Coming soon …
I need to write an article about whether we are fighting modern Fascists. I think that we are. Should the Israelis and their Zionist supporters be recognised as Neo-Fascists? If Israelis are Neo-Fascists, then their supporters like the UK’s Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are also Neo-Fascists. Should climate destroyers be recognised as Neo-Fascists? They’re often the same people.
Morning Star: The Tories have wrecked the NHS – but that doesn’t mean Labour will rescue it
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it
The NHS overtook the economy as voters’ biggest concern in February, according to polling by Ipsos. Small wonder when waiting lists have hit 7.5 million: there can hardly be a person in the country who doesn’t have a friend or relative who has been affected.
And the Conservatives bear a heavy responsibility.
In the decade up to the pandemic, real-terms healthcare spending per head rose on average by just 0.4 per cent a year — in four years it actually fell, despite rising pressures on the service.
That compares very poorly to the record of the last Labour government, which raised spending by 5.7 per cent a year on average from 1997-2010. It even compares badly to that of the Thatcher and Major Conservative governments, which averaged a 2.1 per cent annual increase.
But we should be more cautious than Poulter about endorsing Keir Starmer’s solution.
Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting have pointedly refused to offer the increases in NHS budgets that the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments delivered. Streeting is emphatic that he will not “pour money into a 20th-century model,” instead demanding reforms which, in increasing reliance on the private sector, both mimic existing Conservative policy and are unlikely to make a difference to waiting lists (because private healthcare in Britain recruits from the NHS, so overall capacity will not grow).
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Britain’s public services are collapsing under the strain of decades of neoliberal policy. In the NHS, hospitals have been undermined through outsourcing services to the private sector as well as by the cost of PFI debt — both issues with their origins in the Blair years.
To restore our NHS to health, we need a reversal of privatisation and outsourcing and a forced end to all PFI contracts, as well as a significant increase in overall funding to bring us closer to healthcare spending levels in France or Germany.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it
Stop arms race, campaigners tell politicians
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/stop-arms-race-campaigners-tell-politicians
ANTI-WAR campaigners demanded a stop to the new arms race today, after Tories and Labour united in support of boosting military spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
The Establishment embraced a new spasm of militarisation as PM Rishi Sunak announced in Warsaw that Britain would crank up its arms bill to the new target by the end of the decade.
This would put an “additional £75 billion into defence spending over that period,” Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs.
Mr Shapps claimed a “much more dangerous world” made the commitment necessary, citing alleged threats from Russia, Iran and China.
Both he and Mr Sunak spoke of the arms industry going onto a “war footing” and urged all Nato member states to match Britain’s new target.
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“Labour will always do what is required, spend what is required, on defence” shadow defence secretary John Healey assured the Commons.
Both parties are out of line with public opinion on the issue.
An Opinium poll released today revealed more military spending ranked last out of nine priorities for voters, with the NHS being first.
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German pointed out that “the UK already spends over 2 per cent of our total GDP on arms, the highest in Europe.”
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/stop-arms-race-campaigners-tell-politicians
Pressure grows on Starmer to restore Diane Abbott’s whip a year on
https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/pressure-grows-on-starmer-to-restore-diane-abbotts-whip-a-year-on/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.
Petition to restore Diane Abbott’s Labour whip surpasses 12,000
Over 12,000 people have now signed a petition calling on Keir Starmer to restore the whip to Diane Abbott, as this Tuesday marks one year since her whip was suspended.
Trade unions, campaigners and MPs have joined the call to reinstate her Labour whip using the anniversary of her suspension as a call for action from the Labour leader.
Diane Abbott lost the whip following an article she wrote which suggested Irish, Jewish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”, distinguishing between anti-black racism. She went on to withdraw her remarks and issued an apology.
She has subsequently sat as an independent MP while an internal investigation continues. With over a year passed, campaigners have questioned why the investigation has taken so long, with the grassroots socialist Labour movement Momentum labelled Starmer’s investigation “a sham”.
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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/pressure-grows-on-starmer-to-restore-diane-abbotts-whip-a-year-on/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.
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