Britain

Who really rules Britain?

30 May 2017
We are told regularly that, unlike dictatorships, ‘the people’ govern Britain. But, says Dave Sewell, it’s the unelected rich and powerful that really have their hands on the wheel

The Troublemaker - Spooks fight to cover up Britain's role in torture

14 March 2017
The Ministry of Defence and MI6 are insisting that claims made by people tortured must be heard behind closed doors.

How the Suez crisis sank an empire

25 October 2016
Britain invaded Egypt sixty years ago—a brutal response to the resistance against its decaying empire. The result was humiliation. Historian John Newsinger tells the story

Airstrikes have killed hundreds of Syrians

26 July 2016
Western bombs killed hundreds of Syrian civilians last week—and looming major offensives could see many more deaths.

Our fury matters - black activists speak out

19 July 2016
Thousands of people protested across Britain in recent weeks to insist that “Black Lives Matter”. Called in response to a series of police killings in the US, the protests have struck a chord with many young people angry at racism in Britain too. Black activists in London told Socialist Worker about why they are marching—and how to win

The Independent Labour Party - prioritising parliament gave more power to the right

19 July 2016
Charlie Kimber looks at the Independent Labour Party (ILP), one of the founding organisations of the Labour Party

‘Justice can make but one reply’ - how Sylvia Pankhurst helped expose the repression of the Easter Rising

22 March 2016
Sylvia Pankhurst, the militant anti-war socialist and suffragette, was in Newcastle when she first heard news of the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916.

Refugees rounded up into camps by EU’s brutal deal

22 March 2016
Refugees arriving in Greece are being rounded up into detention centres under a new deal backed by Tory David Cameron.

Government admits Loyalist killer was in British army

04 February 2016
A terrorist convicted of killing of two men in Northern Ireland was a former member of the British army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), the government has admitted.

1916 in Ireland - a rising against empire

02 February 2016
At the height of the First World War a rebellion was staged in Britain’s oldest colony. Simon Basketter looks at how Irish rebels took over Dublin 100 years ago

Shankill bomb revelation blows the cover of British state terror

26 January 2016
Extraordinary new revelations this week show that a notorious bombing by Irish Republicans was planned and overseen by a British agent.

Shaker Aamer - 'British state was complicit in my torture in Guantanamo Bay'

15 December 2015
The last British resident to be freed from Guantanamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, has described his torture in the camp, writes Judith Orr

History of hypocrisy over refugees

15 September 2015
David Cameron stands in a long tradition of British politicians turning away refugees. Sadie Robinson takes on their myths

No safe haven—how desperate refugees fleeing conflicts are turned away

11 August 2015
A series of bloody conflicts right across the world lie at the roots of the current refugee crisis.

When we invited Malcolm X to Smethwick

17 February 2015
Avtar Singh Jouhl invited Malcolm X to Smethwick days before his assassination fifty years ago. He spoke to Ken Olende about the visit’s impact on the fight against racism

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

10 February 2015
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

From Greece to Britain—we can break austerity

06 January 2015
A great battle is taking place in Greece between the forces of capital and those who want to hurl off the chains of austerity.

Britain and the US have always used torture

09 December 2014
The problem wasn’t carrying out torture. It was that releasing a report into torture might increase the chance of terrorism.

Flag waving patriots want us to be divided

02 December 2014
Our rulers love it if they can persuade us to join in with their shows of patriotism. And that’s exactly why we should reject them, says Sadie Robinson

The soldiers that Empire forgot

30 September 2014
Troops from Europe’s empires who fought in the First World War were quickly erased from official histories. They are remembered by John Siblon