After more than 30 years, the printing presses have finally halted for the left-wing magazine. KATE HUDSON pays tribute to the always thought-provoking publication and explains how the editorial team are inviting feedback and comment on their continued online operations
A (hospital) bed for the night
People know that today’s disputes are not the cause of a crisis within the NHS – it is the crisis of NHS underfunding that led to the disputes, argues ALAN SIMPSON
Nurses strike
Why is the Labour government so addicted to giving government jobs to Tories when it spent so long trying to oust them? In the hope the favour is returned the next time the Tories return to power, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
MARC WADSWORTH reports from the meeting to commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre 65 years ago
Despite the US withdrawal from Ukraine and economic self-harm from sanctions, European centrists maintain their bellicosity to justify military spending and distract from neoliberalism's failures, writes PRABHAT PATNAIK
Netanyahu’s failed attempt to replace Shin Bet’s chief violates longstanding Israeli political taboos, as the apartheid state’s internal power struggle spirals to a new level of crisis while Gaza burns, writes RAMZY BAROUD
Following the historic ban on companies profiting from children’s care, Unison Cymru calls for transparency in implementing the changes and extending the reform to create a truly national, profit-free care service, says MARK TURNER
The left must confront both far-right bigotry and the undeniable problems the exploitation of migrant workers by the ruling class creates — but there are few lessons from the global left on how to strike this balance, laments NICK WRIGHT
I hear that in New York
At the corner of 26th street and Broadway
A man stands every evening during the winter months And gets beds for the homeless there
By appealing to passers-by.
–
A few people have a bed for the night
For a night the wind is kept from them
The snow meant for them falls on the roadway But it won’t change the world
It won’t improve relations among men
It will not shorten the age of exploitation.
Bertolt Brecht’s poem (A Bed for the Night) wasn’t written for today’s NHS disputes but it does address the same contradictions.
Brecht’s reflections offer a stark contrast to the fatuous claims of John Redwood MP that if there’s a shortage of NHS beds, just buy some more. Here is a politician who clearly understands nothing.
More from this author
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