Socialist Worker

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Grenfell Tower fire shows up everything wrong with our system—it's time to end it

On the third anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, we republish an article we wrote immediately after it happened

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

NHS can deny abortions to women from Northern Ireland as appeal rejected

The Supreme Court has narrowly rejected an appeal demanding that women in Northern Ireland should receive free abortion services on the NHS in England.

Tories must answer for deaths in Grenfell fire

Years of cuts to council budgets, the fire brigade, and the deliberate running-down of council estates are the context of this tragedy

Outpourings of solidarity and anger after Grenfell Tower fire

Hundreds of people came from all over Britain to offer solidarity to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, and to demand answers.

Three largest unions demand pay rise for local government workers

Unions representing more than 1.6 million local government workers are calling for a pay rise to break the Tory public sector pay cap.

Kensington and Chelsea, where the super-rich live in luxury and the poor live in death traps

The borough where working class residents of Grenfell Tower were left to live in shoddy, unsafe housing is awash with wealth and empty homes.

Murderous contempt for poor people’s lives goes to the top

A series of Tory housing ministers fought to stop developers and landlords taking responsibility for fire safety

Press racism versus solidarity from below after Grenfell Tower fire

Racism is a tried and tested way of deflecting people’s anger. So some newspapers focused on Ethiopian refugee Behailu Kebede, whose fridge they claim started the fire.

‘The poor live here, the rich don’t give a crap about us,’ say local residents after Grenfell Tower fire

Local residents spoke to Socialist Worker

Shameless Tory Kensington and Chelsea council won’t take any blame

Kensington and Chelsea council’s response to the murder in Grenfell Tower has been to avoid questions and evade responsibility.

Boris’s cuts put us all at risk, exhausted firefighters warn

Tory minister and former London mayor cut millions from capital’s fire budget, while telling those who questioned his plans to ‘get stuffed’. Now austerity’s effects are there for all to see.

Grenfell—anguish turned to fury and protest

There was anger on the streets of London as people marched to demand justice for the dead of Grenfell Tower.

Protest piles the pressure on Theresa May

Around 1,500 people rallied outside Downing Street demanding that Theresa May resigns.

‘I want to kill all Muslims’—racist terror in Finsbury Park

A white van ploughed through a group of worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House mosque in Finsbury Park, north London, this morning, Monday.

Grenfell Tower survivors, relatives and relief workers abandoned by callous council

Kensington and Chelsea council’s abject failure to help survivors of the Grenfell Tower inferno has seen them officially sidelined.

Housing bosses ignored tenants' warnings

Board members and officers are directly responsible for the deaths at Grenfell Tower.

Bosses knew about worries over combustible cladding

the prime suspect for why the Grenfell fire spread so quickly is the cladding used on the building after a refurbishment

‘As an ex-firefighter, I know the deaths at Grenfell were avoidable. Those responsible must answer for it’

I have never seen anything like what happened at Grenfell.

Union leader tells Forest Hill School strikers - ‘Keep up the fight for education’

NUT union general secretary Kevin Courtney has congratulated pickets at Forest Hill School for striking over cuts – and urged them to keep fighting.

Tension at the Unison conference

Thousands of public sector workers met in Brighton this week at the national and sector conferences of Britain's largest union, Unison.

Unions will need to fight to beat the pay cap

Unions representing more than 1.6 million local government workers are demanding a 5 percent pay rise to break the Tory public sector pay cap.

The Tories are in crisis, now finish them off

Pressure was piling on Theresa May this week as her government tottered from crisis to crisis.

Postal workers deliver wildcat strikes to Royal Mail

A wave of wildcat walkouts hit four Royal Mail offices over the past week with strikes in Canterbury, Scarborough, east London and Carmarthen.

How can Labour be relevant to its new members? Activists debate next steps

A meeting in central London last week revealed how the general election has enthused and emboldened the Labour left—particularly new members.

Teachers begin strikes at two schools in Ealing to say no to academies

Teachers at two west London schools were out on strike on Tuesday of this week. NUT union members at Drayton Green primary school began a two-day strike on Tuesday. Those at Dormers Wells High School began a three-day strike.

Upbeat walkout against job cuts at Manchester Metropolitan University

Groups of pickets were out in force across Manchester Metropolitan University to begin a two-day strike on Tuesday.

Unite union calls two weeks of strikes at British Airways over poverty pay

The Unite union has called a two-week strike by “mixed fleet” cabin crew at British Airways (BA), and vowed to take the firm to court.

Grenfell Tower is a ‘crime scene,’ says Unison union

Grenfell is an issue that affects the whole working class

Workers at Sheffield jobcentre shows the way to fight - others must join them

Workers at Sheffield Eastern Avenue jobcentre ended five days of strikes on Friday of last week.

Anger among glass workers after union changes strike days

Pickets at Sierra Windows in Paignton, Devon, had angry words for their union official on Tuesday.

Reports round-up: Angry protest as Ritzy cinema sacks trade union reps

Also: Women's march to take on DUP, fascists face opposition in three cities, Mears housing workers fight for pay parity, strikes called at Atomic Weapons Establishment and Kirklees social work, Birmingham bin workers vote for action

As Tories and the council keep failing over Grenfell, residents demand change

The Grenfell Tower fire showed the Tories’ contempt for working class people

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International

Moroccan protests combat repression, poverty and inequality

The movement has revived again on a national scale with tens of thousands involved in demonstrations

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Comment

Neoliberalism, the ideology that put profit before safety, could be on its way out

It may be that health and safety is what kills off the neoliberal consensus

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Features

Abortion—demand the right to choose

Socialists must fight to defend and extend the right to free, safe and legal abortions

How revolution spread across Russia’s empire

Beginning in the capital Petrograd, the revolution quickly convulsed the vast Russian empire in struggles

Class—not age—is the key divide in Britain

Are workers the most conservative? Tomáš Tengely-Evans argues the election results tell a different story

Backing ‘soft Brexit’ and cross-party talks would spell disaster for the left

A catalogue of right wingers and rogues within the Labour Party want to work with the Tories and bosses.

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Reviews

Film shows art rebel John Berger in his democratic element

The Seasons in Quincy provides a fitting and poetic tribute to the committed humanity of late art writer and revolutionary John Berger, says Jeff Jackson

Exhibition of drawings challenges our disconnect society

The Graphic Witness exhibition at the Drawing Room in south London is showcasing works from the 1930s up until today.

Reviews round-up

See what events are coming up with reviews of events and exhibitions

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What We Think

It’s up to us to force Theresa May out

Rage at the murder of working class people at Grenfell Tower has plunged the Tories deeper into crisis.

Let the refugees in

As many as 600 refugees again face homelessness and repression at Calais because they have nowhere else to go

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Other Categories

LETTERS: Benefit officials want to fine me £7,000—for their mistake

I have recently been sanctioned by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). They claim I have been overpaid over £7,000 in Employment Support Allowance (ESA) benefit.

A poem on the Grenfell Tower fire by Alan Gibbons

Do you know the first time I knew I was not safe because of my class

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