National News
Home repossessions rising
MORE than 9,000 households in Britain faced having their homes repossessed in the third quarter of this year, according to a report published last week by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
This represents an increase of 100 repossessions compared to the previous quarter.
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Privatisation of the NHS a giant step closer
PRIVATISATION of the NHS came a giant step closer last week when the private company Circle was awarded control of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire in a 10-year deal worth £1 billion.
Health service unions roundly condemned the move that will inevitably lead to cuts in jobs and services if the company is to make a profit.
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New trial for Stephen Lawrence murder suspects
by New Worker correspondent
THE MURDER of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London, over 18 years ago, was just one of a series of racist murders in the area but made history because of police failures to pursue the case properly and because of his family’s determination to hold the police to account and to seek justice for Stephen.
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Theresa May under pressure
THE HOME Secretary, Theresa May, is under increasing pressure to resign over the issue of passport checks, or lack of them, by officers of the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) at airports.
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Prisons face wholesale privatisation
THE GOVERNMENT is opening up the prison service to competition on terms that are heavily biased in favour of the private sector, according to tender documents leaked to the press last week.
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Remembering the Soviet sacrifice in World War II
by New Worker correspondent
VETERANS, local dignitaries, ambassadors and members of political and community organisations gathered in Southwark last Sunday for a ceremony of remembrance at the Soviet War Memorial in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.
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Raising the flag for the Russian revolution!
by New Worker correspondent
THE GREAT OCTOBER Russian Revolution is commemorated all around the world and every year the 1917 Bolshevik revolution that established the first workers’ and peasants’ state is celebrated by communists and progressive working people all around the world.
And for many years friends and comrades have gathered at the New Communist Party Centre to take part in the Party’s traditional celebration of the greatest event of the 20th century. Guests included comrades from the Socialist Labour Party, Second Wave Publications and, as usual, the old print shop was transformed into a bar and buffet for the event.
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Arab spring or imperialist Trojan horse?
by New Worker correspondent
FRIENDS and comrades met in central London last Friday to take part in a debate on the Arab Spring and its relevance to the struggle against world imperialism. Prof Kamal Majid, a vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition, and New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks kicked off the discussion with openings on the recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt, Nato’s invasion of Libya and imperialism’s growing threat to Syria.
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From around the world
Revolutionary Democracy Vol XVII, No 1, April 2011. £3 plus 50p P&P from NCP Lit. PO Box 73 London SW11 2PQ. Cheques to New Worker.
Reviewed by Ray Jones
IT’S GOOD to see Revolutionary Democracy out again after a short delay with its the usual mixture of interesting articles from around the world.
The first is a piece by N Bhattacharya, which, inspite of an uninspiring title, is an excellent brief overview of India’s situation today, full of telling facts and figures but without overloading the “little grey cells”.
There are a number of articles about the “Arab Spring” from different parties and organisations, which although perhaps a little dated now, certainly widen our perspective.
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International News
UN: Cynicism and inconsistency
by Arnaldo M Cogorno
IN A CABLE dated 4th November 2011 the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, said: “The efforts of Palestinians to enter other organisations in the world body, once they succeeded in entering Unesco, benefit no one.” According to Ban, “millions and millions of people could be affected if UN agencies see their funding reduced as a result of Palestinian efforts”.
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Iran : is another war looming?
by Wang Jingquan
THE UNITED States Defence Department has reportedly submitted a plan to attack Iran. But will the United States and Israel really attack this time or are they just bluffing to pressure Iran?
After assessing a great amount of information, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concludes that the Islamic Republic has indeed been systematically working to develop nuclear weapons from at least the end of 2003, according to their latest report on the nuclear issue published on 8th November.
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European unemployment intensifies
by Maxwell James
BAD NEWS in Europe is never ending. The latest projections show an increase in the unemployment rate that reached a record level of 10.2 per cent last September.
Spain was the country with the highest rate, with more than 20 per cent, while unemployment in Greece is around 16 and 12.5 in Portugal.
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FARC leader killed
Granma
COLOMBIAN President Juan Manuel Santos went to Popayán last week to verify the identity of the remains of Comandante Alfonso Cano, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who was killed in action by the Columbian army earlier in the month.
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Features
Greek crisis exposes harsh capitalist rule of Europe
by John Catalinotto
GREECE, a country of 11 million people in south-eastern Europe, has become the epicentre of the world capitalist economic crisis that first appeared in the United States with the 2008 financial near-meltdown. While the Greek workers continued their heroic resistance in the streets, imperialist leaders and bankers have made it clear that they prefer complete control of the Greek political process rather than allow even a sham democracy in Athens.
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Australia: the return of Old King Coal
by Rob Gowland
WHEN THE Australian Labour Party (ALP) was in office in New South Wales (NSW), the coal lobby pretty much called the tune in the state. The NSW government was as much a creature of the coal industry as it was a creature of the property development business.
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The man who tried to kill Hitler
by Lisa Karpova
IT IS not widely known that just a couple of months after the beginning of the Second World War, on the 8th November, a homemade bomb went off in a Bavarian bierkeller and the target was the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler.
The bomb that was planted in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller killed eight Nazis and wounded 62 others but Hitler had already gone.
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