In his May Day message for the Morning Star, RICHARD BURGON says the call for peace, equality and socialism has never been more relevant
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The coming cashless dystopia?
Tapping with your phone, using chip and pin, paying online — it all seems so much easier than notes and coins. But nothing pushed by big tech and the financial industry giants is in our favour, argues JOHN GREEN
This May Day we reaffirm our commitment to working people and our class and to get trade unionism back on the front foot, says EDDIE DEMPSEY
DIANE ABBOTT looks at the whys and hows of Labour’s spectacular own goal
When it comes to extreme weather events, from wildfires to flash floods, it’s firefighters who are on the front line of defence, but services have been cut to the bone, and government is not taking seriously its responsibility for the environment, says STEVE WRIGHT
LUKE FLETCHER pours scorn on Labour’s betrayal of the Welsh steel industry, where the option of nationalisation was sneered at and dismissed – unlike at Scunthorpe where the government stepped in
Washington’s tariff policies become explicable in light of the US economy’s relative decline and the astonishing rise of China, argues MICHAEL BURKE
SOLOMON HUGHES highlights a 1995 Sunday Times story about the disappearance of ‘defecting Iraqi nuclear scientist.’ Even though the story was debunked, it was widely repeated across the mainstream press, creating the false – and deadly – narrative of Iraqi WMD that eventually led to war
MANY readers will already have experienced situations where they are unable to pay for things in cash and have to use a valid credit or debit card. Car parking is only one such transaction where having a card is almost obligatory these days, most supermarkets are changing their checkouts to cashless machines — and the new Amazon grocery shops don’t take cash at all. Many of us are now mostly shopping online and credit and debit cards are obligatory.
Even our relationship with government agencies and local authorities is now almost impossible without access to a computer and a credit card. What’s wrong with that, you might ask? If you’ve got a good credit rating and bank account, you may prefer the idea of paying by card — it’s simple and painless and you don’t have to carry a wad of cash and small change in your pocket.
We see headlines in the press, like “Customers move towards digital payments” and “Banks shutting down ATMs as people move towards digital payments” — as if everyone is just collectively acting like this, and the big institutions are just following our lead.
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