austerity
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The London Underground strikes
The Mayor of London, who campaigned for election on the promise of keeping ticket offices open, now plans to close every London Underground ticket office as part of this budget cut. The first tranche of cuts will also see the loss of nearly 1000 front line, safety critical and customer facing station jobs. Continue reading
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UK Labour pledges itself to legally binding savage cuts By Julie Hyland
The United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party has pledged to introduce laws to enforce “tough” fiscal rules if it wins the election in 2015. Continue reading
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Video: The UK Doubles Down on Austerity
John Weeks: The UK announces tens of billions of dollars of cuts to social programs despite a poor economic recovery Continue reading
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Osborne’s Britain: poverty, insecurity and cuts
Few people, other than the rich and the ruling elites, celebrated when some faltering growth crept back into the economy in the latter part of last year. This was because few could feel any benefit from it in any part of their lives. As the growth was talked up wages and living standards continued to… Continue reading
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Greece in a Time of Madness and a Time of Badness By Sofiane Ait Chalalet and Chris Jones
Madness and badness are never far away in the world today. Greece provides many examples. The behaviour of the government forces many of us to wonder what drugs ministers are taking as they tell us that the future is looking brighter; that 2014 starts the beginning of the end to austerity; that the sacrifices of… Continue reading
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UK housing benefit changes threaten mass evictions By Eileen Rose
Open season has been declared on housing benefit recipients who live in private rented accommodation. Continue reading
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Bournemouth hospital review confirms warning by NHS FightBack campaign By Ajanta Silva
Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital (RBH) NHS Trust, delivering care to a population of more than half a million people, is the latest Trust to be criticised for delivering inadequate care. Continue reading
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The Real Causes of the Catastrophic Crisis in Greece and the “Left” By Takis Fotopoulos
The almost complete destruction of the lower classes in Greece is not due to the causes usually attributed to it by the “Left”.[1] In fact, contrary to the misleading “explanations” provided by this Left and the Right alike, the actual cause is the full integration of the Greek economy into neoliberal globalization, through its accession… Continue reading
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UK worsens global hunger crisis by ‘blocking reforms on food speculation’
The UK is being accused of attempts to block EU reform to prevent food speculation. It took EU negotiators three years to agree on a regulation against speculation by banks and hedge funds which drives up food prices, aggravating the global hunger crisis. Continue reading
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London: Fire station closures endanger lives By Allison Smith and Paul Bond
This month has seen the closure of 10 fire stations across London, with the loss of 552 firefighters and 14 fire engines. The cuts have been forced through by Conservative Party mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in order to achieve budget savings of £45 million over the next two years. This will place extraordinary pressure… Continue reading
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Crucible of Resistance: Class Struggle Over Ways Out of the Crisis By Andreas Bieler
Having postponed the necessary restructuring for too long, austerity would be the only solution to enforce liberalization and deregulation from the outside. In their impressive book Crucible of Resistance: Greece, the Eurozone and the World Economic Crisis (Pluto Press, 2013), Christos Laskos and Euclid Tsakalotos challenge these understandings and reveal the class dynamics underlying the… Continue reading
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“Economic Terrorism”: The Ongoing Neoliberal Assault on Ordinary Working Class People in Britain By Colin Todhunter
Britain’s problems are not the result of spending on public services. In 1945, the debt was bigger than today, but Britain created the welfare state. In the 1960s, during an era of full employment, the debt was also bigger than now. In 2006, before the crisis, Britain spent more on public services than now, but… Continue reading
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Surveys of British youth find growing anger and despair By Julie Hyland
One in 10 young people in Britain feel they have “nothing to live for.” Based on interviews with 2,161 16 to 25-year-olds in October and November last year, the Trust pointed out that this statistic, if applied to the entire youth population, would equate to 750,000 people aged between 16 and 25. Continue reading
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Report reveals the new face of UK poverty By Tom Pearse
Figures for 2011/12 show 13 million people are in poverty, with the study warning that this situation will get worse. What the report calls the “calm surface” of current poverty statistics is hiding “a sharp shift downwards.” Noting that pay is still falling relative to prices, and that the real value of benefits will fall… Continue reading
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OurNHS in 2013 – some highlights
OurNHS is on a publishing break until the New Year. Why not check out some of our stories you may have missed? Continue reading
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British NHS director promotes ‘restructuring’ of accident and emergency departments By Ajanta Silva
Keogh wants to implement a two-tier system of A&E services within five years. Up to 70 A&E units will become Major Emergency Centres, while the remaining 70-100 units will be downgraded to ordinary non-specialist Emergency Centres. At the same time, Keogh says people should be encouraged to get help from alternative sources—the NHS 111 emergency… Continue reading
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Mass opposition blocks Portuguese pension reform By Jordan Shilton
The “week of indignation, protest and fight” was in response to the budget of the right-wing coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Popular Party (CDSPP), which passed the 2014 budget on November 26. It contained €3.9 billion in spending cuts, equivalent to 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 