Andy Burnham’s growing stature has fuelled hopes of a Labour revival – but ALAN SIMPSON warns that Britain’s crisis runs far deeper than just its leadership and traces its roots to decades of financialised capitalism
Latest editorial
A revolutionary plan for schools
Labour’s plan for school’s can be helped by the creation of newly empowered local authorities, argues chair of the Socialist Education Association MELANIE GRIFFITHS
Headteachers from across England and Wales march on Downing Street to demand extra cash for schools, September 2017
Editor BEN CHACKO looks at the invaluable contribution the paper makes, and the headwinds it has to struggle against to get by, following the Morning Star’s 80th AGM this month
Recent violence in Belfast was not spontaneous — it was built on years of failure and political neglect, argues STIOFAN O NUALLAIN
The nationalisation move to Great British Railways (GBR) must be about more than just changing the livery, writes MARYAM ESLAMDOUST
Activists will urge MPs to protect the five-year settlement route and cut visa costs, warning reforms risk deepening inequality and labour shortages, says HARSEV BAINS
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the issues of liberty, safety and risk in relation to people receiving psychiatric treatment
LABOUR gets it. The launch of “Democratising Local Public Services: A Plan For Twenty-First Century Insourcing” is a game changer.
John McDonnell spoke about how Thatcher forced compulsory competitive tendering on councils. Over the last 40 years governments of all persuasions bought into the idea that “private” was good, “public” was bad. This inevitably led to “the outsourcing scandal, which has seen private companies rip off the taxpayer, degrade our public services and put people at risk whilst remaining wholly unaccountable to the people who rely on and fund these services.”
So this break with the existing orthodoxy will be welcomed by public-sector workers and citizens. Outsourcing has allowed employers to cut workers’ terms and conditions in the search for ready profits. But of course, the true motives of the elite were hidden, dressed up in waffle about “efficiency” and “value for money.”
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