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2016: Crisis-ridden capitalism will meet with bitter mood of resistance

Stormy events were compressed into 2015 and more are to come, writes Peter Taaffe

No retreat on resisting council cuts!

Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters must fight back against the pressure from Labour’s right wing to collude in a new round of savage cuts to local council services and jobs

Fight the flood of cuts

Parts of northern England, north Wales and Scotland were hit by severe flooding over the holidays. Yet this was not simply a natural disaster. Government cuts to flood defences made the problem worse.

Support junior doctors’ and student nurses’ action

NHS workers under attack: The attack launched on student nurse bursaries underlines the continued campaign the Tories are conducting against our NHS. NHS spending is at its lowest as a percentage of GDP since 1951, and the treasury is demanding a further £22 billion worth of cuts by 2020.

Another black man shot dead by the police

Jermaine Baker was shot during an alleged attempt to spring two convicts from a prison van

UK’s private rail fares six times public rates

Workers in Britain spend six times as much of their salaries on privatised rail fares as Europeans who use publicly owned services, a new study has shown.

Birmingham Labour to axe at least 1,200 jobs in £165m cuts onslaught

TUSC seeks joint campaign with Momentum: Birmingham’s Labour council has drafted budget cuts of £90 million in the next financial year and £75 million in the year after. 1,218 jobs will go in 2016-17, and an unspecified number the following year.

UK wage growth will be lowest since 1920s

Chancellor George Osborne’s pet austerity apologists at the Office for Budget Responsibility have released figures predicting wage growth of just 6.2% over the decade to 2020. This is less than half the 12.7% growth from 2000 to 2010.

NHS England chiefs block hospitals from publicising emergencies

Health chiefs’ new rules mean hospitals must prevent admissions, cancel routine operations, and even cancel some urgent operations, before they can announce top-level overcrowding status.

What we saw: Sadiq Khan’s promises on London transport

Our news editor was leafleted by Labour right-winger Sadiq Khan’s election team on his way in to work. Khan is standing for London mayor, and transport is a centrepiece of his campaign.

Them & Us

It’s one world for the super-rich and their politicians, and another one for the rest of us. MPs award themselves even cheaper posh meals, while basic foodstuffs get costlier.

Floods, climate change and capitalism

This winter’s extreme weather events were entirely predictable. In fact, cabinet ministers were advised just days before storm Desmond hit Cumbria that such floods would occur and that current flood defences were inadequate because of spending cuts.

Carlisle Socialist Party’s action plan on floods

Immediately following the floods, Carlisle Socialist Party drew up the outline of an action plan to prevent future disasters.

Profit system exacerbates flooding

The flooding over Christmas has been some of the worst in recent memory. Fingers are rightly being pointed to the cuts the Tory government has made to flood defence spending, as well as to the emergency services.

Tories’ hypocritical green policies pledge

The response of the Tory government has not been a drive to switch to renewable energy supplies and other green policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Renationalise the water industry

Reader’s letter: When water was privatised, a lot of venture capitalists found that you can’t actually run a public utility at a profit unless you dump some expensive, but vital, functions – like maintenance.

No government majority as Podemos partially recovers

Spain – elections mark shift to left: The elections on 20 December registered a fundamental change in the political situation and composition of the parliament. This change was also reflected in the local elections in May.

Union action needed to defeat attack on student nurses

The government’s 2015 Autumn Statement announced that it intends to end the payment of student bursaries for nursing, midwifery and allied health professional students – as proposed by the Council of Deans of Health – from 1 September 2017. This has been met with anger and alarm.

Nationalise rail now! Rail workers strike around the country

Aslef and RMT union members at Arriva Trains Wales walked out for 24 hours on 4 January with all its services cancelled, over terms and conditions. Some services on the morning of 5 January were also disrupted, with the strike causing chaos as many returned to work after the Christmas break.

Steel: public ownership needed as private buyers threaten pay and pensions

The SNP government continues to orientate its taskforce towards finding a private buyer rather than using the option of nationalisation.

Condescending Tories savage Yorkshire fire service

“The idea that you go from a fire engine with five firefighters on to a van with just two is just madness.”

Workplace news in brief

Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. Prison officers’ conference to discuss attacks at work; junior doctors’ strike back on; fighting the anti-union bill in Lancashire.

Dark comic book fantasy throws light on abusive relationships

TV review – Jessica Jones: This is the latest production from Marvel, one of the homes of spandex-clad superheroes and villains. But in many ways, Jessica Jones is the complete opposite of the fantasy and explosion they normally purvey with such aplomb.

“I chose to be involved in politics, Michael Crick”

Featured letter: Last month, a television crew barged into a meeting in an east London cafe. Walthamstow Socialist Party had organised a discussion with a group of school students interested in campaigning against bombing Syria. Nancy Douglas, 15, responds.

Letters

Letters to the editors of the Socialist. Labour’s right wingers are the real bullies, not the left; New Labour grandees rewarded by the banks.

A ‘People’s Budget’ to defeat cruel cuts

In Tower Hamlets, TUSC and the Tower Hamlets Independent Group of councillors are holding a joint meeting against the cuts, asking local residents, trade unionists and campaigners to help draw up an alternative ‘People’s Budget’ for Tower Hamlets.

Stop the closure of Calderstones hospital!

Workers and trade unions organised an impressive rally to oppose the hospital’s closure

2015 marks best fighting fund total this century!

Last year, Socialist Party members smashed all 21st century records for raising fighting fund! Following a record Socialism 2015 appeal, our members and supporters have donated and raised over £39,000 in the final quarter of the year.

Eleanor Marx: celebrate a life of struggle for socialism

Celebrate the 160th anniversary of the birth of Eleanor Marx who played a pivotal role in the development of the trade union movement, the birth of the Labour Party and as a tireless fighter for working class people, especially women, all over the globe.