The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
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The NHS - A manifesto for renewal
FAWZI IBRAHIM argues that the NHS needs reforms to bring it back to its original tenets and outlines five fundamental changes that are critical to achieving this
GETTING THE PULSE? Keir Starmer, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, with chief paramedic at London Ambulance Service Pauline Cranmer, meet NHS staff during a visit in east London
The Islamic Republic’s suddenly weakened regional position exposes the nation to grave threats from US imperialism
DONG XUE explains why US tariffs hold no significant threat to China
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
Like pieces on a chess board, centrist parties lose ground as they accommodate rather than challenge far-right agendas — socialists must play things better, warns MATT KERR
Yanis Varoufakis and Jeremy Corbyn laid out a roadmap for peace, justice and equality as they celebrated the legacy of inspirational socialist Tony Benn, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The NEU’s annual conference promises heated debate, with motions on international politics, curriculum reform and union amalgamation likely to provoke strong reactions and challenge the status quo, writes Education for Tomorrow editor ROBERT POOLE
SOON after the establishment of the NHS in 1948, efforts were made to dilute its provisions and undermine its principles from the introduction of charges for prescriptions, for dental care and for spectacles in 1952 right through to Margaret Thatcher’s internal market, the closer collaboration with the private providers and PFI under the Tony Blair government and the removal of the duty on the secretary of state to secure and provide healthcare for all in the 2012 Health and Social Care Act.
The assault was incessant resulting in significant erosion of NHS provisions and a gradual undermining of the core principle of the NHS as outlined in the 1948 Act which placed a duty on the secretary of state to provide key universal health services throughout England.
This core principle was deliberately subverted and substituted with “free at the point of delivery,” promoted energetically by the Blair and subsequent governments which went unchallenged at the time.
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