Socialist Worker

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Tory bankers—hypocrites and thieves

How does privileged prime minister David Cameron have the nerve to tell company directors that “put simply—it’s time Britain had a pay rise”?

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Cops and council cuts failed Rotherham abuse victims says new report

Most media coverage of the Rotherham child abuse scandal has focused on “Asian gangs”. Yet a new report is another damning indictment of the local council and South Yorkshire Police (SYP).

News round-up

Short news stories on cuts causing homelessness, billions spent on Trident, defending abortion rights and the Cardiff Three

London bus drivers gear up for more pay strikes

London bus drivers were set to strike again in their battle for equal pay with the capital’s 18 bus operators and Transport for London (TfL) on Friday of this week and Monday of next week.

Meet Ayesha Saleem the TUSC candidate for Edinburgh East

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) will be standing parliamentary candidates across Britain in May’s general election.

How can we take on austerity in the general election?

There is a growing debate among socialists in Britain about how to build the alternative to the cuts that the poor want and need, writes Tomáš Tengely-Evans

Tory reforms ‘damaged’ the NHS says health charity

A new report by the Kings Fund health charity has damned the Tories’ NHS reforms in England.

Strikers at National Gallery take on the union-busters

National Gallery workers in London completed a five-day strike last Saturday.

Reports round-up

Cleaners’ Bafta pay demo for living wage | M25 workers go for weekly walkouts | ITV action could hit election coverage | Brighton bins get set to walk again | Strike ballot at East Sussex waste firm

Meeting quizzes police 'intelligence'

Justice campaigners and activists attended a conference on police corruption, spying and racism in London last weekend.

Climate campaigners slam cops for putting price on protest

Cops in London are demanding climate change protesters fork out thousands of pounds for private security on a march next month.

DSG workers vote on deal

Defence Support Group (DSG) workers in the Unite union were voting on a new pay offer as Socialist Worker went to press.

Protest over south London demolition

A protest was set to take place outside Southwark council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday of this week, against plans to demolish south London’s Aylesbury estate.

Firefighters must be ‘more aggressive’ to beat the Tories’ attacks

In a few months the Tories are set to force through plans for firefighters to face the sack or lose up to half their pension if they do not retain levels of fitness before retirement age. 

Support the Barnsley College strikers

Support is building for the planned four-day strike at Barnsley College, set to take place from Monday 23 February.

What teachers need is action over workload and cuts

Also: Conference blasts plan for 3,000 new academies

Protest on 21 March to stop scapegoating

The need for a raging protest against racism was pushed home last week as David Cameron stepped up his scapegoating of migrants.

Protests as councils get set for deepest cuts yet

Also: National Libraries Day protests and a "smart" rally in Manchester

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International

Bankers pile pressure on Greece as Syriza challenges European Union

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras laid out his government’s policy on Sunday of last week, as parliament opened for the first time since the elections.

Nationwide refinery strike hits big US oil companies

Oil refinery workers in the United States have walked out in their first national strike in 35 years.

Prince Charles attacks Muslims as Jordan's regime launches airstrikes

The regime in Jordan claims to have carried out at least 56 airstrikes on Islamist group Isis since last Thursday.

Egyptian police attack football fans

At least 30 Egyptians died on Sunday after police attacked Zamalek football fans at the Air Force stadium in New Cairo.

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Comment

Let's finish the fight for LGBT liberation that the Stonewall riots kickstarted

The Stonewall Riots of 1969 heralded the birth of the fight for LGBT liberation in the US and Britain says Ellie May. 

Germany blinks over Ukraine crisis

The civil war in Ukraine has several dimensions. The first is the fighting on the ground. This is escalating despite last September’s Minsk ceasefire agreement, which was supposed to end it. 

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Features

Workers of the world united - immigrant voices from London's bus strike

Migrant workers from many countries took part in London’s bus strike last week. Strikers told Raymie Kiernan about why they came to Britain, what their lives are really like—and how they fight to defend their rights at work and drive up pay for everyone

Britain’s crimes in India - the truth behind the drama

As a new television drama looks at British rule in India, Nick Clark looks at the exploitation, famines and massacres that were the brutal reality of the Empire

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Reviews

Rubens’ imposing art couldn’t dazzle Europe’s Reformation

The Royal Academy is hosting an exhibition on Peter Paul Rubens. His art celebrated wealth and power in the face of Reformation, argues Noel Halifax

No Manifesto—how destruction and depression created the Manics

No Manifesto follows the career of rock band the Manic Street Preachers. It covers from the time that they met in school in South Wales to the release of 2009 album Journal for Plague Lovers. 

Shadows in the Night—Bob Dylan does Frank Sinatra

All the tracks on the album were written or recorded by Frank Sinatra. 

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What We Think

Hate bosses and wars? You’re not alone

Turn on the news, and it can seem like everyone’s against you. There’s smarmy Tory prime minister David Cameron boasting that conditions for the bosses had “not been this good for a long time”. 

'Muslim Culture' is not to blame

The Rotherham abuse scandal has led some to celebrate Britain’s “progressive” society.

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Other Categories

Letters

Defending Luthfur Rahman, continuing debates on Labour and no platform, and the need to fight fracking and climate change

Isis and the fight against imperialism

Most people will be understandably horrified by Isis’s latest atrocity, the burning alive of Jordanian military pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. 

The things they say

‘One of my favourite moments of the past five years was at a brick factory in Accrington’

Secret Tory dinner donors gain from Osborne’s tax cuts

A dozen Tory donors are up to £15 million better off thanks to George Osborne’s tax cuts for the wealthy.

New anti-terror bill makes Muslims the enemy within

The Islamophobic Prevent Strategy, which demands that workers in the public sector spy on Muslims, is set to become law. Ken Olende explains what the counter-terrorism bill will mean

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