Britain

Given the colossal volatility within the electorate in the
recent period, the outcome of the general election has become impossible
to
predict. With under 10 days to go, opinion polls point to some kind
of hung
Parliament with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power.

With the general election campaign almost at the official
half way spot and all the polls pointing to a tight campaign, something
odd has
happened. A sense of boredom has crept in to what should have been an
exciting
four weeks of political cut and thrust. Only the recent jump in the Lib
Dems
position in the opinion polls has provided any points of interest.

The Marxists in Ireland take a close look at the British general election of 2010.

It had to happen sooner or later. The ruling class has long used race
and gender to divide the working class and to divert attention from the
real causes of the ills of society. Now it is a whole generation who is
to blame. They are the ‘baby-boomers’

It is unusual
for the captains of industry to blatantly come out and formally back the
Tories in public. It is more likely that these creatures of the night
stay in the dark
pulling the political strings, manipulating the news media and ruining
the
lives of millions of workers.  However,
a well-planned media storm has been created just before the election
over
National Insurance increases but, as Edward Heath might have described
them,
these ‘Ugly Faces of Capitalism’ have a lot to hide.

Tomorrow, Sat April 10th, thousands of trade unionists and Labour
movement activists will unite to march through London in a demonstration
algainst cuts in public services, called by over 20
organisations including a number of trade unions. The March will assemble
at Midday outside Embankment tube and will end up in Trafalgar Sq. for a
rally. Here is what Socialist Appeal has to say about the issues raised by the
march in a leaflet being handed out on the day:

The massive over-reaction of the police and the courts against arrested Gaza demonstrators has come as a shock. Usually people convicted of minor public order offences get
a suspended sentence or community service.This time the judge has been
handing
down savage sentences of up to two and a half years at Isleworth Crown
Court.

The general election of 2010 has been called. To no-one’s surprise, on Thursday 6th May, voters will go to the polls to decide who will form the next UK government.  For a very long time now, the Tories – the party of big business – have enjoyed a sizeable poll lead, backed up by good results in local and Euro elections. Yet the gap between the Tories and Labour has closed sharply in recent months. Why is this?

The centre of Dudley in the Midlands became
a ghost town on Saturday 3^rd April with shops on the
High Street
boarded up, resembling the effects the recession had last year on many
towns .
But this deserted town centre was not the result of an economic
downturn, well
not exactly. It was the overreaction of the Midlands police in occupying
the
town with road blocks in an attempt to prevent trade unionists and
socialists demonstrating
against the venomous EDL who were trying to sow divisions amongst the
workers
of Dudley.

You couldn’t make it up. In a recent report on ‘executive pay’, The Economist
(hardly a champion of equality) has been obliged to admit the (for
them) embarrassing absurdity of ever ballooning capitalist pay-cheques
in the midst of attacks on working class living standards.

Over the last year Cambridge residents have
seen a number of attacks on the industries and public services in the
city. 12
months ago, Cambridge University Press, the oldest publishing house in
Britain,
announced plans to outsource much of its work; Addenbrookes, the main
city
hospital, has recently been told to find £40 million in efficiency
savings; the
workers in the CWU came out on strike last October against modernisation
plans
for the postal service. All of these words – “outsourcing”, “efficiency
savings”, “modernisation” – are clearly euphemisms for attacking jobs
and
services.