Britain

Teflon Tony, otherwise known as the ‘Houdini of British politics’ has
narrowly escaped a major political defeat yet again. It is however fair to say
that his protective layer of teflon may be wearing off, as the Labour majority
in parliament was reduced to just 5, down from the on-paper majority of 161. 
Thebill on tuition top-up fees passed its second reading by a vote of 316 to 311,
and the Labour Party’s parliamentary group is looking seriously beleaguered
after an intense few days of political haggling and backroom swindles.

Since last summer we have seen a widespread debate about the pros and
the cons of GM products. There are people for and against GM products from all
the different political shades. The bourgeois papers have been very keen on
giving voice to different people in the debate. What is missing, however, is a
class point of view. No one poses the question from the point of view of
ordinary working people.

The festive season in Britain got off to a grim start with the discovery of two
pensioners who died weeks after their gas supply was cut off because of an
unpaid bill of £140. These events happened, not in 1840 but in our own times.
The Office of National Statistics predicts that 2,500 people will die of cold
this week. The cause of these deaths is usually attributed to things like
influenza, heart attacks, pneumonia and the like. But the real cause in most
cases is poverty and neglect.

In Gordon Brown’s recent Budget Report for 2003 we are told that "social
justice" is the aim of the Blair government. A closer look at official
statistics shows that the opposite is being achieved.

This is how history is made. Hundreds of thousands of protestors flood
the capital demonstrating their opposition to a President who holds office
thanks to a rigged election. They demand democracy, they demand their voices
be heard, they demand that the President go. The biggest weekday demo in
British history greeted the visit of George W. Bush. Meanwhile in Georgia, a
President and not just an effigy was overthrown.

Death of Al Richardson

Strikes, demonstrations, political crises, Britain looks a lot different now
than it did when Blair and co came to power. For us the task of the hour is to give
active support to workers struggling to defend jobs and services and carry that
fight over into the Labour Party, into a fight for socialist policies.

In the nine months since the publication of our perspectives' document, The New Situation in Britain,
events internationally and here in Britain have continued to accelerate.  The
consequences of the imperialist adventure in Iraq have had an even greater
impact in Britain than in the US. Here the furore over the death of weapons
inspector Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton inquiry represent the most important
crisis faced by Blair to date. It is clear that the new situation in Britain is part
and parcel of a new, profoundly unstable and tumultuous period in world history.

In Part one of his article Phil Mitchinson looked at the world situation
and how this affects Britain. In this second part he looks at the devastation of British
manufacturing over a period of decades as shown by the investment and output figures
he provides. He goes on to chart the degeneration of the British
ruling class, from its far-sighted predecessors to the current degenerates
who can't see past their bank balances. This reflects itself in the present mess
the Tory party finds itself in.

A general perspectives document on the economic, social, political and trade
union position in Britain, produced at the beginning of 2003 by Phil Mitchinson.

Each new piece of evidence presented to the Hutton inquiry raises the lid a
little more on the real truth behind the government dossier on Iraq's weapons
and the death of Dr. David Kelly. With each passing day the Blair clique is being increasingly exposed as
nothing short of a nest of vipers.