By Stewart Player and Colin Leys, Merlin Press, 2008.

This book is written in the classic muck-raking style. But then, there’s a great deal of muck to be raked. It deals with the introduction of Independent Sector Treatment Centres into the NHS. ISTCs are capitalist firms operating for profit. It was a New Labour brainwave for them to be given NHS surgical procedures to perform. The argument was that harnessing the private sector would help do away with the horribly long hospital waiting lists left after 18 years of Tory penny pinching.

www.marxisteconomics.com

This new website is now operational. Set up by supporters of the International Marxist Tendency, it is intended as a service and an educational tool for the entire labour movement. The website sets out Courses, Information and Resources. You work through the Courses, which are really at the heart of the educational project. At present there are two Courses – ‘Basic Concepts and Ideas’ and ‘Looking at Value.’ More are promised. There are hotlinks to definitions within the Courses. There are already signs of interaction and questioning among the first users. There is a section. ‘Latest posts.’ Feedback is welcomed.

Hundreds of thousands of local authority workers will be on strike on Wed 16th and Thurs 17th July. We believe the UNISON action this week will be an important new phase in the class struggle. This is a downloadable pdf leaflet for Socialist Appeal supporters, around which to plan our intervention. We would like supporters in every area to start planning now what you will be doing on those two days.