpalatable economic and financial…
NHS not safe in Labour’s hands
IT WAS ‘black Wednesday’ for the health service in Wales on 24 November. The New Labour-dominated Welsh Assembly government announced the effective closure of the paediatric neurosurgery unit at Swansea’s Morriston hospital…
Blair’s election strategy threatens democratic rights
NEW LABOUR’S general election strategy is now clear. They say "vote Labour" for tough measures on law and order and to fight the ‘war on terror’…
No top-up fees
National union of students demo: THE NATIONAL Union of Students (NUS) has called a demonstration in Cardiff on 2 December, to protest against top-up fees. New Labour has decided that burdening students with fees of over £1,000 a year and getting rid of grants and replacing them…
Fighting fund Christmas appeal
The Socialist Party is appealing for donations to our funds this Christmas…
International socialist news and analysis
Ukraine: Neither Yanukovych or Yuschenko
AS THE socialist goes to press, Ukraine’s supreme court is expected to rule on the country’s disputed presidential election…
Socialist Party councillor elected in Australia
SOCIALIST PARTY member Stephen Jolly has won a seat in Langridge Ward in the Yarra City Council elections in Melbourne, Australia. This is the first electoral victory for the socialist movement in Australia for many years…
Iraq election crisis
Seventeen political groups, mostly Sunni, have called for the postponement of elections in Iraq, scheduled for 30 January. They include the party of the stooge interim prime minister Iyad Alawi and former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi…
Committee for a Workers’ International: Building the forces of socialism worldwide
Committee for a Workers’ International: THE INTERNATIONAL Executive Committee (IEC, the elected leadership of the Committee for a Workers’ International – CWI) recently met to discuss the impending crisis in the world economy, the effect of Bush’s re-election and the continuing bloody occupation of Iraq and Europe…
Which Revolution?
Which Revolution, directed by Asociación Civil Ciudadania Activa, Venezuela 2004…
Socialist Party workplace news
UNISON general secretary election: A fighting programme to defend pensions
“YOU’VE GOT five months to save your pension.” That’s how Roger Bannister, who is standing in the general secretary election campaign in public sector union UNISON, described the threat to council workers’ pensions…
Save the Jag! Renationalise Jaguar to save jobs
THOUSANDS OF workers demonstrated in support of Jaguar workers at Coventry’s Browns Lane plant – who are facing redundancies and closure at the hands of car multinational Ford – on Saturday 27 November…
Brighton teaching assistants fight council attacks
Defend public services: BY STRIKING on 25-26 November, teaching assistants (TAs) across Brighton and Hove showed their willingness to fight the council to receive a fair and decent salary…
DWP needs more experienced staff, not less
DWP computer crash – private companies fail public services… again: LAST WEEK, the biggest computer crash in government history hit the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)…
