Cash for peerages: the case against the House of Lords
Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil has published a draft bill designed to tighten up the rules on the grant of peerages to political donors. MacNeil’s Honours (Prevention of Corruption) would both limit donations after an honour has been awarded, and forbid the grant of a peerage for two years after a donation. It would [...]
GMB: Kenny threatens ‘illegal’ industrial action
It’s years since I can recall hearing the general secretary of a major British union argue openly that the anti-union laws – praised by Tony Blair as the most restrictive in the developed world – are there to be broken. So I nearly choked on my morning croissant when I read the following outburst from [...]
IBM and corporate totalitarianism
The multinational is dead. Long live the multinational. That seems to be the message of a thinkpiece in the Financial Times today from Sam Palmisano, chief executive of IBM. It seems that the big boss at Big Blue fears a backlash against the untrammelled power of the over-mighty multinational corporation: ‘People may ultimately elect governments [...]
Colombia: FARC declares war on ELN
When groups on the British far left fall out, the polemics sometimes get pretty heated. But that’s generally the worst it gets. In Colombia, it looks like the bullets will shortly start to fly between the two main leftist insurgent armies. And the issue is not ideology, but rather what the struggle to control what [...]
David Blunkett protects his good reputation
David Blunkett – parodied left – obviously goes to great lengths to protect his good reputation. There are some things he quite rightly will not let be said about him, some slurs and slanders he cannot let go unchallenged whenever and wherever they arise. It’s instructive to consider what they are. Remember, this is the [...]
Sir Bill Morris on Labour-union relations
‘Former TGWU leader Sir Bill Morris (pictured left) has called for trade union influence over the Labour Party to be curbed. ‘ What trade union influence over the Labour Party? Bookmark It
Liberal Democrats retreat on progressive taxation
Conventional political wisdom argues that it would be impossible for any party to be electorally successful on a manifesto backing progressive taxation. The Lib Dems have taken notice. Ming Campbell today announced that – in place of such past favourites as a penny on the basic rate to fund education or a 50p tax band [...]
Industrial action in the UK
In so far as they represent a proxy measure of class struggle, that latest figures for industrial action in the UK make interesting reading for socialists: ‘The total number of working days lost in the first three months of the year was almost four times the total for the whole of 2005. In the first [...]
New Labour and NHS privatisation
The latest New Labour steps towards a more market-driven NHS merit this report in today’s Financial Times: ‘Senior executives from some of Britain’s biggest companies are to join the boards of foundation hospitals to help them prepare for a newmarket-based health service. ‘Tony Blair will host a seminar today with health managers and representatives from [...]
The rate of exploitation in the USA
In Marxist political economy, the rate of exploitation is defined as the ratio between the total amount of unpaid labour carried out (surplus value) and the total amount of wages paid (the value of labour power). It forms one of the key theoretical bases for the socialist contention that all wage labour is, in its [...]
