Socialist Appeal

Britain

The Butler Report: The Blair government let off the hook again

Thursday, 15 July 2004
The Butler Report, the official inquiry into how intelligence sources were used by the Blair government to justify the war in Iraq, has produced nothing surprising. It is another whitewash, just like the Hutton report. What is amazing however is that it provides enough evidence to show that the government did indeed lie to the British people, that it went to war under false pretences.

Historic defeats for Blair in Super Thursday's polarised elections

By Phil Mitchinson
Wednesday, 16 June 2004
The 2004 elections to the European Parliament, London Assembly, and local councils were a historic defeat for Blair and the Labour leaders. Phil Mitchinson looks at the rise of the UK Independence Party, and the lessons of Britain's Super Thursday elections.

Secrets, Spies and Cover-ups

By Phil Mitchinson
Thursday, 26 February 2004
Former Cabinet Minister Clare Short, who resigned over the war, has candidly admitted that British Intelligence had spied on UN officials including Secretary General Kofi Annan, in the run-up to the Iraq war. This follows on the admission of a former translator at GCHQ who revealed that the US intelligence services has asked the British to spy on senior UN officials and representatives of other "allied" governments.

WHITEWASH! The Hutton report or How the Establishment looks after its Own

Saturday, 31 January 2004

Imagine a game of football where the manager of one team made up the rules to benefit his own side, where the goalposts were moved and where the referee was on his side. The outcome of such a match would, of course be known in advance by the winning side, who would then run around the stadium in a state of ecstasy, yelling “Victory!” That is precisely what happened with the now infamous Hutton report.

Britain: Hutton Whitewash Blair cannot run forever -

By Phil Mitchinson
Friday, 30 January 2004
The Hutton inquiry produced few surprises. Naturally Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell were exonerated. This inquiry was no different to any of its predecessors, since no such inquiry ever found a government to be guilty. It was a whitewash.

Britain: Blair Avoids Defeat� For Now

Wednesday, 28 January 2004

Teflon Tony, otherwise known as the 'Houdini of British politics' has narrowly escaped a major political defeat yet again. It is however fair to say that his protective layer of teflon may be wearing off, as the Labour majority in parliament was reduced to just 5, down from the on-paper majority of 161. Thebill on tuition top-up fees passed its second reading by a vote of 316 to 311, and the Labour Party's parliamentary group is looking seriously beleaguered after an intense few days of political haggling and backroom swindles.

GM Products: the Wrong Debate

Monday, 19 January 2004

Since last summer we have seen a widespread debate about the pros and the cons of GM products. There are people for and against GM products from all the different political shades. The bourgeois papers have been very keen on giving voice to different people in the debate. What is missing, however, is a class point of view. No one poses the question from the point of view of ordinary working people.

A Christmas Carol – 2003 style: Part One: Scrooge is alive and well in Blair's Britain

Tuesday, 23 December 2003

The festive season in Britain got off to a grim start with the discovery of two pensioners who died weeks after their gas supply was cut off because of an unpaid bill of £140. These events happened, not in 1840 but in our own times. The Office of National Statistics predicts that 2,500 people will die of cold this week. The cause of these deaths is usually attributed to things like influenza, heart attacks, pneumonia and the like. But the real cause in most cases is poverty and neglect.

A Christmas Carol – 2003 style: Part Two: The Blair leadership's strange concept of "social justice"

Tuesday, 23 December 2003
In Gordon Brown's recent Budget Report for 2003 we are told that "social justice" is the aim of the Blair government. A closer look at official statistics shows that the opposite is being achieved.

Making History - British Socialist Appeal editorial statement, December 2003

By Phil Mitchinson
Monday, 01 December 2003
This is how history is made. Hundreds of thousands of protestors flood the capital demonstrating their opposition to a President who holds office thanks to a rigged election. They demand democracy, they demand their voices be heard, they demand that the President go. The biggest weekday demo in British history greeted the visit of George W. Bush. Meanwhile in Georgia, a President and not just an effigy was overthrown.

Death of Al Richardson

Thursday, 27 November 2003
Death of Al Richardson

Over 200,000 people demonstrate in London - The toppling of George W. Bush

Friday, 21 November 2003

On Tuesday November 18th, President George Bush arrived at Buckingham Palace for a three-day state visit, complete with red carpets, banquets and cannon salutes. Outside the palace gates, a huge security operation was under way. Some 5,000 British police officers were on hand to protect the president, along with the 700 or so secret-service agents Mr Bush brought with him. More than 200,000 people participated in the biggest weekday demo in the history of Britain to protest at his visit and to cheer the symbolic toppling of his statue.

The Challenge to Blairism

By Phil Mitchinson
Monday, 03 November 2003
Strikes, demonstrations, political crises, Britain looks a lot different now than it did when Blair and co came to power. For us the task of the hour is to give active support to workers struggling to defend jobs and services and carry that fight over into the Labour Party, into a fight for socialist policies.

Britain in 2003 - Part One

By Phil Mitchinson
Monday, 01 September 2003
In the nine months since the publication of our perspectives' document, The New Situation in Britain, events internationally and here in Britain have continued to accelerate. The consequences of the imperialist adventure in Iraq have had an even greater impact in Britain than in the US. Here the furore over the death of weapons inspector Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton inquiry represent the most important crisis faced by Blair to date. It is clear that the new situation in Britain is part and parcel of a new, profoundly unstable and tumultuous period in world history.

Britain in 2003 - Part Two

By Phil Mitchinson
Monday, 01 September 2003
In Part one of his article Phil Mitchinson looked at the world situation and how this affects Britain. In this second part he looks at the devastation of British manufacturing over a period of decades as shown by the investment and output figures he provides. He goes on to chart the degeneration of the British ruling class, from its far-sighted predecessors to the current degenerates who can't see past their bank balances. This reflects itself in the present mess the Tory party finds itself in.