As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM
Rent hikes threaten the institution of council housing
Above-inflation rent increases will push council tenants deeper into poverty while failing to address the housing crisis — and it won’t really raise any money, as council rent arrears are doubling across the country, argues MARTIN WICKS
A view from Blackpool Tower of terraced houses in Blackpool, Lancashire
The move against alleged PKK members that sparked outrage as a community centre in north London was raided last year has now come to trial, writes TONY BURKE, but in the meantime, the peace process abroad has changed the situation almost entirely
A new report points a way to overcome complacent framing of climate issues, ‘by sparking a wider public reckoning with climate realities,’ and reconnecting with working-class people. IAN SINCLAIR reports
We cannot understand today’s world without understanding the rise of China – and we cannot understand China without understanding how it was shaped by the second world war, writes JENNY CLEGG
NICK WRIGHT reports from Italy, where 80 cities saw Gaza strikes as unions paralysed transport and massive crowds clashed with police in Milan — but France is also kicking off, and Westminster, in a very different way, is facing a crisis of legitimacy too
Escalating anti-China rhetoric from the West has a clear purpose – to manufacture consent for the new cold war, and potentially a hot one, argues CARLOS MARTINEZ
RATHER than proposing to increase the financial pressure on tenants with above-inflation rent increases, councils should be seeking the support of tenants in a campaign for the government to fund Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) sufficiently to maintain and improve existing homes.
Support for the government’s proposal for five years of above-inflation rent increases for council and housing association tenants is almost universal with housing associations and is even supported by some councils that have signed the document Securing the Future of Council Housing.
London councils are calling for 10 years of CPI plus 1 per cent. Clearly, councils are short of the funding they need to maintain and improve their homes. Yet above-inflation increases are, in our view, short-sighted and counter-productive. It will further impoverish already poor tenants who do not have their rent covered by housing benefit.
More from this author
Labour’s about to shift cost of new housing onto tenants, writes MARTIN WICKS arguing instead for cancelling the councils' HRA debt
MARTIN WICKS argues that the government’s reduced discounts for council house purchases don’t go far enough, and we need to be calling for the complete abolition of this regressive Thatcherite policy
It’s high time for England to follow Scotland and Wales in ending the privatisation of collectively owned housing. MARTIN WICKS explains why
Local councils — some of which now need four times the normal funding — must have their debts waived by central government, argues MARTIN WICKS
