The Milburn review presents itself as a plan to help young people into work, but Dr DYLAN MURPHY argues it is laying the groundwork for a harsher benefits regime
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Our privatised railways are a failure. And the public knows it
Aslef’s annual assembly of delegates opened in Bristol yesterday. MICK WHELAN explains why renationalising
the railways is a vote-winner
Campaigners from across the continent will gather in Brussels on June 14 to oppose Europe’s accelerating militarisation and cuts to public services, write MAGGIE SIMPSON and BOB ORAM of No Cold War Britain
National co-ordinator for General Strike 100, HENRY FOWLER, continues his nationwide tour of partner organisations by visiting the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University
GEOFF BOTTOMS recalls meeting Fidel Castro in the ’90s after joining a Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba, and reflects on how international support is still vital to help the island withstand economic warfare
The Ivors Academy’s hike in entry fees could turn this respected peer-assessed event into an exclusive preserve for those wealthy enough to compete, warns BEN LUNN
Peter Murrell’s weakness for the allure of prestige goods is symptomatic of modern consumer culture, says MATT KERR
THE aims of Aslef are quite clear and enshrined in our rule book. Aslef exists to secure the best terms and conditions for train drivers, to negotiate on behalf of our members with the train and freight operating companies, to promote a pride in the job we do, to champion equality in our industry, to provide education services for our members and to work for a fairer, more just, and more equitable society. A socialist society.
That’s what we want. A Labour government committed to socialist values. And that includes bringing back into public ownership the key parts of the British economy which belong to the British people.
Britain’s railways were first nationalised in 1948 by Clement Attlee’s great reforming post-war government. Attlee, who swept to power on an avowedly socialist platform in the Labour landslide of 1945, was determined to seize the economic levers of power in this country. By bringing Britain’s strategic heavy industries, and our key public utilities, into the public sector.
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On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work
As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more