Watch the Greens’ thrillingly unapologetic, socialist broadcast
Caroline Lucas’ local election film is the clearest and most explicit proclamation of the Greens’ democratic socialist principles ever.
Sussex Uni ‘Pop-Up Union’ to fight outsourcing
Workers at the University of Sussex have formed a new union in a bid to halt the outsourcing of 235 campus jobs. The initiative comes from rank-and-file members of the three recognised campus trade unions, with the support of students from the now six-week old Occupy Sussex movement. Announcing the move at a mass demonstration [...]
East Coast rail re-privatisation is a foolish mistake
by George Woods Yesterday, the Government announced it is accelerating the re-privatisation of the East Coast railway, which they say will now take place in December 2014. The story of East Coast in public hands has been a clear success. In 2009 National Express walked away from the route mid-franchise, citing insufficient profits. This in [...]
The Sussex Occupation and the Privatisation of University Education
Luke Martell The Sussex Uni occupation against outsourcing is in its seventh week. It hosts a national demo against education privatisation today. You can quibble whether what’s happening at Sussex is privatisation. But services run by a not-for-profit charity are to be outsourced to private companies. 235 workers will have their employment transferred to providers [...]
Alan Milburn was paid by NHS privateers while still an MP
This isn’t new information, but it was new to me. This Guardian article from two years ago says that, when he was still an MP, Alan Milburn was getting £25-30k a year from a company called Bridgepoint. But it doesn’t tell you who Bridgepoint are. Here’s the answer: they are a private equity company. In [...]
Graph: train fares rise while wages drop
Matthew is media officer to Green Party MEP Keith Taylor Campaigners and politicians joined forces across the country this morning as part of a protest against spiralling train fares. I joined Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, in Tonbridge where he was speaking to commuters about the 5.2% increase in their season ticket [...]
Rail privateer finds privatisation works, he couldn’t be more wrong
By George Woods If the publication of the Brown Report passed you by last week, don’t be too hard on yourself. The media greeted the government’s review on rail franchising with almost blanket non-coverage. But its findings represent a huge missed opportunity to fix Britain’s railways and help set the economy on the road to [...]
Fighting for the Public University
Luke Martell Jérémie Bédard-Wien from the Quebec students’ union CLASSE has been on tour in England, telling his story about the movement at home against fees and for public education. The Quebec mobilisation has been large, radical and sustained. It’s combined students from the bottom up and reached out to unions. It was confronted by [...]
Privatisation Reversed? Chile shows the way to reclaim public services
In Chile, a challenge has emerged to the idea that privatisation is permanent. Student led protests and demonstrations have focused on reversing the privatisation of education. Protests in Santiago were staged earlier this month by thousands of students, despite the City government banning demonstrations, and seem set to continue as the popularity of the government [...]
Thanks G4S! You’ve Reminded Us All Why The Private Sector Ain’t The Answer.
G4S’s abject failure to keep its side of the bargain over Olympics security ought to act as a damned great neon warning sign when it comes to the private sector taking a public role. We’ve had to put up with the bleating of the ideological right for way too long. “The private sector is more [...]
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