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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 January 2022
News in brief
Government considers green levy cut
Energy bills are going through the uninsulated roof and the government is under pressure. The Energy Company Obligation could be under threat. This £1 billion levy on energy bills pays for energy efficiency measures in homes.
Far from obliging companies to put up cash to make homes more energy efficient, the levy is placed on ordinary people's bills, costing an average of £29 a year.
Insulating homes is necessary, so is action to reduce energy bills. The solution is to make the energy bosses pay for both, by nationalising energy to provide affordable energy to well-insulated homes.
NHS consultants raking in dividends
Nurses marching for the NHS, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
Profit-seeking capitalists are crawling over all aspects over our NHS, looking for ways to extract money. 481 health consultants in England have shares in profit-making joint ventures, according to think tank Centre for Health and Public Interest. Since 2015, these have generated over £1 billion in revenue. £31 million in dividends has been paid to consultant shareholders.
These 'joint ventures', and other private enterprises profiting from our ill health, must be nationalised and integrated into a fully public NHS. So that rather than untold millions going into shareholders' pockets, the money is invested in the high-quality healthcare we deserve.
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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.
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In The Socialist 26 January 2022:
What we think
We need a workers' alternative to big business Tories and Labour
News
Lords reject parts of anti-protest bill
Social care providers put profit before residents' needs - nationalise care now
Cost of living
Trade unions and the cuts
Trade unions and the fight against council cuts
Workplace news
Sheffield Just Eat strikers step up action and hold mass rally
Oaks Park School: valiant strike exposed state of schools
Education: Workload and inflation goes up, incomes fall
DWP reps demand action from PCS leadership
10,000 tube workers vote to strike - don't make workers pay for TfL funding crisis
Strike action by Carmarthenshire winter gritters wins concessions from council
Universities: Strike action at 68 in two disputes
Worksop Wincanton logistics workers begin ninth week of strike action
International news
Trade unionists in the USA fighting back
Campaigns news
Hundreds protest to save St Mary's Leisure Centre in Southampton
Wakefield TUSC - Fighting for low-paid workers and NHS
Eviction resistance on the march in Waltham Forest
This is students' chance to fight back - help build 2 March NUS walkout
Environment
Britain's waterways choked with a 'chemical cocktail'
Readers' opinion
War in Yemen, made in Harlow, profit for rich
UK Covid-19 mortality similar to Spanish Flu
It's my party, and I'll lie if I want to
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