Britain
The working class must mobilize to free Julian Assange!
By Andre Damon, 30 May 2018
The demand for the freedom of Julian Assange must be connected to the developing international movement of workers against inequality, oppression and exploitation.
Oxford Union panel speaker Heather Marsh confirms debate was censored to protect CIA
By Zach Reed, 30 May 2018
It appears that reference to the CIA as an “organized crime syndicate,” and listing a portion of its crimes, were grounds for censorship.
“I don’t think Assange will be forgiven by our rulers because he educated the world”
Join the June 19 London vigil demanding freedom for Julian Assange!
By Robert Stevens, 30 May 2018
Emmy Butlin of the Julian Assange Defence Committee said: “Individual contributions are great, but we change society as a group, acting together.”
Relatives’ tributes at Grenfell Tower Inquiry blame government for deaths
By Robert Stevens, 29 May 2018
Family members frequently broke down as they remembered their loved ones in moving and emotional scenes.
For international action to defend Julian Assange!
By The ICFI and WSWS international editorial board, 28 May 2018
The June 17 demonstration in Sydney will demand that the Australian government immediately act to secure Assange’s unconditional freedom and return to Australia.
UK plans deployment of hundreds more troops as part of US-led Afghan build-up
By Barry Mason, 26 May 2018
The US-led war, now in its seventeenth year, has resulted in catastrophe. It has cost at least £40 billion, with 450 UK armed forces personnel killed and tens of thousands left wounded, ill or psychologically damaged.
UK: Nearly half a million young people not in receipt of minimal state support
By Joe Mount, 26 May 2018
Many youth struggle to access Job Centre services due to lack of proper documentation or other bureaucratic hurdles. Others lack a bank account, internet access or sufficient literacy. Others are carers for older relatives.
War, propaganda and smears: An interview with Professor Piers Robinson
Part three
By Julie Hyland, 26 May 2018
The following is the third part of a three-part interview with Professor Piers Robinson, an academic at the University of Sheffield and a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media.
Julian Assange “in jeopardy” of being forced into UK and US detention
By Mike Head, 25 May 2018
Reports allege that the WikiLeaks founder could be removed from Ecuador’s London embassy “any day now.”
A curious incident involving the Oxford Union’s Whistleblowing Panel
By Zach Reed, 25 May 2018
According to an anonymous submission to the World Socialist Web Site, a “Whistleblowing Panel” event at the Oxford Union has been censored, with no account of the meeting made available and no transcripts or a video published of it as is standard.
War, propaganda and smears: An interview with Professor Piers Robinson
Part two
By Julie Hyland, 25 May 2018
The following is the second part of a three-part interview with Professor Piers Robinson, an academic at the University of Sheffield and a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media. Part one was posted on May 24.
Testimony to Grenfell Fire inquiry paints devastating picture of social murder
By Robert Stevens, 24 May 2018
The inquiry heard from Hisam Choucair, who lost six members of his family in the inferno and Karim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle, Hesham Rahman.
Grenfell Tower fire: BBC Panorama reveals corporate criminality
By Paul Bond, 24 May 2018
Investigator Richard Bilton says, “We have been advised that the company’s behaviour could amount to corporate manslaughter.”
War, propaganda and smears: An interview with Professor Piers Robinson
Part one
By Julie Hyland, 24 May 2018
The following is the first part of a three-part interview with Professor Piers Robinson, an academic at the University of Sheffield and a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media.
Ken Livingstone forced out of British Labour Party
By Thomas Scripps and Chris Marsden, 23 May 2018
The witch-hunt and expulsions within Labour will be held up as an example to follow by right-wing forces all over the world, above all in Israel and the United States.
Members of Windrush generation speak out against UK government persecution
By Margot Miller, 23 May 2018
Governments of all persuasions have deliberately cultivated a climate of fear and intimidation against immigrants.
Sunday Times Rich List: Wealth of Britain’s richest grew 10 percent
By Simon Whelan, 22 May 2018
In the same year that 72 people were killed in London’s Grenfell Tower inferno due to cost-cutting, the city’s wealthiest residents became even richer.
Two Britains: The Grenfell inquiry and the royal wedding
By Thomas Scripps, 22 May 2018
Not a single national newspaper deemed the opening of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry worthy of a position on their front page. Instead, they continued to obsess over the minutiae of the weekend’s royal wedding.
Sergei Skripal discharged from hospital
By Robert Stevens and Paul Bond, 21 May 2018
The entire narrative concocted by the British government has fallen apart, seam by seam.
Report exposes UK role in Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen
By Barry Mason, 21 May 2018
The US, UK and other western countries have supported the Saudi intervention. Like Saudi Arabia, they regard the war against the Houthis as a proxy conflict with Iran.
Wealth-X report shows billionaires gained $1.8 trillion in 2017
By Eric London, 21 May 2018
The social needs of the working class can be met and its democratic rights defended only by expropriating the wealth of the super-rich.
Britain’s royal wedding: Recasting the monarchy in the age of identity politics
By Paul Mitchell, 19 May 2018
Markle’s feminism and racial identity provide the basis for the ultimate post-modernist makeover of the monarchy.
Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung fuels the campaign against Julian Assange
By Peter Schwarz, 18 May 2018
The German daily has joined the campaign to justify handing over the WikiLeaks founder to British and American authorities.
UK: Tories seek to defuse anger over Grenfell fire ahead of official public inquiry
By Robert Stevens, 18 May 2018
The claim by the government, backed by Labour, that adding two panel members to the Grenfell fire inquiry will prevent a whitewash is false.
New Statesman’s Paul Mason advocates for regime change in Russia
By Thomas Scripps, 18 May 2018
Writing in his New Statesman article, Paul Mason parrots the predatory agenda of British and American imperialism against Russia.
The terrible effects on children of Labour’s austerity measures in Bristol
By Mark Blackwood, 17 May 2018
Recent figures reveal that half of all children living in the Lawrence Hill area are struggling just to eat.
Conspiracy emerges to push Julian Assange into British and US hands
By Mike Head, 16 May 2018
The Guardian has instigated a foul campaign to justify Ecuador forcing Assange to leave its embassy.
The massacre in Gaza and imperialist war policy
By Andre Damon, 16 May 2018
The defense by the imperialist powers of Israel’s murder of over 60 Palestinian demonstrators Monday makes clear that they have adopted the mass killing of unarmed civilians as a legitimate policy tool.
London demonstration underscores decline of Trades Union Congress
By Robert Stevens, 16 May 2018
Saturday’s demonstration amounted to a damage-control operation, as the trade union bureaucracy, Corbyn and their pseudo-left cheerleaders attempted to buttress the flagging authority of the unions.
Military coup against a Corbyn Labour government discussed by Daily Telegraph
By Robert Stevens, 15 May 2018
That a military coup is again under serious consideration puts paid to the illusions assiduously cultivated by Corbyn and his apologists that a Labour government led by him will inaugurate a new period of reforms.
Ecuador hints it may hand over Julian Assange to Britain and the US
By James Cogan, 12 May 2018
There is almost universal and reprehensible silence on the part of organisations and individuals that once claimed to defend Assange and WikiLeaks.
Claire Kober: From Labour leader of London’s Haringey Council to property developer
By Paul Bond, 12 May 2018
The evolution of Claire Kober shows that Labour’s enthusiastic embrace of privatisation is the basis for lucrative careers for Labour politicians once they leave elected office.
The death of reformism: Corbyn and the “broad left”
By Chris Marsden, 11 May 2018
The following speech was delivered by Chris Marsden, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), the British section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, for the past 20 years.
House of Lords Brexit revolt hits Conservatives and Labour
By Paul Mitchell, 10 May 2018
Theresa May’s Conservative government suffered another defeat in the House of Lords on Tuesday, as peers voted for an amendment to the European Union withdrawal bill.
Labour’s John McDonnell mounts Stalinist platform to misrepresent Marx
By Thomas Scripps, 10 May 2018
Labour’s John McDonnell is very aware that the political temper of workers and young people to whom Jeremy Corbyn is appealing is militant, anti-austerity and often anti-capitalist.
Jeremy Corbyn silent on persecution of Julian Assange
By Laura Tiernan, 9 May 2018
It is more than two years since a United Nations human rights panel ruled that Assange’s persecution by the Swedish and British governments amounts to “arbitrary detention” and a violation of international law.
Sunday Times Insight team: Propagandists for Internet censorship and war
By Steve James and Laura Tiernan, 7 May 2018
The Sunday Times feature, published April 29, purports to show that Russian Twitter bots tried to “swing” the 2017 general election for Jeremy Corbyn.
UK: Labour-controlled Leeds City Council censors conference questioning official Syria narrative
By Julie Hyland, 7 May 2018
The council’s actions amount to blatant censorship, in line with government and media efforts to silence opposition to their regime-change policy.
Local elections confirm growing class polarisation in UK
By Paul Mitchell, 5 May 2018
Polling took place in around 4,300 council seats across England in the first electoral test since last year’s general election.
Belgian prime minister smears filmmaker Ken Loach as “anti-Semitic”
By Paul Bond, 4 May 2018
The pro-austerity premier’s slur demonstrates how baseless charges of anti-Semitism are being used to attack any form of social protest or comment.
Food factories closing across Britain
By Steve James, 3 May 2018
The looming mass layoffs expose the bankruptcy of all the mainstream parties and trade unions claiming to speak for the factory workers.
Artists on the Tate Modern’s David King exhibition, Red Star over Russia: “In essence the exhibition was anti-Trotsky”
By our reporters, 3 May 2018
The Tate Modern in London held an exhibition, Red Star Over Russia: A Revolution in Visual Culture 1905-55, from November 8, 2017 to February 18, 2018. The show used items from the David King collection, but adopted a hostile stance toward the October Revolution.
UK media told to conceal connections between Sergei Skripal and MI6
By Thomas Scripps, 2 May 2018
A former UK ambassador has published evidence suggesting that a “D-notice” has been issued to the press—a request to stop the publication of potentially damaging news stories.
UK: Rudd resigns as home secretary after lying to Parliament over migrant deportation targets
By Thomas Scripps, 1 May 2018
The “hostile environment” at the Home Office was never previously challenged by its belated critics.
Fate of London Stadium epitomises toxic “Olympic Legacy”
Part two
By Paul Bond, 1 May 2018
The former Olympic Stadium, which has already cost taxpayers more than £750 million, represents a legacy of corporate venality, corruption and graft.
Fate of London Stadium epitomises toxic “Olympic legacy”
Part one
By Paul Bond, 30 April 2018
The former Olympic Stadium, which has already cost taxpayers more than £750 million, has left a legacy of corporate venality, corruption and graft.
Bogus “Labour anti-Semitism” campaign secures expulsion of leading activist Marc Wadsworth
By Chris Marsden, 30 April 2018
Wadsworth has been subjected to a two-year campaign of denigration by the Labour Party’s right-wing and the media on the most transparent pretext imaginable
UK universities being integrated into military-security apparatus
By Thomas Scripps, 28 April 2018
In addition to commercial relations with the military-industrial complex, universities are working closely with the armed forces to provide education and recruitment opportunities.
UK: Brexit divisions threaten government defeat
By Chris Marsden, 28 April 2018
The prime minister is under pressure from both sides of her party to clarify her position on the customs union, the mechanism allowing goods to be transported tariff-free between European Union member states.
Thousands of UK auto jobs to go
By Margot Miller, 27 April 2018
Nissan’s sales in the UK have dropped by a third so far this year, and its exports to Europe are also falling, from 75,000 in March compared with 91,000 in the same month last year.
Corbyn urges St. George’s Day national holiday
By Julie Hyland, 26 April 2018
The demand for Labour to champion an English national identity has long been promoted by sections of the party’s right wing under the banner, “Flag, faith and family.”
UK government’s persecution of Caribbean workers the tip of an iceberg
By Paul Mitchell, 26 April 2018
In 2016, almost 40,000 people were removed from the UK or classified as “departing voluntarily” after having received threatening letters.
UK: May government declares against customs union as Brexit crisis intensifies
By Robert Stevens, 25 April 2018
Support for the customs union from a sizable cross-party faction is a stalking horse aimed at ensuring the UK remains in the Single Market and possibly reversing Brexit entirely.
Tory-Blairite gangup in witch hunt over alleged UK Labour anti-Semitism
By Jean Shaoul, 24 April 2018
The debate in the House of Commons on anti-Semitism was planned as a co-ordinated attack on Corbyn by Labour’s right wing in alliance with the Conservative government
London residents speak out on Grenfell fire
By our reporters, 24 April 2018
Ten months since the inferno that killed at least 72 people at a housing tower in London, no one has been held accountable.
The CIA Democrats vs. Julian Assange
By Patrick Martin, 23 April 2018
The lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee is an attack on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and the press.
Skripal case developments further discredit British government lies
By Simon Whelan, 23 April 2018
As the UK government’s lies over the Skripal affair continue to unravel, Moscow has accused it of yet “another gross violation” of international rules.
British Commonwealth summit sees line up against China and Russia
By Mike Head, 23 April 2018
The CHOGM gathering saw a concerted drive to transform the 53-member grouping, long regarded as an imperial relic, into a confrontational vehicle.
Tragic killings of teenagers in London used to urge greater police powers
By Paul Mitchell, 21 April 2018
A major reason for the ramped-up law-and-order campaign is next month’s local elections, with the Conservatives so hated—particularly after the Grenfell Tower tragedy—that they face a wipe-out.
Britain’s Stop the War Coalition: Tying the working class to the pro-war Labour Party
By Chris Marsden, 21 April 2018
The building of a genuine anti-war movement can only proceed through a ruthless exposure of Labour’s apologists.
UK: Report by building research firm reveals scale of criminality that led to Grenfell fire
By Barry Mason, 20 April 2018
No one has been brought to justice for last June’s fire, but a report by a building research body makes clear there is ample evidence to allow for immediate arrests and charging to proceed.
Nearly 30,000 single-parent families made homeless in England in 2017
By Dennis Moore, 20 April 2018
Last year, one third of single parents were affected by welfare cuts, while 39 percent are struggling in low-paid, often insecure work.
Murdoch’s Times witch-hunts academics for questioning UK government’s Syria lies
By Julie Hyland, 19 April 2018
Under conditions where the imperialist powers are dragging humanity towards a third world war, the ruling elites can no longer countenance critical opinion.
UK government’s racist targeting of Caribbean migrants provokes backlash
By Robert Stevens and Thomas Scripps, 19 April 2018
The tightening of immigration legislation was in line with a policy of creating, in Prime Minister May’s words, a “really hostile environment” for “illegal” immigrants.
UK government rejects Corbyn’s demand for parliament to vote on war
By Chris Marsden, 18 April 2018
Amid mass anti-war sentiment, Jeremy Corbyn is seeking to prop up the tattered reputation of the Labour Party by claiming that it can serve as a check on the May government.
Protesters in Britain speak out against air strikes in Syria
By our reporters, 18 April 2018
The World Socialist Web Site spoke to protesters in London and Bristol.
University and College Union sells out UK lecturers strike
By Robert Stevens, 18 April 2018
It was to demobilise opposition to its rotten deal with the employers that the UCU cut the number of universities due to walk out this week, before suspending strike action altogether
UK: Labour right lines up with government over Syria bombing
By Chris Marsden, 17 April 2018
Yesterday May faced widespread criticism, but largely for having failed to recall Parliament rather than any substantive opposition to the illegal action taken by the US, France and the UK.
Anti-academy schools protests in UK curtailed by trade unions
By Tom Pearce, 17 April 2018
Any strikes called by the teaching unions, as a way of maintaining control over the anger of staff at the consequences of becoming academies, are being confined to a few single schools.
“I feel repulsed and outraged about last night’s attack on Syria—it was completely unnecessary”
UK workers oppose drive to war
By our reporters, 16 April 2018
Anti-war protester: “There should have been a referendum on whether to go to war! They are asking us to go to war with no evidence.”
UK: Demands grow for May government to hold debate on Syria attack
By Robert Stevens, 16 April 2018
UK Prime Minister Theresa May is due to make a formal statement to parliament today on the Syria airstrikes, but no vote is to take place.
British government admits links to Manchester and London terror attack groups
By Jean Shaoul, 16 April 2018
The British government and security forces worked closely with terrorist organisations in Libya and Syria, allowing them back to the UK to spawn a layer of British-born jihadis.
US and imperialist allies launch strikes against Syria
By The World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 14 April 2018
All of the governments participating in this new onslaught are crisis-ridden and lack any electoral legitimacy.
British cabinet agrees on “action” against Syria, bypassing Parliament
By Julie Hyland, 13 April 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May convened her senior ministers with the express purpose of signing off on a major escalation in the seven-year US-led war for regime change in Syria.
UN agency fails to substantiate claims of Russian use of “military grade nerve agent” in Skripal poisoning
By Julie Hyland, 13 April 2018
The alleged attack on the Skripals, using what was described as a Novichok nerve agent, was intended as a critical element in justifying US and British war plans against Russia.
New pro-EU party planned to oppose Corbyn and Labour
By Julie Hyland, 13 April 2018
The project intends to “borrow” ideas from “both left and right,” promoting divisive identity politics—based on race, gender and sexual orientation—while championing “wealth creation and tighter immigration controls.”
National Union of Students lobs sexual harassment smears at UK lecturers
By Thomas Scripps, 12 April 2018
The NUS’ report claiming rampant sexual harassment by UK academics adds fuel to the media furor against the UK lecturers’ strike.
At the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Frankenstein: Exciting production marks 200 years since publication of Mary Shelley’s work
By Margot Miller, 12 April 2018
The Enlightenment ideas in Shelley’s novel speak forcefully to a modern audience, who can empathise with something created as an articulate rational being and reduced by society to a “monster.”
France and UK spar to be leading US military partner in Syria
By Chris Marsden, 11 April 2018
The UK’s standing with Washington was undermined in 2013, when Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron called a parliamentary vote on a planned strike on Syria and lost.
Yulia Skripal discharged from hospital and taken to secret location
By Robert Stevens, 11 April 2018
The same treatment will likely be meted out to Sergei Skripal, with Salisbury hospital announcing he will be discharged in “due course.”
UK higher education and university staff oppose union sellout ahead of ballot result
By Thomas Scripps, 11 April 2018
There is strong resistance to the University and College Union’s attempted sell-out of the pension dispute by university staff who oppose the bureaucracy’s lying claims.
UK workers protest Special Educational Needs and Disabilities cuts by Bradford’s Labour council
By Tania Kent, 11 April 2018
The cuts will result in the loss of 25-30 members of staff across Bradford, with the aim of saving an estimated £770,000 a year.
Two weeks since WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange silenced by Ecuador
By Niles Niemuth, 11 April 2018
It is no coincidence that Assange has been shut off from any form of communication with the outside world as the US and its allies prepare for an escalation of war in Syria and beyond.
UK and French forces on ground in Syria as US prepares wider war
By Halil Celik, 10 April 2018
The alleged chemical weapons attack provides an all-too convenient excuse for both countries to deepen their existing operations in Syria.
UK’s Open University to be decimated, as more jobs are eliminated
By Simon Whelan, 10 April 2018
Hundreds of jobs are threatened in the largest restructuring and redundancy programme in university history.
Britain piles on lies to shore up Skripal poisoning accusations against Russia
By Robert Stevens, 9 April 2018
Faced with a devastating exposure of the May government’s concoctions, within the space of a month, the British media is in damage limitation mode.
Bogus anti-Semitism campaign against Corbyn and Labour reveals its Zionist agenda
By Jean Shaoul, 9 April 2018
The furore over Jewdas confirms that the three-year-long campaign accusing Corbyn of tolerating anti-Semitism is part of an effort to discredit the entire left.
Isle of Wight Council continues to cut services
By Paul Bond, 9 April 2018
Every aspect of social provision on the island stands as an indictment of the capitalist system.
UK: Metropolitan Police admit role in construction blacklist
By Paul Bond, 7 April 2018
As police admitted involvement in the blacklisting of building workers, around 60 campaigners and victims walked out of the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry, angered over a continuing cover-up.
London residents draw connection between Grenfell and Kemerovo fires
By our reporters, 7 April 2018
The WSWS spoke to London residents about the fire in Kemerovo, Russia that claimed at least 64 lives.
US escalates anti-Russia campaign as contradictions mount in Skripal narrative
By Mike Head, 6 April 2018
Yulia Skripal said she and her father are recovering quickly, casting more doubt about the claims that a “weapons grade” nerve gas was involved in the poisoning of the Skripals.
British government admits MI5 enjoys carte blanche to break the law
By Simon Whelan, 6 April 2018
Under conditions in which social and political antagonisms are reaching the breaking point, the state security apparatus has accelerated its anti-working class and anti-socialist activities.
Charities work with UK Home Office to deport rough sleepers
By Tom Pearce, 6 April 2018
In 2017, the rough sleeping rate in London showed an 18 percent rise since 2016, with 59 percent of rough sleepers in the capital being non-UK nationals.
The right-wing politics of the British “Labour anti-Semitism” smear campaign
By Jean Shaoul, 5 April 2018
The tendencies and prominent leaders involved make clear that strident accusations of anti-Semitism are aimed at shifting British politics sharply to the right.
The lies of the imperialist powers over the Skripal affair unravel
By Robert Stevens, 5 April 2018
Not since Nazi Germany has the world witnessed such a shameless falsification of events as the provocation concocted around the poisoning in England of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
UK security review exposes militarist agenda behind Russian Novichok allegations
By Thomas Scripps, 5 April 2018
Prime Minister May defined the Fusion Strategy as the “use of all our capabilities” to “project our global influence.”
UK’s Porton Down military lab head: Russia not identified as source of Skripal poisoning
By Julie Hyland, 4 April 2018
The laboratory’s statements explode the British government’s utilisation of the Skripals’ apparent poisoning to ratchet up NATO’s provocations against Moscow.
Teachers across the UK vote for industrial action
By Thomas Scripps, 4 April 2018
Representing the vast majority of teachers in the UK, the votes are a response to the catastrophic conditions prevailing in primary and secondary schools across the country.
Sunday Times uses dirty tricks, slander and lies to tar Labour’s pro-Corbyn left as anti-Semitic
By Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden, 4 April 2018
The Sunday Times investigation is an exercise in McCarthyite witch-hunting, which has failed to substantiate spurious allegations of widespread anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Socialist Equality Party (UK) holds online meeting for education workers and students
By our reporters, 2 April 2018
The Education Fightback forum, titled “No sell-out by the UCU! Form rank and file committees!” was attended by education staff and students from around the UK.
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