Photo from Beacon Radio, by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

It is cuts and deprivation that caused the riots

11th August 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

The Tories have spent the days after the inner city riots tore through London and other cities desperately trying to ward off any responsibility that might attach to their government’s policies for these uprisings. Their mantra to the media has been simple: any attempt to consider the reasons for the riots is in and of itself an excuse for criminality and constitutes a refusal to wholeheartedly condemn the violence.

Murdoch: cheerleader of the neo-liberal right brought low

14th July 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

It is entirely good news to see the convulsions shaking the British end of Murdoch’s global media empire and to bid farewell to the unlamented News of the World. Murdoch has of course created a stable of publications and news channels that are cheerleaders for an extremely right-wing politics, both in the Britain and the US.

Solidarity with striking workers – hands off pensions

30th June 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Stephen MacAvoy

Today (30 June), hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, government office workers, job centre staff, air traffic controllers and many other public sector workers are striking against the Tory government’s attacks on their living standards with cuts to pay and pensions.

By Manic Street Preacher

Ed Balls speech can put Labour on the offensive

17th June 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

The highly flagged speech made by Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, at the London School of Economics on 16th June potentially can help put Labour on the offensive against the Tories’ disastrous economic policies. It does not go far enough but is a welcome step forward.

Major strike action called for 30th June

7th June 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Tom O’Donnell

The first simultaneous strikes against the government’s policies seems inevitable at the end  of June.  Following the upsurge of student protest at the cuts to higher education, and allowances and the hike in fees it was no coincidence that the first union to take major action was the college lecturers’ union the UCU, followed by a series of local actions by the teacher’s union NUT.

Photo: Chris Beckett

Government in difficulty over the NHS

17th May 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey

The first serious political difficulty for the current government rose from the student mobilisation against rising tuition fees and the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance. The government pressed on regardless – and produced a collapse in the vote for the LibDems at the recent local elections largely because they have been seen to betray a specific pre-election promise.