News and analysis

It’s official. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a waste of
money. Tens of millions of pounds may have been wasted on refurbishing
social housing in London under the Private Finance Initiatives, the
public spending watchdog warned last month.

In 1948 all the Tory MPs in the House of Commons dutifully voted
against the setting up of the National Health Service. For more than
sixty years since, the NHS has been one of our most loved institutions,
relied on by millions of people to look after their health.  The Tories
have publicly regretted their stance and pledged that, “the NHS is safe
in our hands.” We now see that was a lie. If new Health Secretary
Andrew Lansley’s plans, called ‘Liberating the NHS’, goes through the
NHS will be in tatters in five years time.

On the morning of Saturday 28th August Bradford had become a ghost
town. Pubs, shops and cafes were boarded up and the Saturday shoppers
stayed away. Some landlords had gone one further by piling up all their
beer garden tables and chairs against the doors to keep the trouble
out. The EDL were in town to “peacefully protest” against the supposed
takeover by radical Islam.

The cuts outlined in the 2010 emergency budget will come as a
hammer-blow to all workers. However, it is working class women –
especially the low paid and single parents – who will be amongst the
hardest hit. For them, the changes to Child Tax Credits and benefits
will be a particularly bitter pill to swallow.