Solidarity 301, 25 October 2013

In July, after a strong campaign and big demonstrations in Lewisham, South London, a judicial review blocked the plans of a Special Administrator, backed by the Government, to close major services at Lewisham Hospital. Jill Mountford, an activist in the campaign, reviews its successes and prospects. The government is appealing against the High Court decision. The hearing takes place on 28 and 29 October. The Government wants to overturn our legal victory, to clear the way for more closures and downgrades on recommendations from Trust Special Administrators (TSA). But it thinks it is on a loser...

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881) was a French socialist whose conspiratorial breed of revolutionary politics has a complex and controversial relationship with Marxism. Born in Puget-Théniers in south-eastern France, Blanqui studied law and medicine, but gave it up for active politics. Joining the secret Carbonari society in 1824, Blanqui was involved in republican conspiracies during the reign of Charles X. He took part in the 1830 July Revolution which saw the fall of the Bourbon monarchy and the elevation of Louis Philippe of the House of Orléans to the French throne. Blanqui became...

The Lib Dems were bound to seek to put distance between themselves and their Tory coalition masters as the general election in May 2015 approaches. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has chosen to make the sharpest differentiation so far on Tory schools policy. Tory education minister Michael Gove is the least popular minister in general opinion polls, and (according to the ConservativeHome website) by far the most popular among Tories. He wants to turn schools into a sort of market system, rather as the Tories also want to turn health care into a market system. In Gove’s education market, the...

In about a month, the world will remember the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy fifty years ago — on 22 November 1963. It’s easy to predict how the media will play this — people will talk about where they were when Kennedy was shot, there will be some speculation about what might have been had he lived, the old conspiracy debate will resurface, and there will be lots of film footage of the American Camelot, with the President’s photogenic family once again put on display. The Left is likely to engage in a bit of myth-busting and no doubt articles will appear about the dark side of...

A number of student unions have decided they will not allow Robin Thicke’s number one single “Blurred Lines” to be played in their commercial venues. The trend began at Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) where the song was removed from playlists in line with their “End Rape Culture and Lad Banter on Campus” policy. This policy was democratically approved at an open meeting of around 600 students. According to the union’s Vice President, and National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts member, Kirsty Haigh, the song “promotes an unhealthy attitude towards sex and consent”. When other...

The civil court hearing in which construction giant Abigroup, part of the Lend Lease empire, is claiming damages over the Queensland Children’s Hospital construction site strike of August-October last year, has been postponed to 4 February 2014. It will run for ten days. The case was due to come to court on 21 October, but has been postponed because of a legal argument relating to another case, raised by the CEPU union. Abigroup’s claim is for many millions in damages — to cover its losses from the strike — against the CEPU, the CFMEU and BLF unions, and also against Bob Carnegie, an...

The public sector union Unison predicts 25,000 jobs will be under threat from recently announced budget cuts in Welsh councils, to take place over the next three years. Cuts in Wales have been slower than in England, but thousands of jobs have already been lost over the last three years — a 5.8% cut in real terms. Cardiff council plans £50 million cuts next year out of a £500 million budget, of which 60% is spent on statutory functions. English councils have already warned that they may be unable to meet statutory functions by 2015-16. Unison is opposed to compulsory redundancies, and is...

Students are the victims of a growing rent scandal which threatens to price all but the wealthiest out of UK student accommodation. Students starting their first year at university, often in unfamiliar cities, are easy pickings for developers and institutions wanting to make a killing. This is even before they move out into the under-regulated private rented sector, with its unscrupulous landlords and parasitical letting agents, charging exorbitant fees for vague and unspecified services. According to the specialist website Accommodation for Students, the average rent has risen 3.1% from £77...

The second part of the government’s new “Help to Buy” scheme has been launched, three months earlier than planned. For houses up to a value of £600,000 the government will offer a new buyer a loan worth 20% of the value if the buyer puts up a 5% deposit. The government claims that the scheme will help more people buy property. Natwest, RBS, and Halifax have said theywill offer mortgage loans for the remaining 75%. Buyers won’t be charged any interest on the government loan for the first five years, but from the sixth year, will be charged a fee of 1.75% of the loan’s value, which will increase...

In Rome on Saturday 19 October, 50,000 workers and militants from a range of political organisations and movements marched through the city to its historic Piazza della Repubblica, celebrating the launch of a new campaign against Italy’s current coalition government. The march was the first national manifestation of the “Defend the Constitution” initiative, bringing together Maurizio Landini, the leader of FIOM (the metalworkers’ union), a number of prestigious Italian jurists, the radical newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano, and sundry “personalities” from the academic and media world. The record...