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Review: New C4 show “Skint” attempts to demonise the working class

Channel 4 aired a new TV show this Monday, “Skint”. Rather than giving a balanced account of life in austerity Britain, the show’s real aim and message was very clear. It was another attempt to paint benefit recipients in a wholly negative light, as part of the campaign to justify the vicious Tory attacks on living standards. Callum Stanland from Grimsby – a neighbouring town to Scunthorpe, where filming took place – reviews the show.

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Pakistan elections: Rich play games at the top while masses yearn for radical change

In the wake of the recent Pakistan elections, which saw a victory for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and its party leader Nawaz Sharif, we publish here an article written before the elections by Fred Weston, editor of www.marxist.com, who takes a wider look at the economic, social, and political contradictions in Pakistan – a society pregnant with revolutionary potential.

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The limitations of the Green Party: the example of Brighton & Hove City Council

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Amidst the onslaught of privatisations, cuts, pay freezes and redundancies emerging from the capitalist crisis, Britain’s environment-conscious Green Party are becoming increasingly torn by political polarisation. Forced to carry out the same agenda of public sector cuts being advocated by the Con-Dem coalition in the interests of capital, the Green Party in Brighton & Hove City Council is beginning to experience inevitable contradictions and conflict regarding its political agenda.

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Attacks on childcare expose coalition weakness

The concept of a coalition government lends itself towards instability and is somewhat problematic for the ruling class. But this becomes twofold in a period of economic crisis where the traditional party of the bosses has been unable to do its job of winning an outright majority. Rachel Gibbs looks at the latest attacks from the Tory-led government, which demonstrate the weakness of the coalition.

stratfordacademy

Will longer school hours benefit educational standards?

Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove’s latest broadside against teachers is that our children and young people need shorter holidays and longer school days. He believes that we should learn from Asian countries and promote in our schools a culture of “working harder.” But is the British educational system actually broken? And in whose interest are these proposals really being made? Sion Reynolds of the teaching union NASUWT looks at the suggested changes in education.

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Bangladesh: Savar tragedy shows the real face of growth under capitalism

We publish here a recent article on the tragedy at Rana Plaza, an eight-storey building in the town of Savar in Bangladesh that housed five garment factories and thousands of garment workers, which collapsed a couple of weeks ago. At the time that the article was written, over 500 had died as a result of this collapse. Latest estimates for the death toll are now over 1,000 and the Bangladeshi army are still searching through the rubble for survivors. Adam Pal looks at the horrific effects of capitalism in Bangladesh.

Lady Justice The Old Bailey

Tory attack on legal aid: lawyers must organise and strike

The Tory Minister for Justice, Chris Grayling, has recently published proposals to completely re-organise the way people facing criminal investigations or allegations get legal advice and representation at police stations and the courts. If these proposals are pushed through, it will amount to the biggest attack on the rights of working class people to free and independent legal advice that this country has ever seen. Mark French, a legal aid solicitor in London, analyses the latest attack on democratic rights.

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Tories divided: Lord Lawson calls for British EU exit

In an article featured in The Times newspaper recently, former Tory chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson called for Britain to exit the European Union. This adds to the mounting pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron, and it reveals the deep rifts developing within the Tory party at all levels. Ben Peck analyses the latest tensions inside the Tories.

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Hands Off Venezuela conference – defend the Bolivarian revolution; respect democracy!

Over 50 activists, trade unionists, youth and Latin American activists, met in London on 4th May to discuss about the legacy of Hugo Chávez and the challenges facing the Bolivarian revolution. The meeting reaffirmed our rejection of the opposition claims of electoral fraud and renewed our commitment to defend the democratically expressed will of the Venezuelan people to elect Nicolás Maduro as president.

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250 march against austerity in Hull

On May 4th around 250 workers and youth marched through Hull city centre as part of Hull TUC’s May Day celebrations. The march doubled as a protest against the austerity of the coalition government, and was led by the Labour councillors in Hull who are defying the cuts and providing an inspiration to the entire labour movement. Callum Stanland reports.

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