UK politics

When it comes to dealing with Muslim “terror suspects” in the UK, and recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights preventing the British government from deporting Abu Qatada to Jordan, but approving the extradition to the US of Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Talha Ahsan and two other men, it is often difficult to [...]

On Monday, in the hope of drawing MPs’ attention to the ongoing disgrace of the detention at Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, with the support of Peace Strike, organised a demonstration in Parliament Square, to greet MPs as they returned from their Easter break, [...]

Please sign the e-petition calling for the release of Shaker Aamer from Guantánamo! And if you can collect signatures and email addresses, please print off copies of the paper petition available here. The deadline to secure 100,000 signatures is May 14. In addition, if you’re in London today (April 16), please join myself, members of [...]

With the Tory-led coalition government attacking vulnerable people on so many fronts, and with the last month in particular dominated by the last-ditch resistance to the wretched NHS reform bill, it’s been a while since I had the time to examine the ramifications of another appalling piece of legislation — the welfare bill that became [...]

Less than three weeks since the Tory-led coalition government’s dreadful NHS reform bill was passed — aimed primarily at allowing private companies greater access to the NHS than ever before — a damning document has been published, which should have derailed the entire process. The document in question follows the judgment of the Information Commissioner, [...]

Today, a leaked copy of the first draft of a risk register (PDF) assessing the damage that could follow the Tory-led coalition government’s reckless plans to reform the NHS (which involve devolving 60% of the NHS’s £100bn budget to new GP-led consortia, and introducing more competition into the NHS), was published by the Guardian. As [...]

No one should be surprised that, as was revealed in secret footage shot by the Sunday Times in an investigation into government sleaze, the Tories’ co-treasurer Peter Cruddas offered access to the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, in exchange for donations of up to £250,000, with the thinly-veiled [...]

UK Uncut, the organisers of the “Austerity Isn’t Working” Dole Queue outside Downing Street this morning advised supporters to turn up for 11 am prompt for a recreation of the notorious “Labour Isn’t Working” poster from 1979 as a protest on Budget Day — and, lamentably, as a wake for the NHS. In the end, there were, at first, [...]

With the failure of the last challenge to Andrew Lansley’s wretched NHS reform bill in the House of Commons, where Labour’s emergency debate was defeated by 328 votes to 246, I have to ask: how is it possible, in a so-called democracy, for a government without a mandate to ignore the complaints of healthcare professionals, [...]

Tomorrow morning, please join me as I help the campaigning group UK Uncut cause a stir on Budget Day by lining up with hundreds of other people outside Downing Street to declare that “Austerity Isn’t Working,” recreating the Tories’ notorious “Labour Isn’t Working” poster that helped Margaret Thatcher win the 1979 General Election. Click on [...]