UK
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Sunday Times rich list: “Astonishing year” for Britain’s most wealthy By Jordan Shilton
In its entirety, the list reveals that the richest 1,000 people in Britain possess combined wealth of £519 billion, equivalent to a staggering one third of the country’s GDP. This is a rise of 15.4 percent from the 2013 list, when the super-rich held total wealth of £449 billion. Since 2008, the year of the… Continue reading
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Barnardo’s and G4S, partners in the child detention business By Frances Webber
Four years ago the coalition government promised to end child detention for immigration purposes. But they didn’t. Instead, the UK’s biggest children’s charity and security giant G4S created a prettier prison. Continue reading
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Renationalisation of the rail services? Why not start with the NHS? By David Zigmond
Labour is flirting with the idea of renationalising the railways – but it should start by renationalising the NHS. Continue reading
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Britain’s richest 1% own as much as poorest 55% of population By Phillip Inman
Britain’s richest 1% have accumulated as much wealth as the poorest 55% of the population put together, according to the latest official analysis of who owns the nation’s £9.5tn of property, pensions and financial assets. In figures that also lay bare the extent of inequality across the north-south divide, the Office for National Statistics said… Continue reading
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Labour support collapses in the polls – socialist policies needed! By Daniel Morley
Some recent opinion polls have put the Tories ahead of Labour for the first time since 2012. Does this mean that the public has made an historic shift to the right, at a time when the right wing is presiding over possibly the biggest ever fall in living standards and rise in inequality? Is the… Continue reading
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Bilderberg’s silent takeover of Britain’s $60bn defence budget By Tony Gosling
Democracy had another near-fatal stroke, and the military industrial complex further tightened UK defense spending with the appointment of ex-army officer and Tory hothead Rory Stewart MP as the new chairman of Westminster’s Defence Select Committee. Continue reading
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UK parliament attempts to restore confidence in intelligence agencies By Paul Mitchell
A report published last week by the UK parliament’s Home Affairs Committee (HAC) declares the current system of monitoring the British intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ “not fit for purpose.” Continue reading
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Labour turn spotlight on GP shortages By Caroline Molloy
Yesterday Miliband pledged a GP appointment for all within 48 hours, today Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham visits inner-city GP practices facing the axe. Continue reading
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Israeli minister Tzipi Livni given diplomatic immunity for UK visit By Harriet Sherwood
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Hickman and Rose have been prosecuting Livni before the British courts for years on the grounds alleged war crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip 2008-2009, codenamed operation “Cast Lead”. The article includes important information and quotations said by… Continue reading
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‘Neither criminals, nor animals!’ Britain’s immigration detainees speak out By Jasmine Sallis
The UK immigration authorities and their commercial partners are trying to suppress a wave of protests sweeping British detention centres. In the past week hundreds of asylum-seekers detained at four high-security facilities have started hunger-strikes against draconian Home Office policies. Continue reading
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Britain: Anti-terror legislation used to pursue whistleblower By Ben Trent
Anti-terror legislation has been used to pursue a whistleblower, who revealed details of the relationship between Britain’s tax authorities, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC), and top companies accused of tax avoidance. In March, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by Labour MP Margaret Hodge, revealed further details in the case of… Continue reading
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A Farage Farrago: Contradictions at the Heart of the UK Independence Party By Tony Mckenna
In Westminster, the drip-drip of financial corruption — expense account abuse, the flipping of houses — is supplemented by a spectacle of “on-message” politicians whose speeches are slick with the shiny artificiality of well-oiled PR productions. A never-ending parade of besuited, perfectly manicured politicians, staring out at the camera, eyes glazed with faux sincerity, features… Continue reading
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The fraud of the official campaign against the United Kingdom Independence Party By Jordan Shilton
The latest poll results indicate that the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) could challenge for first place in European elections due later this month. Supposedly to counter this danger, a cross-party campaign has been launched involving the three major parties, Labour and the governing Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Continue reading
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NHS Care.data safeguards jettisoned by govt. By Kelly Fiveash
Vital safeguards for protecting patients’ privacy when NHS England records are shared with companies were scrapped by peers on Wednesday night. A proposed tweak to the Care Bill, tabled by Lord Owen, would have brought in independent, statutory oversight to better protect the handling of patient information across the health service, following the care.data debacle. Continue reading
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UK: The Police, Squat Evictions and Housing Precarity By Izzy Köksal
A recent tweet by Lambeth MPS brags about the eviction of a squatted doctors surgery in Brixton on a rainy January morning: ‘another crime generator closed down!’ they exclaimed. Happily, the twitter account was met with a barrage of abuse, but this tweet shows how the police are often found intervening in what is a… Continue reading
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England’s mean unpleasant land By Michael Dickinson
Michael Dickinson was found guilty of ‘insulting the dignity’ of the Turkish Prime Minister with one of his collage caricatures. Imprisoned and deported from Istanbul, where he had lived since 1986 working as a teacher, the 64 year old artist, actor and writer arrived back in England homeless and broke, and is currently sleeping rough… Continue reading
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Hospital closure clause – last chance to amend it this Wednesday By Becky Jarvis
38 Degrees are working with Baroness Finlay to amend the hospital closure clause in its final Lords debate to give some power back to local commissioners. Continue reading
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NHS: “The worst thing a UK government has done to its people in my lifetime” By Marcus Chown
I’m a science writer. I usually write about the big bang and parallel universes black holes. But I was born in the NHS, my wife is an NHS nurse and I can see that the NHS is rapidly disappearing down a black hole. The NHS is one of the fairest, most efficient and cost-effective healthcare… Continue reading
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UK Government and GM Industry Secret Collusion Exposed
“Members of the public will be shocked by the extent to which foreign GM companies have muscled their way in to Government departments, developing a cosy relationship with ministers” said Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK. “Ministers and officials are not acting in the public interest but colluding with the industry to push ahead… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 