News and socialist analysis

Britain's fragile Covid equilibrium is coming to an end

It is now over six months since the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic, and two weeks later, that Britain went into lockdown.

NHS workers: "We deserve a fair wage" - 15% now!

"Claps don't pay the bills and our pay deal is a farce. Stand with us and fight for 15%."

Capitalist profit and the race to develop a vaccine

The pharmaceutical industry needs to be in public ownership and democratically planned to meet the needs of the world's population

Covid and the third sector: for public planning, not charity stopgaps

The government has shown the potential for a coordinated, fully funded, public effort - but refused to deliver it

Under the microscope

Coronavirus news in brief: bosses' pandemic profit bonanza, privatised testing and treatment fiasco

'Covid marshalls' must be accountable to communities

They could be used to harass socially distanced protests and campaigns

Blame politicians, not workers and young people

Covid-19 lockdown in Birmingham: Low-paid workers are forced into work and overcrowded housing

Johnson's brinkmanship over EU deal deepens capitalist splits

Johnson is under pressure from the two wings of his own party as well as the capitalist class

Sketch: The rule of six - some guidance from your government

"As a guideline, if you aren't at school or work, then any breach of the rule will kill your gran"

Our lives and livelihoods at stake

Covid testing chaos, mass job losses: Fight for safety, and 'work or full pay'!

Safety overridden in drive to bolster the economy

Even as cases of Covid-19 infections are rising dramatically, the Tories are desperately trying to get workers back to their workplaces and spending money in city centres.

U-turn Tories' splits are growing

Fissures have reopened between the Tory party's wings and could quickly become chasms

A critical election for Unison general secretary

The Covid pandemic has exposed what decades of underfunding, cuts and privatisation have done to our public services

Callous Tories threaten not to uprate the minimum wage

'We're all in it together' chirped Boris Johnson at the start of lockdown - which is presumably why he's considering not uprating the paltry minimum wage next April, because the bosses say they can't afford it

Under the microscope

As the Tory government opens up schools and workplaces to benefit employers, Covid-19 infections are spiralling upwards.

Caerphilly lockdown puts profits before safety

The Welsh government has imposed a lockdown on Caerphilly county as the number of confirmed cases of cases of Covid-19 has risen above 50 per 100,000

XR blockade: Don't let the Tories criminalise protest

The billionaire-owned UK newspapers, along with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, decried the blockade by Extinction Rebellion (XR) environmental activists outside a number of printing presses last weekend

Grenfell fire inquiry stops victims attending

Grenfell Tower residents have been denied the right to attend the restarting inquiry into the causes of the June 2017 fire which resulted in 72 deaths

Covid testing the TUC

The 2020 TUC congress takes place at perhaps the most critical time facing workers since the second world war, meeting six months after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the UK into lockdown

Fight the schools Covid crisis

Schools have gone back overcrowded and under-resourced, with more infections reported every day. What is the real situation in our schools and colleges - and what needs to happen to combat it?