VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention
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Radical action is needed, not just to stop the tide of privatisation but to reverse it
Privatisation in the NHS and elsewhere has revealed itself to be the worst of all worlds, says DAVE PRENTIS
by Roger D Harris and John Perry
VINCE MILLS says Scottish Labour has adopted better positions than its Westminster counterpart — but unless it starts to fight for them that will count for nothing
Labour MSP CAROL MOCHAN calls for Britain to follow France’s lead and recognise the Palestinian state as part of efforts to end this war
A Chilean court ruled that funds were illegally taken by the dictator to accumulate family wealth that is now disputed among his heirs, writes PABLO MERIGUET
The shock suspension of socialist MPs and Diane Abbott’s re-suspension reveals a leadership intent on crushing internal debate — but MERCEDES VILLALBA MSP warns against surrendering party democracy without a fight
AFTER Carillion imploded last year, many argued this was the final nail in the coffin of privatisation, outsourcing and PFI.
As Unison and others had warned from the outset of these dangerous experiments, it’s staff and anyone who uses local services who bear the brunt of the inevitable cost-cutting.
Worse still for its ideological proponents, privatisation has failed on its own terms. Rather than providing a more efficient and cheaper way of delivering public services, private firms have delivered collapse and failure with little incentive to improve the services they provide.
So here we stand today, with nothing of significance having changed for the better. Worse still, the lessons of Carillion’s collapse appear to be forgotten.
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DAVE PRENTIS looks beneath the statistics to expose the real damage council cuts cause
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