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By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
 The UNISON Local Government Service Group Executive
has voted to reject the employers’ 2.45% pay offer. The outcome of the
consultative ballot was 45% to accept and 55% for rejection. The issue will now
go to the Industrial Action Committee with a proposed timetable of a ballot
beginning 27th May and strike action to commence on 8th July.
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By Mick Brooks in 1989, Revised 2007
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
 Arms spending is vast. In 2008 global arms spending will be a record
£561 billion. This is seventeen times as much as the world spends on famine
relief (£32 billion). Obviously spending so much money has its effect on the
world economy. A central plank of the theory of the Socialist Workers’ Party is
the theory of the permanent arms economy. Mick Brooks looks at the view of
classical Marxism on arms spending and assesses the SWP’s theory.
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By Fred Weston
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Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
 Forty years ago the world was experiencing upheaval on a world scale that hadn't been seen for a generation. In the US opposition to the war in Vietnam gathered momentum, as it did in Britain. In Pakistan revolution was on the order of the day, and in Czechoslovakia we saw the Prague spring and Soviet Invasion. In May there was the glorious rising of the French working class, that saw 10 million workers down tools in a general strike.
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By David Brandon
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Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
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A name etched into the collective consciousness of the labour and trade
union movement is that of the 'Tolpuddle Martyrs', a case which clearly demonstrated that the State is
not a neutral instrument, but the means by which the ruling class will
use peaceful means by preference and violence if necessary in order to
maintain its power. So who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs,
what did they do and what lessons do they have for socialists in the
twenty-first century?
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By Eric Hollies
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
 There's an old saying that, 'When the USA sneezes, we all catch
cold.' Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown know that the USA is already
in recession. They know that the financial crisis is causing the
hatches to be battened down all over the world. But, they say, Britain
is immune. They've even commissioned a Treasury report to try to prove
it. Don't believe them. The chill winds of economic crisis are
coming our way. The parallels between the US, which is already in the
mire, and the UK are stark.
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By Anthony Healy
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
 The latest attempt
to criminalise young people by "framing and shaming" them and
"filming and repeatedly stopping identified persistent offenders on
problem estates" owes more to the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
than it does to evidence based practice. But what are the real reasons that "Youth Disorder" takes
place and what works?
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By Scottish Socialist Appeal Supporters
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
Wendy Alexander, leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has
declared that the SNP Government should “bring on” a referendum on independence
and has gone as far as to not rule out a bill calling for a poll earlier than
the Nationalist administration’s proposed date of 2010. This has resulted in
the issue of Scottish independence making a large impact on the national media
for the first time since the SNP’s victory in the Scottish Parliament elections
in May of last year. It has also unleashed a potential Pandora’s Box that is
threatening to divide the Labour leadership in Scotland from the national
leadership.
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By Michael Docherty
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
 Staff at the British
Library (BL) have voted to accept a 3 year pay offer that is significantly
below the cost of living. The trade unions (PCS & Prospect) finally
received an offer from BL management after a delay of 9 months, due entirely to
management's decision to postpone all pay talks until the outcome of
the government's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
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By Andy Viner
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
 Food prices have gone up worldwide by 75% since 2005. Since Gordon
Brown became prime minister (not that long ago) milk prices have gone
up by 17%, eggs by 28% and bread by 34% in this country. Other items
have shown even sharper increases. There's no sign of any letup. In the same way as we seem to have seen
the end of cheap oil, this could be the last of cheap food.
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By Rachel Heemskerk
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 The 27th
April marked the 40th anniversary of the coming into force of the
1967 Abortion Act that led to the saving of thousands of women’s lives. The Act
allowed women in England, Wales and Scotland access to safe abortion on the NHS
in a government approved hospital when 2 doctors agreed to the procedure within
the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. We must not turn the clock back by
criminalising women who find themselves in the position of needing an abortion.
We must join the lobby of parliament today to protect the
right to choose and not allow religious bigotry to put women back to the unsafe
abortions of the pre 1967 Abortion Act where thousands of women put their
health and even their lives in danger.
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By Rob Sewell
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 Following on from the disastrous election results of New Labour last Thursday, those left groupings who were hoping to capitalise on Labour's difficulties also found themselves in a mess. As Ted Grant explained, the working class always ignore the sects and in times of struggle always turn towards their traditional organisations.
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By Michael Roberts
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 Britain’s second-largest bank, the Royal Bank of
Scotland, which owns NatWest and has recently bought Holland’s largest bank
ABN-Amro, has announced that it lost £4bn in the last three months as a result
of the world’s great credit crunch. RBS says that it must write off £5bn in
loans and debt securities that it had on its books as worthless. And it now must ask existing shareholders to
stump up more money – as much as £10bn – to buy new shares in the bank so it
does not go bust.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
 The Tory victories in the local elections on May 1st
mean that the Conservatives will almost certainly go on to win the next general
election and form the next government. Theoretically the Labour leadership
could turn the situation round, but they seem incapable of changing their
disastrous course. New Labour is in meltdown.
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By Socialist Appeal Reporters
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
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The class struggle arises from the conditions of life of human beings.
It's a struggle of living forces; there are complicated and
complicating factors. Different industries have different conditions;
there are different traditions of struggle, different forms of
organisation, different political conditions over time and different
leaders.
