Millions of pounds in taxpayers鈥 money will be used to fund the Conservative government鈥檚 bid to smash rail unions so that firms can impose the widespread use of driver-only operated (DOO) trains, rail union RMT warned on January 12.
Research by the union shows that government ministers were inserting new clauses in franchise agreements to allow train-operating companies to claim back any revenue lost to industrial action over the plans to get rid of guards.
More than 500 participants gathered at the Trade Union Congress headquarters in London on November 26 for the annual Latin America Adelante conference, now in its 12th year.
With more than 70 different speakers and 30 different workshops and plenary sessions, plus聽the concurrent Alborada film festival, Latin America Adelante has become one of the most important and well-known gatherings of solidarity with a continent that is increasingly facing a right-wing neoliberal backlash.
Earlier this year, a poll found the British public were generally proud of their country鈥檚 role in colonialism and the British Empire. The YouGov poll from January found 44% were proud of Britain鈥檚 history of colonialism, while only 21% regretted it. The same poll also asked about whether the British Empire was a good thing or a bad thing: 43% said it was good, while only 19% said it was bad.聽
As the year draws to a close, Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing British Labour Party leader, might give a short sigh of relief. After one of the stormiest year in British politics for generations, he is one of the few who will enter 2017 in a stronger position.
Thousands of people demonstrated in London on November 6 in the latest protest against the mass arrests of pro-Kurdish politicians in Turkey. On November 4, the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an issued聽arrest warrants for all 59 MPs from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a left-wing largely Kurdish-led party.
This interview by John Pilger with Jullian Assange was filmed in the Embassy of Ecuador in London 鈥 where聽Assange is a political refugee 鈥 聽and broadcast on November 5. ***
John Pilger:
What鈥檚 the significance of the FBI's intervention in these last days of the U.S. election campaign, in the case against Hillary Clinton?
Julian Assange:
In July 1915, three brothers presented themselves at Glencorse Barracks on the outskirts of Edinburgh to enlist in the Royal Scots. The First World War was almost a year old, but despite the mounting casualty lists and a growing realisation that it would not be over anytime soon, my grandfather and his two brothers joined up.
FIFA, the world鈥檚 ruling body of football (soccer), has banned wearing poppies to mark the death of British soldiers in war, which has provoked a confected outrage by British media and politicians.
The football associations of England and Scotland intend to defy the ban in the two national teams鈥 match on Armistice Day on November 11. In the editorial below, British left-wing daily聽聽responds to the hypocrisy of those opposing FIFA鈥檚 ruling. ***
French authorities announced their operation to demolish 鈥渢he Jungle鈥, the makeshift refugee settlement in the northern French port of Calais, was completed on October 26, with refugees bussed to government-controlled centres dispersed throughout France.
But this claim was contradicted by chaotic scenes of the camp in flames and more than 1600 unaccompanied minors being excluded from the transfer to other camps. All the while, British and French politicians bickered over whose responsibility they were.
I, Daniel Blake
Written by Paul Laverty & directed by Ken Loach
Starring Dave Johns & Hayley Squires
In cinemas
To be in need of government welfare in this neoliberal world is to enter one of the circles of hell.聽Government services have been constructed so that people receive as much hassle as they get help 鈥 to preserve them from becoming 鈥渨elfare dependent鈥.
Veteran socialist filmmaker Ken Loach鈥檚 new film I, Daniel Blake, tells the story of two people trying to survive under Britain鈥檚 increasingly cruel welfare system.
Many conservatives have claimed the film presents a 鈥渞omanticised鈥 view of the poor and that the harsh realities it depict are exaggerated 鈥 despite a large number of real-life examples similar to those features in Loach鈥檚 film. Below, comedian Mark Steel responds to Daily Mail columnist Toby Young, who said the film 鈥渄idn鈥檛 ring true鈥. It first appeared at The Independent.
Although fit and healthy until near the end of his life, Stan Hilton, the 98-year old veteran of the Spanish Civil War as one of the almost 60,000 International Brigade members who travelled from around the world to join the fight against fascism who passed away on October 21, could no longer recall his four-month adventure in Spain in 1937 and 1938. Thankfully, his son, Gordon, and grandson, Adam, still keep alive the stories and recollections he told them over many years.