News and analysis

We received messages from the Dadu Sindh branch of the PTUDC and the
American Workers’ International League addressed to the people of
London.

Whoever was responsible for today’s terrorist attacks in Central London
showed no mercy to the innocent victims of their actions. Such
activities are utterly repugnant to anybody who defends the cause of
socialism and the working class. This kind of action serves only to
bolster the forces of reaction. It must be condemned outright.

The
establishment of the Premier League in Britain, a renaming of the old
First Division, in the early 1990s opened up a period of naked
commercial exploitation of football. The new league exists to maximise
the profits and commercial potential of the richest clubs at the
expense of the rest. Central to this are clubs like Manchester United,
the world’s richest club which has now been virtually bought up by US
tycoon Malcolm Glazier, who has grabbed control of over 75% of the
club’s shares.

As a postscript to British Perspectives 2005 (What is happening in Britain)
Phil Mitchinson analyses the results of the recent general election in
the context of mounting insecurity in the British economy, politics and
society as a whole. Labour won the election with the smallest share of
the vote of any victorious party in history. With the government's
majority severely reduced how much longer can Blair last? 'New' Labour
has set off on a collision course with its own backbenches and with the
trade unions and the working class.

This resolution was unanimously passed by the Central London Branch of
the National Union of Journalists in a meeting held on May 12.

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.

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.

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.

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.