The UK Prime Minister may have the regal touch in northern England, but he’s been wrong-footed on the constitutional challenges posed by the Celtic Alliance of first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, argues KENNY MacASKILL
Does capitalism depend on credit?
Credit is essential for the continuation of capitalism but also a major source of its instability, writes the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
NEIRLAY ANDRADE, a member of the Communist Party of Venezuela’s political committee, outlines her party’s position on the crisis facing the country
A look at Taylor Wimpey’s accounts shows why Labour’s market-led housing strategy won’t deliver more, cheaper homes, as promised, says SOLOMON HUGHES
DAVID HORSLEY remembers the remarkable life and death of US black revolutionary George Jackson, whose politically passionate prison letters were published as Soledad Brother
Cuban trade union federation CTC leader OSNAY MIGUEL COLINA speaks to Ben Chacko about life and work under a crippling US siege
A part of the British empire’s network of slavery, today the Caribbean island of Nevis faces a new form of exploitation in the form of crypto-colonialism, CLAUDIA WEBBE writes
Challenges from the unscrupulous misuse of AI to steal actors’ voice and physical likenesses is being met with a firm union response, writes LYNDA ROOKE
WELL, the short answer is “yes, capitalism does depend on credit.” And it depends on debt, the other side of the “coin.” But the way it manifests itself is complicated.
Have a look at a £5, £10, £20 or, if you’re rich enough to have one, a £50 note. On the face with the Queen’s head on it, under “Bank of England,” all the notes have written: “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of…”
They are all promissory notes, IOUs, to you. But try taking your banknotes into a bank to ask for payment and you’ll get a very dusty answer.
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