Notes from the front

Upturn in the anti-austerity movement

Since the Tories won the election just two weeks ago (7 May), with the support of less than 25 per cent of the electorate, significant numbers of people have got involved in the movement against austerity to resist what will be the most right wing, vicious government since the Second World War.

Labour would not have won by moving right – that is just a myth

Following Labour’s defeat the Blairites and others have launched an offensive to shift the party rightwards and install a hard right-wing leadership. Backed by the Tory media, their barrage of attacks on Ed Miliband is creating the media myth of a leftward lurch that lost Labour the election.

Kick out the Tories! – Ed Miliband should be next PM!

With opinion polls continuing to suggest a neck-and-neck race and no party likely to get an overall majority, the Tory campaign to cling on to office is feverish. New ‘constitutional’ conventions are being invented daily, such as the spurious contention that the largest party – in seats or votes – must be allowed to form a government. And it has been declared that on the one hand Scots can vote for whoever they like, but if it is the SNP they should be excluded from government influence.

Coalition partners: SNP versus DUP and UKIP

The continued stalemate in the opinion polls means the focus in the British election has shifted to the potential alliances the two main parties could form after 7 May.

Europe’s bloody hands – anti-migrant policies amount to mass murder in the Mediterranean

The drowning of more than 800 people in the Mediterranean Sea on 19 April is the deadliest migrant disaster since the Italian sea rescue operation ‘Mare Nostrum’ ended in October 2014. The decision by the EU to scale back Italy’s naval rescue operations was immoral and indefensible in a civilised society. It amounted to attempting to deal with a migration ‘problem’ by allowing hundreds of people to drown – in other words by killing them.

Deadlock in polls as most voters want austerity to end

The launch of the party manifestos has highlighted the deadlock between the major parties. The majority of the population wants to end austerity and both major parties are committed to maintaining it, in different degrees. As a result there is currently no sign of a breakthrough in the polls on either side.