Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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Brave political decisions needed
Properly funded public services are good for the economy as a whole, says KATE RAMSDEN
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
ALTHOUGH I share the Morning Star’s scepticism about whether Labour’s manifesto commitment, A New Deal for Working People, will ever become a reality, I have to admit a little frisson of delight when I read: “Boosting people’s incomes is not just the right thing for them — it is the right thing for the economy.”
Why? Because I have been banging on for many years now, to anyone who will listen, about the need to change the economic narrative — both around workers’ pay and public services. It is still the case that despite years of austerity, many of our members and much of the general public, while increasingly more sympathetic, see pay rises for our members, and especially those in the public sector, as a drain on the economy and therefore unaffordable.
Similarly, although the public are generally positive about public services — a Survation poll in 2022 showed a high level of trust in public services — they can’t get their head around the fact that, rather than a drain, public services are a key lever for economic growth. Because that is not the prevailing narrative. It’s not what this UK government of the rich wants us to see.
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