Winter madness
National Grid plc will pay £122 million to keep ten coal and gas power stations in reserve to ensure that Britain gets through the winter without power cuts.
Bring back control over power generation
The opportunity of Brexit has to be about how we determine a strategy for power generation which will serve the nation for at least the next 100 years…
Why self-sufficiency in health matters
We cannot care for people without planning, and we should stop robbing other nations of skilled workers…
Junior doctors' dispute: the end of the beginning
In dispute for over a year, junior hospital doctors have had to draw back from their planned series of five-day strikes against an unsafe contract. But it’s a protracted struggle…
Build the team: promote British players
Asked to rule about footballers’ freedom to transfer, the EU went further and removed restrictions on EU players in national clubs. England haven’t won a tournament since…
England's Break from Rome (1532-40)
29 October 2016
The English Reformation evolved from the need of Henry VIII to divorce. Such a relatively trivial episode in led to a process that ultimately brought the total reconstruction of political power and social attitudes in England.
Panama - the offshore scandal exposed
Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer work for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In early 2015 Obermayer received a message, “Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data?” This book is the story of what happened next.
Eurozone stagnation in Italy
Italy’s GDP is up by only 0.8 per cent on last year. In this year’s second quarter, there was no growth at all.
NHS still tendering contracts across the EU
27 October 2016
NHS England is trying to defy the historic referendum vote to leave the EU by applying EU rules to the procurement of up to £15 billion of specialised services contracts.
Get on, get out
The British people made a declaration of independence. Now we have to get the independence we voted for.
Defence begins at home
Who cares if Russia sails its only aircraft carrier through the English Channel (or La Manche if you sit on the other coast)?
No trade deal for EU and Canada
24 October 2016
Belgium cannot sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the EU’s proposed trade deal with Canada because of opposition from local elected bodies. That may block the whole deal.
Brexit stories: threats and contradictions
24 October 2016
This account of the Remain campaign by David Cameron’s PR man opens up a fascinating insight into its fundamental contradictions.
Southern rail: ASLEF to ballot over safety
The government wants massive cuts to staffing on Britain’s railways regardless of safety. ASLEF is to ballot train drivers in Southern rail against that threat, joining RMT guards in their increasingly bitter dispute.
Deutsche Bahn axes British rail jobs
Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned rail company, has axed nearly 900 jobs, a quarter of its British workforce.
Unison: no movement on pay claim
Unison’s go-it-alone stance on local government pay has hit the buffers. Its additional pay claim for 2017-18 is not supported by other unions. Employers have refused the claim. New thinking is needed by workers to make progress.
Euro a 'house of cards'
The economic troubles of the EU will not go away, despite the sustained denials by politicians, echoed by some here in Britain. One expert tells a different story, explaining that struggling through crisises cannot go on endlessly.
Cuban organisation beats Hurricane Matthew
Hurricane Matthew reduced a Cuban coastal town to rubble. Yet not one person there lost their life – a testament to the power of organisation and class mobilisation.
Anti-Russia sanctions cost Europe dear
18 October 2016
European countries are extending sanctions against Russia because of the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. This belligerence is causing difficulties in Europe and Britain as well as for Russia.
RMT wins battle for safety and jobs in Scotland – Southern dispute becomes more bitter
11 October 2016
RMT Scotrail members have a victory in their fight for safety. Those working on Southern face the same problem, but their employer has escalted the dispute.
Generation reverse
3 October 2016
Real wages in Britain have fallen by more than 10 per cent in the last ten years according to government figures. The current generation of new workers will be the first since records began to earn less than their parents.
Pensions: later and later [updated]
3 October 2016
A review of the state pension age is due to be released in early 2017. We can expect the media to trail snippets to prepare the ground. But the apparently independent review will simply copy the World Bank and IMF line on how to bust up a country’s state pension system.
Commons committee slams Libya intervention
22 September 2016
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report into Britain’s role in the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi is a stunning indictment of the British state’s attack on Libya in March 2011.
French workers oppose labour laws
18 September 2016
Hundreds of thousands of French workers demonstrated in major cities again last week against the imposition of new labour laws.
A different game
18 September 2016
Dave Roberts celebrates the real ethic of British football in a new book, Home & Away, through a grand tour of Britain with a collective of working class non-league supporters.
Water metering - whether you like it or not
16 September 2016
Residents of some of Britain’s drier areas have been waking up to find water meters being installed outside their front gates.
North East rejects 'devolution' - again
12 September 2016
The government’s plans to force councils to merge and to accept elected mayors has come off the rails in the North East of England.
New arts trade union formed
12 September 2016
The Artists’ Union of England, launched in London and Newcastle two years ago with advice based on the Scottish Artists’ Union Rule Book, has just been granted certification.
London rebuilt
6 September 2016
As London commemorates 350 years since the Great Fire of 2 September 1666, we are reminded of what a real catastrophe looks like – unlike the spurious and risible warnings of the “disaster” of Brexit.
Doctors fighting for the NHS
5 September 2016
Hospital doctors have begun a new phase of action in response to the government’s attempt to impose new contracts. Strikes planned for the autumn will take place unless the government halts the imposition and restarts meaningful talks.