Exam grading debacles in Scotland and today’s A-level results have provoked a backlash amongst students, teachers and parents. The current system is failing young people, depriving them of their future. We need to fight for change.
by Chris Herriot, De Montfort University UCU
Category: UK
Royal Mail Putting Profit before Health: Posties Fight Back
There is growing anger among postal workers regarding the lack of safety and infection control provisions within Royal Mail. In some places, postal workers have already staged walkouts, showing the bosses that they won’t be sacrificed for profit.
Continue reading Royal Mail Putting Profit before Health: Posties Fight BackTory Cuts Fuel Domestic Violence and Abuse
By Ellen Morton, Glasgow Marxists
The current crisis of capitalism has had huge consequences for ordinary people, with dramatic falls in living standards, job losses and welfare cuts. Working class women are being particularly hard hit by this crisis, facing stagnating wages in already low-paid jobs and often having to bear the brunt of austerity cuts to public services and welfare. Since 2010, 86% of the Tory cuts have been targeted at jobs and services that are dominated by women
DPD driver’s death demonstrates brutality of precarious work
By Alex Johnson, IMT Edinburgh
Recent figures show unemployment to be at 4.5%, the lowest seen since the 1970s. When we take a moment to examine this figure more closely, however, we find that it isn’t the cause for celebration the Tories would have us believe.
Continue reading DPD driver’s death demonstrates brutality of precarious work
Scottish Labour, The National Question and The SNP
By Ross Walker
After two years of utter humiliation following the 2014 referendum, 2017 saw a gradual improvement in Scottish Labour’s fortunes. In June they increased their seats from 1 to 7 in the snap Westminster election. In November, left-winger, Richard Leonard was elected after decades of right wing leadership. The party finished the year with some polls showing them having overtaken the Tories in popularity.
Continue reading Scottish Labour, The National Question and The SNP
May’s Snap Election: A Marxist View
Ross Walker, IMT Edinburgh
“She is clearly betting that the Tories can win a bigger majority in England given the utter disarray in the Labour Party. That makes it all the more important that Scotland is protected from a Tory Party which now sees the chance of grabbing control of government for many years to come and moving the UK further to the right – forcing through a hard Brexit and imposing deeper cuts in the process.”
Nicola Sturgeon responding to Theresa May’s call for an election.
Sturgeon’s call for IndyRef2 sparks political storm
by Amy Dean
Nicola Sturgeon this week finally delivered the speech that had seemed almost inevitable ever since the Brexit vote in June last year. By announcing her intention to seek a second independence referendum, Sturgeon has started a political storm that will likely rage on – at the very least – until any referendum takes place. Continue reading Sturgeon’s call for IndyRef2 sparks political storm
Scotland, The UK and The Fight for Socialism After Brexit
By Amy DeanThe summer of 2016 has proved to be the most turbulent in memory in British politics. Over the past 3 months the electorate have voted to leave the EU, David Cameron has resigned as Prime Minister with Theresa May taking over, right-wingers have plunged the Labour Party into an internal crisis and leadership election, and the question of a second Scottish independence referendum is most certainly back on the table. Continue reading Scotland, The UK and The Fight for Socialism After Brexit
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Open Borders Now! The EU referendum, xenophobia, and the free movement of peoples
“We don’t have a say in the referendum, but the politicians and press talk about us as if we are an underclass who cannot read – and it’s terrifying”
A Polish journalist based in London, Jacob Krupa expresses feelings shared by many EU migrants in the run up to June’s Brexit referendum. Continue reading Open Borders Now! The EU referendum, xenophobia, and the free movement of peoples