Speakers in Berlin traced how Germany’s rearmament, US-led violence abroad and the repression of solidarity at home are converging in a dangerous drive toward war. BEN CHACKO reports
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Market methods have failed the NHS – we need investment, in-sourcing and stability of services
HELEN O'CONNOR says the Autumn Statement risks confirming a disastrous strategy that has bled the health service white
Ahead of an important CND webinar, ULRIKE EIFLER argues that militarisation is not only draining social budgets — it is reshaping everyday life, preparing society for war and demanding a socialist response rooted in the labour movement
ALEX GORDON outlines the real battle for workers in Britain and Europe, to break the state capture by arms firms and the new finance-technology capitalists
As Holyrood sets the Budget, the gulf between rich and poor is wider than ever. PETER OLECH of Unite Community Scotland argues that only by taxing extreme wealth can we properly fund public services and deliver justice for working-class communities
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has little to do with self-determination and far more to do with strategy, offering Israel a potential military foothold near Yemen, says JE ROSENBERG
Statement of the Tudeh Party of Iran
THE NHS spend in 2021-22 was £152 billion but in spite of this, NHS trusts have suffered budgetary shortfalls of approximately £2bn each year since 2015. The relentless demand for efficiency savings and non-stop restructuring has led to ward closures, bed counts dropping, and services being privatised.
Over the last 10 years the NHS has lost 25,000 beds on the pretext of “care being moved into the community” but what has happened is that the public are waiting longer than ever before for care and treatment on the NHS. Eye-watering sums of public money are flowing into the private sector with minimum scrutiny, contract compliance or accountability.
Even before the pandemic struck, the “modernisation of the NHS” driven by a ruthless programme of cuts and privatisation had led to a rise in waiting lists for elective care.
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When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN
Behind Starmer’s headline-grabbing abolition of NHS England lies a ruthless drive to centralise control so that cuts of £6.6 billion can be made — even if it means reducing cancer services and clinical staff, writes JOHN LISTER
Diverting public funding to grow private-sector ‘spare capacity,’ actively undermines the funding and staff available to the NHS and results in a worse service, write JOHN PUNTIS and TONY O’SULLIVAN