Britain

Woolwich attack: a reflection of capitalism's horrors

Details: Friday, 24 May 2013; Written by Luke Wilson

The violent murder of a serviceman in Woolwich has left the local community in shock. This action will no doubt heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom. No amount of increased state security apparatus can protect against such violent horrors, which ultimately reflect the wider horror that is capitalism – a system of seemingly permanent chaos and crisis.

Education for profit

Details: Monday, 20 May 2013; Written by Siôn Reynolds, NASUWT Portsmouth Local Association Secretary (personal capacity)

It is commonplace for the coalition government’s attacks on the welfare state and working-class living standards to be described as “ideological.” This is nowhere more so than for those policies being pursued by the current Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. Is it really the case that his policies are just ideological? Or is there something more material behind his manoeuvres? Sion Reynolds of the NASUWT in Portsmouth (personal capacity) examines the wider attacks to education.

Save our NHS: No to cuts! No to privatisation!

Details: Thursday, 16 May 2013; Written by Socialist Appeal

This weekend, on Saturday 18th May, London residents, hospital staff, Labour Party members, and trade unionists, will be protesting in the London-wide "Defend the NHS" demonstration to save the NHS, and defend this most valuable of institutions against Tory cuts and privatisation. As Aneurin Bevan, the former Labour Minister of Health and founder of the NHS, once said, "the NHS will exist as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it."

The limitations of the Green Party: the example of Brighton & Hove City Council

Details: Tuesday, 14 May 2013; Written by Jo Pickard, Sussex Marxists

Amidst the onslaught of privatisations, cuts, pay freezes and redundancies emerging from the capitalist crisis, Britain’s environment-conscious Green Party are becoming increasingly torn by political polarisation. Forced to carry out the same agenda of public sector cuts being advocated by the Con-Dem coalition in the interests of capital, the Green Party in Brighton & Hove City Council is beginning to experience inevitable contradictions and conflict regarding its political agenda.

Attacks on childcare expose coalition weakness

Details: Monday, 13 May 2013; Written by Rachel Gibbs, Glasgow Marxists

The concept of a coalition government lends itself towards instability and is somewhat problematic for the ruling class. But this becomes twofold in a period of economic crisis where the traditional party of the bosses has been unable to do its job of winning an outright majority. Rachel Gibbs looks at the latest attacks from the Tory-led government, which demonstrate the weakness of the coalition.

Will longer school hours benefit educational standards?

Details: Monday, 13 May 2013; Written by Siôn Reynolds, NASUWT Portsmouth Local Association Secretary (personal capacity)

Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove’s latest broadside against teachers is that our children and young people need shorter holidays and longer school days. He believes that we should learn from Asian countries and promote in our schools a culture of “working harder.” But is the British educational system actually broken? And in whose interest are these proposals really being made? Sion Reynolds of the teaching union NASUWT looks at the suggested changes in education.

Tory attack on legal aid: lawyers must organise and strike

Details: Friday, 10 May 2013; Written by Mark French

The Tory Minister for Justice, Chris Grayling, has recently published proposals to completely re-organise the way people facing criminal investigations or allegations get legal advice and representation at police stations and the courts. If these proposals are pushed through, it will amount to the biggest attack on the rights of working class people to free and independent legal advice that this country has ever seen. Mark French, a legal aid solicitor in London, analyses the latest attack on democratic rights.