By Alex Rutherford THE GOVERNMENT and Labour are exploiting the murder of David Amess MP to whip up fears around ‘online anonymity’ in order to ram through a raft of measures giving the government unprecedented control over online free speech. The Bill has been on the cards for some time – the draft text was […]

Editorial November 2021, No. 388

By Rebecca Anderson THE TRIAL of Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard has shone a spotlight on violence against women and the inability of the police and judicial system to confront the problem. For months after Sarah’s murder the Metropolitan Police and Home Office dismissed any notion that there was a deep-seated prejudice […]

We need 15% or £15 an hour

By Jeremy Dewar Workers in Britain are being hit by a triple whammy this month: inflation heading towards 5%; a £20 cut to Universal Credit, hitting the unemployed and worst paid workers; and the ending of furlough for 1 million workers, throwing hundreds of thousands out the door. These are not ‘temporary blips’ that will […]

By Jaqueline Katherina Singh (Berlin) The Social Democrats (SPD), led by Olaf Scholz, topped the polls with 25.7% in the German general election on 26 September and will take the first shot at forming a coalition government. Negotiations are likely to last till Christmas. Over the preceding year both the conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the Greens […]

By Marcus Otono (Nashville, Tennessee) Texas has become the testing ground for a new approach to the nearly 50 year-long battle over abortion rights in the United States. A new law took effect on 1 September which prohibits terminations after the detection of a foetal heartbeat, around six weeks into a pregnancy. There are no […]

By Reginald Banks The Tories have fired an initial salvo at the working class in the battle over who is to pay for the pandemic. The new ‘health and social care levy’, which cleared all of its Commons stages in a single day, will raise national insurance rates by 1.25% to their highest level ever […]

Despite a career of abuse, cover-up and racism, Cressida Dick will be reappointed as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Remember the old slogan - "with the union leaders where possible, without them where necessary".

The pandemic revealed just how much British capitalism relies upon transport workers

Editorial October 2021, No. 387

Two trade unions have called on Uber drivers to stop work.

Afghan women are leading the way in organising anti-Taliban protests in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan. They are doing what US and allied occupying forces failed to do: stand up to the Taliban.

Despite its talk of helping Afghan refugees, the government is passing new laws to harass migrants

Mass unemployment and the scourge of long-term joblessness have returned.

Brexit and pandemic-induced shortages fuel demands for action on pay and conditions

NEC purge signals end of left's attempt to wrest control of the party

This year's annual conference presents a last chance for the Labour left to regroup and reassess its priorities

The Tories are pressing ahead with plans to ban the BDS campaign in public institutions

Profiteers are cherry-picking the most profitable parts of our health service

The pandemic has exposed that the NHS is not so much at breaking point, but beyond it.

Defeat for the Nato alliance opens new chapter in Afghan war

An explosion of student activism needs national coordination and a common strategy

We need to campaign between now and the COP26 to build a movement to stop climate catastrophe.

Members deliver surprise result in blow for right and official left

RF Political Committee Right wing members of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) are proposing a motion to expel members of four leftwing organisations who have opposed Keir Starmer’s leadership and the witch-hunt of anti-Zionists and Marxists. While the total number of members is small, the proposal to ‘proscribe’ (i.e. ban) Socialist Appeal is a reference […]

The police do not exist to ‘protect and serve’ the population at large.

Only 43 of 800 accused officers have been prosecuted.