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From The Socialist newspaper, 28 October 2020
Under the microscope
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- 12 million adults are struggling with bills - an extra two million since the pandemic hit in February, says the Financial Conduct Authority. 31% of UK households have lost income. 25 to 34-year-olds are the most likely to have had a change in employment. Black, Asian and minority ethnic workers are the most likely to have lost hours.
- Six million small businesses, representing 16.6 million jobs, are at risk of going under due to the pandemic, finds King's Business School. Two-thirds of small firms only expect trading to worsen, according to a Federation of Small Businesses poll.
- Chinese financial tech firm Ant Group expects to raise a record-breaking $34 billion when it floats on the stock market for the first time in November. Ant boss Jack Ma - who founded the last record-breaker, Alibaba - is worth $61 billion, estimates Bloomberg.
- Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) doctors face racial discrimination when applying for more senior roles, says the Royal College of Physicians. 29% of white candidates receive offers after their first shortlisting, compared with 12% of BAME candidates. On average, black doctors earn over £9,000 less, and black nurses around £2,000 less, according to a 2018 study in the British Medical Journal.
- Donald Trump's chief of staff has openly declared that "we're not going to control the pandemic." When CNN journalists asked Mark Meadows why the Trump government would not try to contain it, he responded: "Because it is a contagious virus." Er... there you go!
- Big tech firms in the US are dodging up to $2.8 billion a year of taxes in poorer countries, reckons ActionAid International. These estimates for Facebook, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet could pay for almost two million nurses in just three years in 20 developing economies. Nationalise the tax dodgers!
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 28 October 2020:
What we think
Coronavirus News
Don't let Tories starve our kids
Tory 'Starve a Kid to Save a Quid' scheme
Boots launches £120, 12-minute Covid test
Workplace News
Backing Hugo Pierre for Unison general secretary
Royal Mail: No more behind closed doors talks
Fight Leeds Labour council's massive cuts
News
NHS England's £1bn winter shortfall: we need union action, not platitudes!
BAME Covid deaths due to capitalist inequality, confirms government
Mayor and government compete to attack London transport: fight for no cuts!
Grenfell watch: landlord's £800,000 saving
Food Standards
Food and a capitalist Brexit: No trust in Tory Deals!
International News
"We need a leadership that comes from the movement"
Bolivia elections: Crushing defeat for the right as MAS secures landslide victory
Campaigns
Online youth rally says: We won't pay with our futures
Birmingham: 'Refund our fees' protests
Solidarity with the movement in Nigeria
Evicted students can fight back and win
Waltham Forest Save Our Square:
Bristol jobs protest: We want 100% pay
Readers' Opinion
One rule for them, and another for us
Books that inspired me: Germinal
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2020