19 articles from the Socialist, issue 442

1 June 2006

‘Stop the NHS cuts, end low pay’

Healthworkers say…: “LOW PAY no way.” “They say cutback, we say fightback.” Hundreds of porters, cleaners and other hospital staff held a lively lunchtime protest outside Whipps Cross hospital in northeast London on 26 May.

The hospital Trust is considering axing 400 jobs and closing four wards and two theatres. £15 million could be cut from primary care.

"We’re seeing the Americanisation of the NHS"

OVER 30 people, many of them health workers, came to the first Waltham Forest Save our NHS campaign meeting. Len Hockey, UNISON joint branch secretary at Whipps Cross hospital, outlined the attacks that the hospital Trust,…

Blair goes nuclear

Environment: RECENTLY, PRIME minister Tony Blair told CBI dinner guests that he backed building a new generation of nuclear power stations, saying nuclear power was "back on the agenda with a vengeance"…

Can the Tories win the next election?

FOLLOWING LABOUR’S disastrous local election results this is a question that many people are now asking. After years of un-electability, is it possible that under their new leader, David Cameron, they could return to haunt working-class…

A strategy to take on New Labour

An open letter to Respect councillors: TOWER HAMLETS Socialist Party sent the letter below to each of the 12 Respect councillors elected to the local council…

Iraq – lame duck leaders have no solution

WHILE ACTING Prime Minister John Prescott was amusing himself on the croquet pitch, the real thing was in Washington D.C. for talks with his partner in crime – the senior partner, that is -George Bush, writes Keith Pattenden.

Brazil: Hundreds killed by brutal military police

BRAZIL’S HATED Military Police (PM) had a brutal response to the violence unleashed by the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in São Paulo on 12 May (see last week’s the socialist), writes Tony Saunois, CWI, Brazil.

Massaker

The socialist review: Neil Cafferky reviews Massaker, a documentary shown at the Palestine Film Festival involving interviews with five of the participants in the destruction of Sabra and Chatila refugee camps during the Lebanese civil war…

‘Correction’ or crash?

World economy: IN THE second week of May there was a convulsion in the world financial system. Shortly after rising to near-peak levels, shares fell sharply on world stock exchanges, especially in so-called ’emerging markets’ like India and Turkey. Lynn Walsh examines these events and exposes the instability of the global capitalist system.

Crisis in the Scottish Socialist Party

THE SCOTTISH Socialist Party (SSP) has been rocked by the release of an open letter by Tommy Sheridan to SSP members which accuses “an unsavoury cabal of comrades at the core of the leadership who are more interested in pursuing personal vendettas, through vile lies and slander, than conducting the class struggle”, writes Philip Stott, International Socialists, (CWI Scotland).

PCS conference: The record of a campaigning union

PCS conference: The record of a campaigning union: CIVIL SERVICE union PCS conference takes place from 5 June, with the Left Unity-led national executive (NEC) having increased its majority for the fourth year running, writes Mark Baker, PCS NEC, personal capacity.

Drivers strike over tax bills

South West Trains: TWO HUNDRED train drivers, members of ASLEF based at Waterloo station in London, were on strike on 30 May. This was the first of a series of one-day strikes over the removal of tax benefits in kind by their employer South West, writes Chris Newby.

Tesco goes west – with non-union job ads

TESCO HAS given its chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, a pay rise of almost 25%. He took away almost £4 million in salary, bonus and other benefits for the year to 25 February, against £3.2 million the year before. Leahy was also…