News and socialist analysis

Capitalist climate hypocrisy

Boris Johnson and the Tories see the COP26 conference in November as an opportunity to showcase their vision for a 'Global Britain' leading the way on climate change

Pay NHS and care staff to address worker shortages

Boris Johnson's suggestion of a pay rise for HGV drivers to attract more workers into this essential job is very welcome

Capitalism's economic instability in the 'new normal'

Volatility in world supply chains: The recent acute shortages of energy, goods and labour in some sectors in the UK stems in large part from UK-specific capitalist failings

Pandora leaks put capitalism in the dock

Expose it and fight for a socialist alternative

The explosive leaking of 6.4 million documents and 1.2 million emails showing the totally parasitic nature of capitalism and its rulers in today's world. Implicated are 35 heads of state, over 100 billionaires and 300 public officials.

End profit-fuelled crisis

Queues at petrol stations, fuel bills rising, the risk of empty supermarket shelves for Christmas - all symptoms of a sick system.

Workers reject 3% pay insult

The miserly 3% 'pay rise' for NHS workers is amounting to effectively nothing.

More market chaos: York students given digs in Hull

Over 100 incoming University of York students have been burdened with a 72-mile round trip between the university and their accommodation

Flexibility to suit workers not the bosses

'Agile working' is often described as an approach to work which entails maximum flexibility and minimum constraints

Sunak's student special

A cruel cut to the loan payback threshold: In another determined effort to take money off the working class to pay for the pandemic, the government is set to slash the threshold at which students pay back their loans

News in brief

One million will be 10% worse off due to the £20-a-week Universal Credit cut. And with income going down, the costs of food, gas and electricity are going up. The poorest tenth of the population spend

Starmer consolidates post-Corbyn Blairite transformation of Labour

Mandelson once said New Labour was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". He is now intensely happy about this year's Labour conference.

New openings for militant trade unionism

The victory of Sharon Graham as general secretary of Unite has struck the labour movement as a thunderbolt. This can be a pivotal moment.

Workers' politics won't come from Labour

In addressing TUC Congress, Sir Keir Starmer claimed that "Labour will always stand with the unions", standing "shoulder to shoulder" with them over vicious attacks such as 'fire and rehire'. But the reality is very different.

Energy market chaos makes the case for nationalisation

Millions of gas consumers face price hikes and uncertainty in supplies

Tory cuts to UC: we need a union fightback

From 6 October Universal Credit will be cut by £20 per week

Famine in Madagascar

The problems that climate change will pose for food production are already being felt in Madagascar. The country's south has faced four years of back-to-back droughts which have wiped out harvests. As

Life expectancy falls - a condemnation of capitalism

I often think when I hear that a member of the royal family has died at the ripe old age of 101 - 'didn't they have a good innings, they mustn't grumble!'

Tax fraud could be over £20 billion annually

The think tank Taxwatch estimates as much as £15.2 billion of UK tax lost in 2020 was from fraudulent activity - almost half of uncollected income.

Socialists and the four-day week

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with fears of rising unemployment as the furlough scheme is wound up, and the full extent of the economic scarring from the pandemic is revealed, there are also increased demands around improved work-life balance after a year of many working from home

Working class under attack

Low pay, benefit cuts, tax increases, price rises: The bosses and the Tories are putting millions of workers through even more hell. The cost of living has soared with inflation rising to 3.2% - following its highest-ever recorded monthly increase. Rent