While riding the No 3 bus in Glasgow MATT KERR has ample time to dissect the moribund Scottish Labour decline into near oblivion and watch intriguing bus passenger dynamics
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What do Marxists say about the housing crisis?
The MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY explains how in a socialist society, decent housing would be seen as a right, not a commodity
The best wildfire service may begin with the community, argues KOMAL RAJ ARYAL
Dignity is important to all humans, argues the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School, but it does not come about automatically. In a less than perfect world, dignity can accompany suffering, but the collective dignity of working people is achieved through acting together to change the world.
The US aim to reshape the existing order in the Middle East needs to be resolutely resisted, argues PAYAM SOLHTALAB
Concessions to Washington by the post-Maduro leadership in Caracas are designed to preserve the core of the Bolivarian Revolution not betray it, argue Roger D Harris, Francisco Dominguez and Mara Paez Victor. How the solidarity movement responds is critical
ALMA EGAN suggests four days out that bring the region’s history of protest to life
HOUSING today, especially in Britain, emphasises the contradiction between the basic need of the many for somewhere to live and the unnatural bloated wealth of the few. Homes have become a key part of our commodified economy.
Big business is reliant on the housing market for growth, millions of people live in inadequate, insecure and, for some, dangerous homes and nearly 5,000 people sleep rough every night on our streets. Meanwhile those with “capital” buy property as an investment device or tax dodge and often leave it empty.
Some of the council estates built after World War I as well as after World War II were superior not just to the slums they replaced but also to much speculative “working-class” housing built more recently, though then, as now, residents are distanced from engagement in the process of construction and design.
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Dignity is important to all humans, argues the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School, but it does not come about automatically. In a less than perfect world, dignity can accompany suffering, but the collective dignity of working people is achieved through acting together to change the world.
The new PM may offer more of the same, but early signs on his housing policies look promising, says GLYNN ROBBINS
In a wide-ranging interview, JEREMY CORBYN talks to Ben Chacko about the difficulties the new Prime Minister faces and why he sees no future in Labour
Building is the solution for much of our housing crisis – and will also help to address poverty, ill health, and even anti-social behaviour and alienation, writes KENNY MacASKILL