Britain

China Crisis: Bo Xilai, corruption and looming economic slowdown

14 August 2012
The fall of prominent Chinese politician Bo Xilai earlier this year exposed the depths of corruption in China’s ruling class. Much of the media here is focusing on his wife, Gu Kailai, who last week stood trial for murdering a British businessman.

The rich start to panic

14 August 2012
The media is full of dire judgments on the state of the British economy. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, says nothing is going to get better fast. He admits the recovery will be "a long, slow process".

News round-up

14 August 2012
UK faces court over kill list Britain’s role in supplying information to the US for their "kill list" is going to be challenged in court. An Afghan man who lost five of his relatives in a targeted missile strike has started proceedings against the Ministry of Defence and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Recession or no recession, the bosses take the cash

07 August 2012
Even before the recession less money was going to workers. Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP), the total economic output of the country, rose by 11 percent between 2003 and 2008.

No Olympic boost as the Games just add to economic misery

07 August 2012
The Olympics was going to be the event that saved Britain from the recession. Like the royal wedding and the jubilee before it, the hype was that it would provide huge economic growth.

The media, crime and racism

07 August 2012
The horrific case of Shafilea Ahmed, who was murdered by her parents for refusing an arranged marriage, has sparked outrage. The press has raged about how South Asians and Muslims have to learn "British values".

Jamaica: an island of rebellion

07 August 2012
The Union Jack was lowered over Jamaica’s capital Kingston on 6 August 1962, watched by Princess Margaret for the British crown.

When the law lost: how mass strikes freed the Pentonville Five

31 July 2012
Today’s working class movement faces an urgent task. In order to spur on the fightback to austerity, organisation and confidence must be rebuilt at a rank and file level. But 40 years ago, rank and file workers’ power in Britain was a reality impossible to ignore.

Homelessness is on the rise

31 July 2012
The number of people in Britain without a home has rocketed by 25 percent in the past three years, new research has found.

Milk pricing row turns sour as farmers blockade cartels

31 July 2012
Several thousand farmers have staged demonstrations outside dairies in Britain. They have blockaded entrances with machinery and poured milk down drains. But why?

There's no light at end of Osborne's cuts tunnel

31 July 2012
Figures released last week underlined that the Tories’ austerity policies are pushing Britain’s economy deeper into recession.

Britain's crimes in Kenya cannot go unpunished or forgotten

24 July 2012
A group of elderly Kenyans have been told they can sue the British Foreign Office for torture they suffered under colonial rule in the 1950s.

Is manufacturing dead in Britain?

24 July 2012
From the unions to the Labour Party, it’s common to hear the idea that Britain’s manufacturing base is now all but destroyed. "We don’t make things any more," they say.

Cairo, Year One exhibition

20 July 2012
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Remploy strike: reports and pictures from around the country

19 July 2012
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BMA workers walk out over pay

18 July 2012
Workers at the British Medical Association (BMA) struck today, Wednesday, over pay. Members of the GMB union employed by the doctors’ organisation walked out for 24 hours.

No room for the poor?

17 July 2012
Are there too many people in Britain? A report based on last year’s census says that there are almost half a million more people here than previously thought.

Pride marches in Glasgow, Bristol and Bournemouth

17 July 2012
Pride marches took place across Britain on Saturday for LGBT rights. In Glasgow some 6,000 people took part, making it what organisers say is the largest ever in Scotland.

Maritime round-up

17 July 2012
Coastguards take action against cuts Coastguards in the PCS union took industrial action last week over the closure of 50 percent of the rescue stations in Britain.

Reviews round-up

10 July 2012
Another London at Tate Britain Between 1930 and 1980, London was home to some of the world’s most renowned photographers. This exhibition explores the different relationships photographers had with the city—as refugees, citizens or tourists, and how this affected their work.