Trade unions need to step up and force a turn in the policies of the labour movement to effectively confront the far-right threat, argues NICK WRIGHT
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We must end the Americanisation of our prison system
The results of privatisation across our justice sector are catastrophic, writes RICHARD BURGON MP
As the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish civil war is marked, Teesside campaigners will gather to remember the local men and women who stood against fascism, explains TONY FOX
Whatever differences exist among international sympathisers of the Bolivarian revolution about its current trajectory, they should unite against the imperialist power that is the source of an enforced retreat, argues ROGER D HARRIS
Washington’s inability to subjugate Iran is an example of how it is trying to preserve a regional order that no longer exists, argues RAMZY BAROUD
US financial instability is exposing the limits of a dollar-dominated global economy — and giving the Global South a historic chance to build an alternative, says MURAD QURESHI
Deprivation is a fundamental factor in criminal behaviour that must be addressed but, KENNY MacASKILL argues, there needs to a major rethink in sentencing to tackle overcrowding
THE Tories quietly confirmed last week that two new prisons are to be handed over to the private sector to be run for private profit. This is the latest push in what I call the Americanisation of our criminal justice system, where keeping people safe comes second to making profits for mega-corporations.
This news came despite two flagship justice privatisations running aground this summer. HMP Birmingham was brought back under public control after unprecedented failures by G4S and the government was forced to bring an early end to the private probation contracts, despite having handed the private companies £500 million in bailout payments in the past 12 months alone.
This push for privatisation and outsourcing goes hand in hand with austerity. As budgets fall, there is a greater push for the private sector to step in, especially where it is impossible to scrap the services altogether, as with prisons. Nowhere is that clearer than in the Ministry of Justice. It’s the ministry which has suffered the biggest cuts under austerity.
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Long-term underfunding and state neglect, while simultaneously probation services have been undermined, have intensified the prison crises, argues SOLOMON HUGHES
In the second part of her critique of Wes Streeting’s TenYear Plan for Health, HELEN MERCER looks at the central planks of this privatisation blueprint