Preferable to Starmer he may be, but there is scant sign of a sharp political break in Burnham’s policies so far — while left challenges aren’t making much of a running either, finds ANDREW MURRAY. How can socialism be put back on the map?
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State pensions: a diminishing ‘benefit’ under the Tories
What was once common sense to both major parties – that we all pay a little of our wages to receive a pension when we are too old to work – has been viciously undermined by decades of neoliberalism, explains NICK WRIGHT
A pile of one pound coins
CHARLEY ALLAN reports from Clacton on Farage’s fears his by-election stunt has backfired
JEREMY CORBYN says we should never forget the horrific reality of nuclear weapons, or cease our efforts to rid the planet of them entirely
The new TUC Cymru general secretary speaks to Morning Star Wales reporter David Nicholson about her trade union background and ambitions for the movement
Internationalism is deeply embedded in socialist theory and practice. Examination illuminates its complexity asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
The Claudia Sheinbaum government is no pushover and is holding firm despite US abuses of the relationship, says DAVID RABY
As we approach the grim anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, SIMON BARROW sounds the alarm over the dangerous and murderous direction our government is heading
TWO days ago my state pension went up in lockstep with the inflation figures for last year.
Useful, if not really keeping pace with the basket of price rises that devalues the average pension, but, raised in line with the Tories’ electorally effective “triple lock,” it is an effective marker of the ways in which the weekly income of working people and pensioners loses its value.
But it is not a bloody “benefit” — at least in the reworked meaning of that word. I paid for it with National Insurance deductions from my wages over decades. The proof is brought home with the carefully annotated reminder that my state pension is a bit higher than otherwise might be the case when I paid Barbara Castle’s enhanced State Earnings-Related Pension (Serps) contribution.
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Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT