Politicians and sections of the media are panicking about the decline of marriage. If fewer people marry, they say, it will be harmful for their children. And they also go further and say that a decline in marriages will be bad for society as a whole.
"The workers moved unfinished car bodies in front of all the entrances, forming a barricade. They welded a steel frame around every door and placed bullet-proof metal sheets over every window, drilling holes into them so the nozzles of fire hoses could be screwed in."
Politicians and the right wing press have unleashed a torrent of abuse against immigrants.
Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the Russian revolution, opposed Joseph Stalin’s increasing stranglehold on the Soviet Union and the Third International.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 changed the lives of gay men and lesbians. Russia became a beacon for workers, the poor and oppressed who saw for the first time how society could be run for the benefit of all.
The Greek workers who struck and marched last week are our sisters and brothers in a crucial battle. At stake is who will pay for the crisis, and who will meet the bill for the bailout of the bankers.
There is a lot of anger among workers here. This was to be expected in a country that had put up fierce resistance to attacks by the previous Tory government.
The pressure on Greek workers intensified in the days following last week’s strike.
Last week a 40-year old man from Suffolk was arrested and questioned over the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during the 1985 Tottenham Riots. The new investigation has rekindled memories of one of the worst examples of police racism and injustice ever seen in Britain.
When the parties of the Second International voted to support the First World War many socialists were left uncertain about what to do next.
The prospect of the Tories in government rightly fills many workers with horror. The party of Eton boys and bonus-grabbing bankers, the party that openly celebrates capitalism, could soon be in Number 10.
It was my mate Charlie who started it off. "Do you still have access to the media?" he asked at work one day. "Can you still get stories published?"
