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Margaret Thatcher was recently asked what she regarded as
her legacy. She replied with a smile, “Tony Blair”.
As world capitalism lurches into a deepening economic crisis
and world stock markets tumble, members of the Brown government, the continuers
of Blairism and New Labour, are more eager than ever to extol the virtues of millionaire
capitalism.
This series suggests a significant change
at the BBC. Generally Auntie’s representation of the working class has been
shaped within a tradition of liberalism which is supportive of the underdog or
sympathetic to those who fall through the welfare state safety net. This series fuels the problems by
making racism respectable and writing working class solidarity out of history.
It also presages the rise of Thatcher’s children within the media-ocracy. Be
warned - Tories at work - Auntie can turn nasty.
After the PSUV founding congress, the Venezuelan revolution
is back on the agenda. This is even more important than ever considering the
current world economic turmoil and the uncertainty surrounding Cuba's future
since Castro announced he was not standing for president. In Norwich the Hands Off Venezuela campaign has enjoyed success on campus, now for the first time the campaign has branched into the city. At the recent Stop the War march HoV, along with other solidarity campaigns, offered a revolutionary alternative to a capacity meeting.
It is a frightening possibility that, on May 2nd,
Londoners could wake up to find they have an extreme right-wing Tory as Mayor
of London. This is a truly scary scenario. Opinion polls show Boris the
Bumbling Buffoon – whom most regarded as a joke candidate when he threw his hat
into the ring – is creeping up on Ken.
More women are entering the boards of multinational corporations, taking top city jobs and breaking the 'glass ceiling' in traditionally male-dominated, high earning professions. Despite this the fact remains that the majority of those struggling on poverty wages are women. We republish this letter featured in this Saturday's Guardian (International Women's Day), which gets to the heart of the issue.
Last year saw the fortieth anniversary of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales - it took over a decade for Scotland and Northern Ireland to catch-up. Gay people had won the right to have sex: as long as you were both over 21, the curtains were shut, the doors closed, there was nobody else in the house and you weren't in the armed forces. Oddly enough heterosexuals have never had to fight for this very limited privilege.
We are now due another flu pandemic. This is nothing to do with some
evil 'Spooks' style conspiracy but a fact of life. Every 37 years or
so, the flu virus mutates or morphs into a new strain that humans
haven't suffered before. A dilemma for the State - they have spent the past decade whipping us into work, regardless of how ill we were.
British Gas delared record £571m profits this year. Regulator Ofgem has
claimed the energy giants are making £9 billion in windfall profits. As
soon as the government talks about a windfall profits tax or even
suggests these monster companies do something about 'fuel poverty' they
threaten to cut investment in clean energy. As Julia Finch (Guardian
5th March) says "Their audacity knows no bounds." Do we control them or
do they control us and the government? The case is overwhelming. We need
to take back the fuel companies into public ownership. Then we'll pocket
the profits
25th February 2008 would have been Phil Mitchinson’s 40th
Birthday. Phil who was an outstanding Marxist and a leader of the International
Marxist Tendency died tragically in November 2006. To commemorate this
anniversay we reprint a letter by Leon Trotsky to Jack London’s daughter which
gives Trotsky’s views of London’s book The Iron Heel, one of Phil’s favourite books.
This British perspectives draft document (2008), agreed on February
3rd, has been issued by the Socialist Appeal editorial board as part of
a wide-ranging discussion about the likely development of events in
British society. Such a document is not a blue-print, but an attempt to
understand the underlying processes at work in Britain today, and how
these will be reflected in the class struggle. The document will be
discussed at the Socialist Appeal conference at the end of April. 
It emerges from the Parliamentary debate on the
nationalisation of Northern Rock that billions of pounds are to be diverted
away from the intended purpose of preventing a banking collapse, into the
pockets of the Rock's management. The directors set up a financial institution called Granite, allegedly a charity for handicapped children. Not one handicapped child has seen the colour of their
money. The real purpose of Granite was to act as a scam for
tax-dodging.
Spongers, Scroungers and
Scum. These are just three of the many words used by the tabloids in describing the 2.7 million people on incapacity benefits. Recent figures show that 1.2 million of the 2.7
million people on incapacity benefits are unable to work due to mental health
problems. The rising number of claimants who suffer from mental disorders is a
reflection of a service-dominated economy.
This British perspectives draft document (2008), agreed on February
3rd, has been issued by the Socialist Appeal editorial board as part of
a wide-ranging discussion about the likely development of events in
British society. Such a document is not a blue-print, but an attempt to
understand the underlying processes at work in Britain today, and how
these will be reflected in the class struggle. The document will be
discussed at the Socialist Appeal conference at the end of April. 
This British perspectives draft document (2008), agreed on February 3rd, has been issued by the Socialist Appeal editorial board as part of a wide-ranging discussion about the likely development of events in British society. Such a document is not a blue-print, but an attempt to understand the underlying processes at work in Britain today, and how these will be reflected in the class struggle. The document will be discussed at the Socialist Appeal conference at the end of April.
