Britain

The state of the world economy, the USA, China, the disastrous war in
Iraq, all have a direct effect on the situation in Britain. Some may
find a contradiction in the fact that although Blair is very unpopular
he will almost certainly win the elections. The fact is that there is
no alternative. The workers of Britain have not forgotten what the
Tories did when they were in power. But the undercurrents are already
discernable and these will sooner or later come to the surface.

The London Hands off Venezuela campaign held an excellent meeting at
the Walkers of Whitehall pub just off Trafalgar Square after the
anti-war demonstration on March 19, 2005. Hands off Venezuela had a
stall at the demonstration that attracted a lot of attention, where
DVDs, pamphlets and leaflets were distributed on the revolutionary
events in Venezuela.

From the main squares of US cities to the streets of Istanbul, from
London to Sydney, demonstrators came out in support of the Iraqi people
and in rejection of the two year long imperialist occupation.

Elections can provide us with a snapshot of the political mood of
society at a given moment. Yet if we restrict ourselves to who won and
who lost they can teach us very little. This is the editorial from the
current issue of the British Socialist Appeal.

The left wing Labour MP John McDonnell has tabled an Early Day Motion
condemning the murder of Danilo Anderson, the Venezuelan prosecutor
investigating the April 2002 military coup against president Chavez.

The Butler Report, the official inquiry into how intelligence sources were
used by the Blair government to justify the war in Iraq, has produced
nothing surprising. It is another whitewash, just like the Hutton report.
What is amazing however is that it provides enough evidence to show that the
government did indeed lie to the British people, that it went to war under
false pretences.

The 2004 elections to the European Parliament, London Assembly, and local
councils were a historic defeat for Blair and the Labour leaders. Phil
Mitchinson looks at the rise of the UK Independence Party, and the lessons of
Britain's Super Thursday elections.

Former Cabinet Minister Clare Short, who resigned over the war, has candidly
admitted that British Intelligence
had spied on UN officials including Secretary General Kofi Annan, in the run-up
to the Iraq war. This follows on the admission of a former translator at GCHQ
who revealed that the US intelligence services has asked the British to spy on
senior UN officials and representatives of other "allied" governments.

Imagine a game of football where the manager of one team made up the
rules to benefit his own side, where the goalposts were moved and where the
referee was on his side. The outcome of such a match would, of course be known
in advance by the winning side, who would then run around the stadium in a state
of ecstasy, yelling “Victory!” That is precisely what happened with the now
infamous Hutton report.

The Hutton inquiry produced few surprises. Naturally Tony Blair and Alastair
Campbell were exonerated. This inquiry was no different to any of its
predecessors, since no such inquiry ever found a government to be guilty. It was
a whitewash.