Social and Economic Policy

Children's rights, crime & justice, immigration & asylum, pensions, poverty, youth, ...

Psychedelic drugs as therapy

On 19 April 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann ingested a small dose of a chemical he had synthesised and experienced the world’s first LSD trip. His experience ushered in two decades of experimentation and clinical research into psychedelic drugs until it was cut short by prohibition in 1970. 75 years on, the USA seems poised to start licensing psychedelics for the treatment of mental illness. This may not only lead to a huge breakthrough in psychiatry but may also mean that we are approaching a time when human beings are once again free to take whatever mind-altering substances they fancy...

The Third Irish Revolution?

Have you heard the ultimate “Irish” joke? In a referendum on a united Ireland the Protestant Unionists of north-east Ulster campaign for “no” on the grounds that the South is too liberal. The people no longer fear God, maybe scarcely believe in God, and refuse to listen to their spiritual advisers. The two-to-one vote on 25 May to rip up the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution — entrenched there by a referendum in 1983 — was a great empowering and liberating event for the women of Ireland, Mná na hÉireann. Legislation to allow abortion will soon follow. The yes vote in the referendum on...

The landed plutocracy

The Crown, the Church, and five aristocratic estates with a collective wealth of £22 billion still own a thousand acres of central London’s residential building land. The wealthiest of the private landowners are the Duke of Westminster, Earl Cadogan, Viscount Portman, Baroness Howard de Walden, and the Duke of Bedford. The “Who Owns England” blog has dug into the records — official statistics are very patchy — and reckons that the Crown, the Church, and 14 private estates own around 1,453 acres of central London, or about 600 hectares ( bit.ly/land-own ). At rates of £50 to £90 million per...

Renationalise the railways!

Virgin Trains East Coast, the consortium that runs the line from London to Edinburgh and which is 90% owned by Stagecoach has had its franchise taken away. The line is now temporarily in public ownership, renamed the London North East Railway. This follows the consortium admitting that they had over-bid for the contract — offering £3.3 billion in order to land the contract, when they had no intention of paying this amount, or as they put it, they “discovered” they were unable to pay the amount. The Transport Secretary Chris Grayling had previously discussed ending the contract early and...

Expropriate the landowners!

The number of people sleeping rough in the UK is at a record high, after a 73 per cent rise in numbers over the last three years. According to the latest snapshot analysis by UK local councils, there were 4,751 people sleeping rough on a given night in the autumn of last year. That represents a 169% increase on 2010 figures. In the course of last year 8,108 slept rough in London, a 121% increase on 2010 figures. General homelessness has shot up. Just over 59,000 people were accepted as homeless by local councils in England last year. That figure is 19,000 higher than it was 2009-10. The vast...

For a workers' audit!

Two Parliamentary committees, both headed by right-wing Labour MPs (Frank Field and Rachel Reeves) have called the UK’s big four accountancy firms to be referred to competition authorities for potential break-up. Investigating the collapse of Carillion, which made its bosses millions from taking on outsourced contracts, the MPs found that the firms supposed to audit (check) the firm’s figures were a “cosy club incapable of providing the degree of independent challenge needed”. The government, regulators and Carillion board members had often acted “entirely in line with their own personal...

Grenfell inquiry must expose truth

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry opened on Monday 21 May with tributes to those who died in the tragedy by their family and friends. Families are being given as long as they want to tell the inquiry about those they lost, and many are choosing to use photos and videos as well as words. The first day of the inquiry heard tributes about Logan Gomes, a baby born still-born after the fire, as well as of Khadija Saye and her mother Mary Mendy, Denis Murphy, Joseph Daniels, and Mohamed Neda. The inquiry, led by controversial retired Judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, was announced by Theresa May the day after...

Protest Trump on 14 July

In January 2018, US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip to the UK. His stated reason was that the famously unsuccessful realtor didn’t fancy the “off-location” US Embassy. But the real reason was almost certainly that Trump wanted to duck the huge wave of protest that anyone could see would meet any visit. The racist, authoritarian and climate-change-denying policies of the Trump administration stoked a storm of indignation and a series of huge rallies at the very suggestion of his visit. In mid-April 2018, Trump announced a new trip to the UK, for a “working meeting” with Theresa...

Fight the gender pay gap

In news that will surprise almost no one, the country’s most comprehensive data collection on pay by gender has shown that men are paid more than women. The figures show men are paid more than women in 7,795 out of 10,016 companies and public sector organisations in Britain, in terms of median hourly pay. No sector pays women more. Men are also paid higher bonuses than women. Though there are cases where women are paid less for the same job, this is not the cause of the gender pay gap. Many low-paid jobs are predominantly done by women, particularly in the caring and service sectors. High paid...

Editorial: Trump threatens trade war

On 1 March Donald Trump announced tariffs of 25% on steel imports, 10% on aluminium imports. Other governments are alarmed by this shift towards trade war. The OECD, a consortium of the world’s 35 strongest capitalist economies, has criticised the move. Further argument will come at the meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governments of the G20 (20 strongest countries) in Buenos Aires on 19-20 March. Socialists should be alarmed too, for our own distinct reasons. Socialists do not endorse capitalist free trade. We are not for the unfettered rule of markets. We are for fettering...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.