Years of austerity and political failure have left classrooms overcrowded and staff overstretched – now educators are organising across roles to demand change, says ED HARLOW
It will be up to us to protect pensioners and the triple lock
The vast gap between Britain’s pensions and those of other comparable nations shows that low pensions are a political choice, not an economic necessity — and now the Tories are attacking what remains, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE MP
While US restrictions tighten economic and social pressures on Cuba, international allies and grassroots campaigns are stepping in to support the island’s resilience, writes BERNARD REGAN, secretary of Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Labour’s approach to Scotland reveals a long-running tension between rhetoric and reality, warns PAULINE BRYAN
We can't move forward as a progressive society, until we break away from our neoliberal past, says CHRIS WILLIAMSON
Austerity is breaking the education system. We must unite to save our schools and pay our teachers properly, says NEU national president ED HARLOW
Marx’s early lectures on economics, together with Engels’s additions, provide a valuable introduction to Marxist political economy today, writes the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
THE “triple lock” on pensions is all that is left after 12 years of a disastrous Conservative government — and even that is now under threat. In a society where millions are routinely and knowingly condemned to poverty, hunger and misery by Conservative policies, the hope of some stability in retirement was one of the few lights at the end of a very long and very dimly lit tunnel.
The government, with an obliging mainstream media and numerous think tanks, has exerted significant energies into warning us that with annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation running at 10.1 per cent, a 40-year high, adhering to the triple lock would prove hugely expensive.
Economists have warned that further figures to be released this week will show that inflation accelerated to 10.8 per cent in October. Those who are briefing the media have argued that an estimated £5 billion more, based on current inflation estimates, in the next tax year would be required than if the average earnings figure were used instead.
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