The number of people moving to London from elsewhere in Britain has gone up since the recession began. The number leaving London has fallen.
The “leap” in the number of children estimated to need school places has been exaggerated because previous estimates were wrong.
Just last week Gove refused to rule out a school closure in the north east of England if a free school opens.
A small number of largely unregulated commodity trading houses have seen their profits rise astronomically over the last decade. And their wealth has come at the expense of poor people, largely in the Global South.
The commodities market is notoriously volatile. Just last week the market for the most reliable commodity, gold, dropped 15 percent.
Commodity firms pay low rates of tax, on average no more than 15 percent.
Trafigura accounts for 40 percent of trade in refined copper, lead and zinc. But the one time it made world headlines was in 2006 when a ship it owned was responsible for dumping toxic waste in Côte D’Ivoire.
Ian Taylor is head of the world’s largest oil trading company, Vitol. While the company is based Switzerland, he has donated £550,000 to the Tories.
Today just 7 percent of England’s population live in council homes. When Margaret Thatcher came to office it was almost half.
One of London’s biggest housing associations today is the Peabody Trust.
Cuts of £350 million from legal aid will deny thousands of ordinary people the right to defend their jobs, homes and benefits in court, says Siân Ruddick
The UK Independence Party poses as a radical party that speaks for ordinary people, but its programme is rabidly anti-working class, writes Judith Orr
