Head of education, campaigns and organising for the General Federation of Trade Unions HENRY FOWLER explains why it is launching a fund to support trades councils and give them access to a new range of courses and resources
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Death by a thousand cuts
We need candidates ready to build a united front to defend our services and communities, and stand up against the politics of despair which can only grow when people ‘lose faith’ with the Establishment parties, argues NATHAN HENNEBRY
While working people face austerity, arms companies enjoy massive government contracts, writes ARTHUR WEST, exposing how politicians exaggerate the Russian threat to justify spending on a sector that has the lowest employment multiplier
ANYA COOK reports from the Newcastle citizens’ assembly, where over 240 people gathered to create a people’s manifesto ahead of next year’s local elections – part of former mayor Jamie Driscoll’s Majority movement
While claiming to target fraud, Labour’s snooping Bill strips benefit recipients of privacy rights and presumption of innocence, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE, warning that algorithms with up to 25 per cent error rates could wrongfully investigate and harass millions of vulnerable people
Real security comes from having a secure base at home — Keir Starmer’s reckless and renegade decision to get Britain deeper into the proxy war against Russia is as dangerous as it is wasteful, writes SALLY SPIERS
The plan is to stigmatise and destabilise South Africa in preparation for breaking it up while creating a confused and highly racialised atmosphere around immigration in the US to aid in denying rights to non-white refugees, explains EMILE SCHEPERS
ALAN SIMPSON warns that Starmer’s triangulation strategy will fail just as New Labour’s did, with each rightward move by Labour pushing Tories further right
CONTINUOUS cuts to local councils have become the norm for well over a decade now. Our local high streets lie empty, council-run services continue to be liquidated into the hands of private monopolies and public transport has been decimated. These cuts are a conscious choice.
At a national level, the Scottish government does have the power to allocate crucial funds away from the private enterprises and back into the council-run services. They have made the conscious choice not to.
Locally, it is the officers of the council who establish budgets based on cost-cutting. Councillors should be playing a vital role in opposing budgets which see services and facilities liquidated. Many councillors across Scotland have failed in this duty to their constituents, most notably in Lanarkshire.
More from this author
Our unions need to make a firm stand against so-called ‘defence spending’: the boss class say there’s no magic money tree — and there should be no magic mushroom cloud either, argues NATHAN HENNEBRY
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