THE FIRST of the reactionary consequences of Brexit is the major boost it has given to racist attacks on people perceived to be migrants. The effect was immediate. In the first four days following the 24 June announcement, True Vision, a police-funded website, reported a 57 per cent increase in reported hate incidents month on […]

IN THE wake of the terrorist atrocities of 13 November 2015, which left 130 dead, Socialist government ministers and local mayors in various cities and regions have launched a series of measures targeting Muslims and the immigrant population. The barbarous attack in Nice on 14 July has renewed the sense of fear and the tolerance of […]

FIRST THE good news from Hangzhou; the US and China have adopted the international climate change agreement reached in Paris in December 2015. The bad news; none of the provisions of the Treaty are enforceable. Ironically, the G20 reportedly met in Hangzhou because of the dire air quality in Beijing. The meeting of the 20 […]

AS WE go to press, the ceasefire in Syria agreed in Geneva on 9 September between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov seems to have taken hold on some fronts, though the bombardment of eastern Aleppo seems to be continuing. If the truce lasts for seven consecutive days and humanitarian […]

OWEN SMITH is the candidate chosen by Labour’s rebel right wing MPs to stand against Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election. Many party activists asked, “Owen who?”, so low was his profile when his bid was announced in July. His choice sums up just how cynical and bankrupt the right wing of the party are. Their […]

REPORTS ARE rife that rebel Labour MPs will offer Jeremy Corbyn a “truce” if is he re-elected. In return for ceasing their open sabotage in the Commons and the media they will demand the dilution of Corbyn’s programme and the blocking of any restoration of the membership’s democratic rights. They will demand a stop to […]

OVER THE summer France has once more debated the issue of Islamic dress after mayors in more than 30 seaside towns introduced a ban on burkinis-the full body (but not face) covering swimwear. Here in Britain, banning the burka or the burkini has hardly been a topic of discussion outside the fringes of the right. UKIP […]

By a UNISON activist THE NEW Tory government is unleashing a new series of attacks on working class people and their trade unions. In the NHS, on the railways, in our schools, union members are fighting back. But they are not struggling on a level playing field. The government, the media and the judges pick on […]

By Bernie McAdam JOHN MCDONNELL speaking at a fringe meeting at the Trade Union Congress in Brighton said of the coup launched in June against Jeremy Corbyn that “This is about the Establishment saying to you: how dare you elect a socialist as the leader of the Labour Party.” and adding “And it isn’t just […]

WITH OVER half a million members in every community and trade union in the country, Labour has the potential to become a focus for organising the defence of public services – and setting out a comprehensive alternative based on redistribution of wealth and democratic control of the economy. But the party’s current structures are clearly unfit […]

THIS YEAR’S restrictions on Labour’s internal democratic life are without precedent since the 1980s. At a time when hundreds of thousands are joining the party, avenues for participation in political discussion and decision making have been almost entirely sealed off. Campaigning for the local and mayoral elections followed by the EU referendum saw regular meetings suspended. […]

BY LAUNCHING their coup following the Brexit vote, the PLP totally deflected the Labour Party from its prime duty of mobilising the population against the new Tory government that has only a wafer-thin majority. The anti-Corbyn campaign has now lasted a full three months, allowing Theresa May an uninterrupted honeymoon, as the media targeted Corbyn, in […]