Solidarity 275, 20 February 2013

The general election of 24-25 February will see the arrival in Italy’s parliament of a large contingent from a new political movement, the Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle or M5S) of the 64-year-old comedian Beppe Grillo. This new entry will closely parallel the arrival of the Lega Nord in the Italian parliament of 1992. M5S represents an attack on the major political parties and the traditional political class (what the Italians call la casta) and M5S is an attack from the right, not from the left. Many have perceived Grillo as a figure of the left because of his involvement with...

While less well-off universities are losing thousands of applications, overall university finances are set to increase by billions: and these billions are to be spent on Vice Chancellors’ prestige projects. Overall, 2012 saw a fall in university applications of around 28,000. This particularly affected universities like Bolton, Greenwich, Leeds Metropolitan, East London and Bradford — and especially London Met, which saw a fall of over 4,000 students. The government’s plan to allow the fees system and intensified competition to send some universities to the wall — to experiment in failures and...

From this April, 80% of the NHS budget — around £70 billion — will be handed over to 211 GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). CCGs replace Primary Care Trusts, once the local arm of the Department of Health. The CCGs’ budget will be spent in a competitive market subject to competition laws designed for commerce not public health. The private sector will cherry-pick the services where they can make the most profit. Hospitals will be left with the most difficult and most expensive cases; their finances will be destabilised. For many Trusts, laden with PFI debts, the financial crisis will...

A Scottish branch of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts was last weekend formally established at a conference of more than 70 delegates in Aberdeen. Delegates from across Scotland voted overwhelmingly to adopt a proposed constitution and to establish a committee at a two-day conference. A significant proportion of the conference agenda was dedicated to debating the issue of Scottish independence and a proposed motion which would have committed NCAFC Scotland to actively supporting independence was narrowly voted down following a lengthy debate and series of amendments, meaning that...

Victimised Australian trade unionist Bob Carnegie will find out the verdict of the court case against him on 2 April, with sentencing expected some time after that. Campaign pressure, including direct action, between now and April, and again between the verdict and the sentencing, can make a big difference. The Maritime Union of Australia and the International Trade Union Confederation have released a YouTube video promoting the campaign to defend Bob. Support continues to grow in the Australian labour movement, and new messages of support have also been received from construction workers’...

This is the text of a speech given by Workers’ Liberty supporter Clive Bradley at a public meeting in London on Wednesday 30 January. The transcript has been edited slightly, and some of Clive’s summating remarks have been incorporated elsewhere in the text. There is a government now in power in Egypt which has put snipers on the roofs of buildings in the canal cities to shoot demonstrators. It has violently clamped down on demonstrations, including recent ones in the Suez Canal cities against the death penalty being given to people sentenced for violence at a football match last year. It...

(For this statement in printable/copyable form, with a model motion of support included - see here .) Next year restrictions on migration from European Union member states Bulgaria and Romania are set to be lifted. There is growing right-wing agitation for Bulgarian and Romanian workers to be excluded from Britain, treated as second class citizens without the right to remain, or denied access to services and benefits. We oppose this bigotry, and say that migrants – from the EU or outside – should be welcome here. We support freedom of movement and equal rights for all. We deny that migrants...

Barking and Dagenham Borough Council in London has introduced a £9 per hour minimum wage for its staff, well above the national minimum and 45p/hour more than the “London Living Wage”. The increase is a consequence of trade union campaigning that first led the council to implement a living wage policy in November 2011. A statement from the GMB union said: “This welcome news comes as London media is reporting that half of Londoners fear that they may be driven out by the sky high costs of housing in the capital and the poor wages many employers offer.” The council’s move came as the Office of...