Britain

The magnificent 500,000-strong demonstration on 26 March – the biggest trade union demonstration in the history of the British labour movement – was a marvellous response to the Coalition’s austerity measures. It sends out a clear message: the workers of this country are not prepared to take the government’s austerity measures lying down.

School students took to the streets of London against coalition education reforms again yesterday, this time to demonstrate against the abolition of a grant, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), a weekly payment for 16- to 18-year-olds whose household income is under £30,800 to encourage them to stay in education. Students travelled from as far away as Sunderland and Cornwall to protest against the scrapping of the EMA. The allowance had already been closed to new applicants.

The events of the past two months represent an important shift in the consciousness of British students. Having grown up knowing only economic boom, previously labelled as “apathetic” by the media, stood up and made their voices heard. Their message is simple and has found an echo across many layers of society: “We will not be forced to pay for a crisis we did not cause!” This wave of protests and occupations has swept even the most deeply entrenched prejudices of the last period from the political landscape, leaving many (both on the right and the left) trailing in its wake.

In response to the 10th November demonstration, students across the country decided to go into occupation. Before Christmas there were 30 of such occupations. Coupled with the increasingly militant demonstrations against the Government’s attacks on education, these university occupations are hugely significant in so far as they have radicalised not only students at the occupied universities but also school students and even people outside of education.

The deepest crisis since the Great Depression, with its accompanying financial, banking and sovereign debt crises, has opened up splits and arguments not seen for generations. Where do they go from here? Savage austerity, which threatens the weak recovery, or possibly pump-prime the economy and risk market turmoil? That is their choice as the crisis moves into its next dangerous phase. Under the topsy-turvy logic of capitalism they are both right and both wrong. Whatever they do they will not be able to cure this unsolvable and protracted crisis of the system.

Around noon yesterday students gathered in various parts of London to march towards the centre of the city. All over London the students had made a conscious effort to bring out school students in the morning and the days before with leaflets. At least half of the protesters were school students   probably more. Many were working class kids from poor areas. Even The Financial Times admitted that some 20-30,000 students participated.

The student movement in Britain continued on Wednesday 24th November, with tens of thousands of students demonstrating in cities and towns across the country. Most notably, the latest events have brought thousands of school students into the movement. Yet again the students are at the forefront of the fight against the cuts. The latest protests will only have served to radicalise further layers of society, and will act as a catalyst for the labour movement. [Update 26/11/10: video added]

In ancient Rome, when things got a bit tricky, the Emperor would splash out on a series of games complete with gladiators, mock battles, lions eating Christians and other fun for all the family, The idea was to distract people from the realities of life and keep them happy - at least until the Goths arrived for their annual bout of pillaging, sacking and raping.Nowadays, such carnage is not possible - even on X Factor. So we have the next best thing, yet another royal wedding.

We are told that because of rising life expectancy the number of pensioners is going up and therefore, to afford pensions, we must cut payments and increase the age of retirement. This conveniently ignores one important detail: the wealth produced by the working class has been growing much faster than the increase in life expectancy. So where does the problem lie?

Events have taken a turn in Britain as the first mass reaction took place this week against the programme of vicious cuts being introduced by the Tory-led coalition. On Wednesday, November 10th, London witnessed an overwhelming response from the students as a demonstration of over 50,000 marched in protest at the attacks taking place in Higher Education.

The current economic crisis, which started as a financial collapse in 2008, has since been transformed into a crisis of sovereign debt. This is due to governments across the world bailing out the banks. With historically high deficits, along with massive public debts, Greece and Ireland have been very much at the forefront of the cuts. Along with Portugal and Spain, these countries are now considered to be the weakest links in the global economy. However, with a budget deficit in Britain of 11.5% and a public debt of 68.1%, the Con-Dem coalition has announced the biggest austerity programme since the 1920s. The working class is in for the fight of their lives.

Against the odds, and against the wishes of the British Establishment, Ed Miliband has emerged as Labour Party leader, simply by standing a little to the left of his brother. This clinched the trade union vote, which shows in which direction workers want the party to go, clearly to the left. But which way will Ed Miliband go?

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Britain is made up of and advised by millionaires and billionaires. And while they live a life that millions would dream of, they spend their time investigating how much they can cut spending on social services, healthcare, education and pensions. The contradiction is clear for all to see.

In 1948 all the Tory MPs in the House of Commons dutifully voted against the setting up of the National Health Service. For more than sixty years since, the NHS has been one of our most loved institutions, relied on by millions of people to look after their health. The Tories have publicly regretted their stance and pledged that, “the NHS is safe in our hands.” We now see that was a lie. If new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans, called ‘Liberating the NHS’, goes through the NHS will be in tatters in five years time.

Seventy years ago this week the “phoney war” well and truly ended and the mass bombing of London and other keys cities by the Nazi Luftwaffe began. The Blitz, as it was to become known, cost the lives of thousands of workers as the nightly bombing raids from Germany laid waste to both houses and industry.

The Labour leadership election contest will be ending in September as the ballot papers finally go out. It could have been an opportunity to discuss a balance-sheet of the right-wing control of the party under New Labour and an opportunity to discuss a socialist programme in face of the worst capitalist crisis since the 1930s. However, the contest has left most people cold.

When David Cameron announced "The Big Society" (a name nicked from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson who used it in the '60s) during the election, most people laughed and assumed that would be the last we would hear of it. Tory spokespeople said that they had no idea what it meant and one Tory MP described it as "Bollocks." Indeed. However, now safely inside Number 10, Cameron has brought up it up again.

Journalists usually refer to August as the silly season. It is in that context that we have the latest madcap idea to come from the Con-Dem coalition. According to plans leaked by the Guardian newspaper, council housing tenancies will no longer be ‘for life.’