The Labour Conference and the Party under Blair and Starmer By Eamon Dyas What can we take from the Labour Party Conference at Liverpool? Keir Starmer acknowledged the importance of trade unions several times in the course of his speech and he indicated that he understood the relevance of proper training schemes and apprenticeships for … Continue reading Labour under Blair and Starmer
Public ownership
The Cost of Rail Privatisation
by Pete Whitelegg With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 most of the state-owned industries were privatised including many of the businesses operating within the umbrella of British Railways. Sealink Ferries and British Transport Hotels were sold by 1984. Travellers Fare catering by 1988 and British Rail Engineering (train building) by 1989. But it … Continue reading The Cost of Rail Privatisation
The Struggle for Publicly Owned Land
LABOUR AND HOUSING – Part 9. The struggle for publicly-owned land (cont.) By Eamon Dyas [In the Seventies Labour endeavoured to stop profits from property speculation and development exceeding profits from industry.] The previous part of this exploration into the history of the relationship between private landowning and public need ended with an explanation of the … Continue reading The Struggle for Publicly Owned Land
Mick Lynch—In His Own Words (2)
Mick Lynch in his own words 4th August 2022, on the channel “Double Down News”. https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2022/august/4/mick-lynch-dismantles-the-media-keir-starmer-war-on-freedom-extreme-right-wing-tory-government [Extracts] “Division is fatal for working class people, we cannot allow that to happen, all workers are one and that’s the attitude we have to take forward, mobilising our people together, all workers of every identity in one mass movement. … Continue reading Mick Lynch—In His Own Words (2)
Buses
Is Labour on the Buses? Dave Gardner Good public transport is key to economic success and social well-being. Compared with northern Europe, the United Kingdom, with the exception of London, is poorly served. Throughout the UK, bus services are the key to the ability to travel to work, to study, to see family and to … Continue reading Buses
The Destruction of Local Authorities as Housing Providers
LABOUR AND HOUSING – Part 7. The destruction of local authorities as housing providers. By Eamon Dyas Determining the economic discourse. The previous article in this series showed how building societies and banks were incapable of supplying mortgages on the scale required by the Tory Government’s 1979 Right to Buy scheme. It explained how local councils … Continue reading The Destruction of Local Authorities as Housing Providers
NHS Providers
Who are ‘NHS Providers’? Feargus ORaghallaigh I found the story at the link below remarkable ... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/13/hotels-being-used-as-care-facilities-to-relieve-pressure-on-nhs Here is a related story: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/12/number-of-healthy-patients-stranded-in-english-hospital-wards-rises-by-80 I have long held the view that the current NHS is actually a system of hospital-led private provision of health care (much of it provided on a for-profit basis) funded by the … Continue reading NHS Providers
Heseltine on Privatisation
From Socialism to Popular Capitalism: ‘the revolution where everyone is a winner’. The destruction of both British industry and council housing was a deliberate policy to get away from what Thatcher and Heseltine saw as socialism, the excessive influence of the state on the economy. They saw this as their crowning achievement. Extracts from: Where there’s a Will, … Continue reading Heseltine on Privatisation
What is socialism?
by John Martin This is written from an Irish perspective but opens up the discussion for Britain too. If socialism is defined by how its political representatives act, then its elements can be described quite clearly. In the Irish context socialists tend to distrust the State. All actions by the State are suspect. The State … Continue reading What is socialism?
Transformative Socialist Economics
IT'S TIME FOR TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIALIST ECONOMICS: AN OCCASIONAL SHORT READING AND VIEWING GUIDE Michael Murray (1) The problem stated: "The Labour Party believes that a Labour government can only spend what it has levied in taxation, or borrowed from the private sector. But it also wants to be a party of low taxation and low national … Continue reading Transformative Socialist Economics
Where’s Sid?
Privatisations: The aftermath. by Feargus ORaghallaigh At a time when even rightwing newspapers like ‘The Times’ and ‘The Daily Telegraph’ are lamenting the failures of the privatisation of public services and the Labour leadership is afraid to talk of returning them to public ownership, it is a good idea to remind ourselves of how this … Continue reading Where’s Sid?
Rail in Public Ownership
RMT Press Office: RMT says damning new financial investigation shows Govia should be stripped of remaining GTR franchise after government nationalises Southeastern. RAIL UNION RMT has called on the government to strip Govia of its Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise and nationalise it after the union published research today raising further questions about the … Continue reading Rail in Public Ownership
Public Ownership is popular
Public ownership is popularThe text below—a slightly abridged Facebook post by the group We Own It—makes you realise how extraordinary it is that Starmer and Reeves explicitly refused to make nationalisation a key policy for a future labour government, when public opinion and influential right wingers are for it. “People are waking up to the … Continue reading Public Ownership is popular
Labour Affairs 