Socialist correspondent

Even with determined trade union action and winning pay increases, wages are still not keeping pace with inflation. However, given the determination of strikers over the recent past the government is taking steps to curb strike action. Defending the right to strike will now be an essential part of working class struggle. As will campaigns which gain the broader support of the gener

This year will see a general election in the UK. At present it looks like a safe bet that the Tories will lose and Labour will win. Is there any more to say? With media pundits taking up airtime and webpages with their endless, repetitious prognostications it will certainly feel like there is not. However, there are real questions about the direction of Labour and the future of the

We should not doubt that the UK government sees the threats posed by protest against war and unrest against the decimation of living standards and services. In the last couple of years Parliament has passed three pieces of legislation which restrict freedom of speech, the right to protest and the right to strike. A fourth which would outlaw public bodies from boycotting Israel is c

What shape is German imperialism in today? An imperialism that twice dared to reach for world power and thus triggered two world wars. Yet now its economy has been hard hit by US demands over Ukraine. It is suffering from increased fuel prices a result of the closure and sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia and rocketing arms spending. Discontent is fueling the far righ

The West's response to its growing problems in the world is to threaten others and wage war. There is now a concerted build up towards more armed conflict including war with China. The question is, can the US and its allies be constrained? What are the forces driving the West to war and what might hold it back? The West now is less able to build coalitions as potential allies do no

The emergence of a multi-polar world is not welcomed by the US as it sees its interests and its world hegemony threatened. More oil sales are being transacted in non-dollar currencies and organisations such as BRICS are attracting new members, pulling away from the US orbit. The US will us its considerable military and economic power to remain dominant in this new world.

NATO's conventional war-fighting capabilities are very visible in the wars it has fought and its military build-up across the globe. Less visible but very important to NATO are activities such as its ideological efforts to win hearts and minds and it's development of cyber warfare capabilities.

More cash is being earmarked for weapons, including for the war in Ukraine, but are the people’s interests best served by sacrificing their living standards to the military build-up or would they be better served by Britain taking a different path? The world is shifting, with new alliances emerging in the global South, resisting western diktats. So shouldn’t we consider abandon

During the Ukraine conflict Poland has taken a confrontational stance and has been at the forefront of pushing for more weapons for Ukraine. This has included pressurising Germany to fall into line. It has also become the centre of NATO operations in Europe and has 10,000 US soldiers based there. It is an essential ally for the United States in its proxy war.

Recent coups across west Africa have underlined the growing resistance in the global South to western domination. Each of these coups was led by military officers angered by the presence of French and US troops and by the permanent economic crises inflicted on their countries. Niger is a case in point with high levels of poverty in the country alongside the exploitation of its natu