There have been a lot of disasters on the railways in Britain. But the
real disaster has been rail privatisation itself. There was a lot of rhetoric from the Tories
about the ‘dynamism and efficiency’ private capitalism would bring, but experience has
shown that the only people to benefit from rail privatisation have been the profiteers, not
the general public that has to use the railways. So what is the alternative?
The events in Oldham have hit the national headlines. Similar explosions of racial conflict have taken place in other towns in Britain. This has brought the BNP and the danger from far-right groups back into the spotlight. Bryan Beckingham, Secretary of Oldham National Union of Teachers, and Alan Creear in Oldham describe the background to these developments.
Editorial note: The following is a full version of the shorter article we
published on 8 June on the British election.
Labour has won the elections with a majority of 167 seats at Westminster,
only
slightly down on last time when they won a landslide majority of
179 seats. On the face of it, it is an outstanding triumph for Tony
Blair. But these results do not adequately express the contradictory
nature of the mood in British society. The mood of the masses is
sceptical. The working class is disappointed and frustrated with
New Labour. Despite Labour’s landslide victory, the underlying
mood is extremely volatile.