Britain
Durham Miners Gala – 14 July
This weekend (14 July) is the Durham Miners Gala. A big turnout is
expected and Socialist Appeal will be there! Look for our stall and
comrades selling the current issue with the Gala wraparound.
Resist Tory Attacks: Build for Oct 20
Not for first time, Cameron has again laid into the “unemployed
scroungers” as a pretext for more cuts, while protecting his cosy
relationship with the millionaire scroungers, press barons, and tax
dodgers.
London bus workers fight on
Friday,
22nd June witnessed something unprecedented in British industrial
relations. For the first time, London bus drivers, engineers and supervisors
struck together in solidarity. We are striking for the same bonus being given
to other transport workers in recognition of the hard work we’ll be
putting in over the Olympics. But the strike is about much, much more
than a one off bonus
Taxing Times
When
the British comedian Jimmy Carr recently became the focal point of a
media storm around the issue of income tax avoidance by the rich via
overseas investment, he was nothing more than a scapegoat for right-wing
monetarists within the Conservative Party who still believe themselves
exempt from legal and financial obligation. David Cameron referred to
Carr’s tax avoidance as ‘morally wrong’, but this is sheer hypocrisy as
his own family fortune and the wealth of fellow Conservative supporters
have prospered from tax avoidance.
Labour Right Wing group under attack
As Socialist Appeal has reported in the past, Progress is the right-wing Blairite organisation inside the Labour Party which has been funded by Lord Sainsbury and other big business backers. It still has considerable support in the parliamentary Labour Party in particular and its current president is MP Stephen Twigg, shadow minister of education.
Jubilee scandal – Olympics next?
On the weekend of 3rd June, over 10 million viewers tuned in to watch the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant. A further 1.2 million lined the banks of the Thames to watch 700 boats, lavishly decked out and bearing cargoes ranging from the National Children’s Orchestra to Maori Waka, go past in a celebration of 60 years of the Queen’s rule. It cost an astronomical £12m to cover the cost of celebrating 60 years of the taxpayer forking out for the extravagant lifestyles of Elizabeth II and her family.
Nae Nazis! a report from Edinburgh
On May 26th, the city of Edinburgh prepared itself to give a heated
welcome to the racist members of the SDL, who were planning to
demonstrate in the city.This demonstration was shamefully unprecedented,
with members of the SDL having been granted the local authorities’
permission to demonstrate legally, despite continuous violent attacks
against Muslims in particular, all across the country.
Boot Tories Out!
In the May elections, workers delivered a sound hammering to the
Coalition parties and made very clear what they thought of them and
their policies.
After the elections: Which way for Labour?
In the recent local elections,
the Coalition parties took an electoral hammering to Labour’s gain. The
Conservatives and Lib Dems lost around 740 seats in total – and control of 13
councils – with Labour gaining 800 seats and majority control of 32 local
authorities
Election 2012: Why did Livingstone lose?
A day after the electoral authorities had announced massive gains for
Labour up and down the country, activists in London were left
disappointed as the Tories kept control of City Hall. In an incredibly
close contest, incumbent Boris Johnson beat Labour veteran and former
mayor Ken Livingstone by 1,054,811 votes to 992,273, after
second-preferences were counted. This contrasted sharply with the other
results: Labour gained 823 council seats nationally, with the Tories and
their Liberal Democrat stooges losing 741 between them.
Local Elections: Voters Reject Coalition Cuts While Labour Triumph
Last week’s local elections saw a disastrous showing for the Coalition
government as the Conservative and the Liberal Democrats respectively
lost 403 and 329 council seats. At the same time the Labour Party saw a
huge net gain of 824 councillors meaning they were able to gain control
of 32 councils across the country.