The draconian budget rolled out in June is only the first instalment in
a five year programme of austerity to be inflicted upon the British
people. The Tory-dominated government is telling us that the economy is
in a hole. This is true. They are softening us up for drastic cuts in
public spending, saying we can’t afford it and (in the words of
Thatcher) that there is no alternative. This is a lie.
We conclude Dan Morley’s three part study of the crisis inside UK housing.
Here is part two of a three part article looking at the crisis in UK housing today.
Over the past few days the labour and trade union movement
in Coventry has begun to move into action to mobilise working people against
the cuts announced by the Lib-Con government. The mass Unite rally last Saturday,
June 19th, already reported on the Socialist Appeal website, was the
first step.
“Open for business.” These were the words spoken by
chancellor George Osborne as he delivered the most vicious anti-working class
budget for generations – a budget for big business indeed!
Throughout the four hours of the indoor rally at the Methodist Central
Hall in Coventry on Saturday June 19th, some 140 trade unionists and
members of
Coventry communities came together and participated. The rally had been
convened
by the Unite union to highlight the ongoing dispute between youth
workers
organised in the CYWU section of Unite and Coventry City Council.
The question of housing in Britain
today reveals much about the character of the crisis that permeates our
entire
society. Through the medium of housing we can see almost every problem
our
society faces – from inequality to out of control speculation, health
problems
to overcrowding, groaning infrastructures to gross regional imbalances
and
distortions. Dan Morley, in the first of a three part article, looks at the situation facing the housing market today.
Further to
our earlier report that John McDonnell has withdrawn as a candidate for
election as Labour leader, it has now been confirmed that Diane Abbott
has now secured
enough nominations to get on the ballot. She will be up against the two
Milibands,
Ed Balls and Andy Burnham.
The following statement has just been released by John McDonnell
concerning his campaign to be on the ballot paper for Labour leader.
Nominations close at lunchtime today with the party NEC meeting this
afternoon. We will comment further on this once the situation becomes
clearer later today.
Last Saturday an excellent meeting of the Northern LRC was held in
Gateshead with John McDonnell, fighting to be on the ballot for the new
leader of the Labour Party, and Paul Holmes, candidate for GS of
Unison, amongst those in attendance. We reproduce here a report on the
meeting by Veronica Killen from the LRC
Those of us watching the political developments in the wake of the
election have seen a kaleidoscope of people passing by – Brown,
Cameron, Clegg and all their understrappers have all been very busy.
They all have one thing in common. They are interested in politics. But
at this crucial time their attention has been concentrated on an
unusual figure – the Queen. She’s unusual because she’s not interested
in politics at all. Her favourite paper is the ‘Racing Post’ and her
major interest is in horse racing
In
1987, Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Prime Minister, declared in an
interview that, “there is no such thing as society.” It is therefore fairly ironic that 13 years later,
David Cameron, the new Conservative Prime Minister, has announced his plans to
create a ‘Big Society’ in Britain. Throughout the general election coverage,
Cameron had avoided mentioning any specifics on what was meant by his vision of
a Big Society, but now Cameron and his new best friend Nick Clegg, have
outlined what is in store for the country.