The pandemic inquiry should listen to workers
There is much to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic, but we should not look to the Hallett inquiry for the lessons. Official inquiries take ages, cost millions, and rarely come up with the goods…
Coronavirus
Coronavirus
How the vaccines were delivered
Britain’s coronavirus vaccine taskforce was successful, but government has thwarted its aim for future resilience…
Vaccines strategy obliterated as Catalent halts Oxford construction
29 November 2022
The joined-up thinking in Britain’s immediate response to the need for a Covid-19 vaccine in 2020 is now absent – despite its success protecting Brtain's population.
Vaccines plan in tatters
During the pandemic the government promised strategic investment. Now it’s walking away from it…
Vaccines – lessons from the front
Two of the Oxford scientists responsible for the AstraZeneca vaccine have documented how it was developed – and sound a warning about the future…
Covid-19 mandate mania
Over 10 billion coronavirus vaccinations have been given. Now some governments are turning to compulsion. But people in Canada aren't putting up with it.
London on the front line in fight for public transport
The government’s attitude to supporting public transport in the capital doesn’t just spell trouble for Londoners. Workers across Britain should heed this warning and unite in opposition against the threat to TfL…
Cuba ships vaccine to Venezuela, defying US blockades
5 July 2021
Cuba has begun shipping its Abdala vaccine against Covid-19 to Venezuela, despite long-standing economic and financial blockades of the two countries by the USA.
Must health and care workers be vaccinated?
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us – if we needed to be taught – that there is such a thing as society. And that there is such a thing as collective responsibility for the health of the country…
Bus drivers win victory over ‘fire and rehire’ [updated]
18 May 2021
Manchester bus drivers, members of the union Unite, working for Go North West have defeated a plan by the company to fire and rehire them on worse pay and conditions, ending a strike that began at the end of February.
Bus strikes solid as drivers fight attacks on pay and conditions
15 March 2021
Strike action by drivers at Go North West in Manchester has been solid – and well supported in the wider labour movement.
Manchester bus drivers strike to defend jobs, conditions [updated]
1 March 2021
Bus drivers working for Go North West have begun an all-out strike against company plans to fire and rehire workers on worse pay and conditions.
How the EU turned a vaccines crisis into a fiasco
The EU cannot hide its dismay at the success of Britain’s vaccination programme. And its attempt to strongarm Britain to make up for its failure backfired spectacularly…
The return of breast screening units
20 February 2021
Most breast screening programmes in Britain were paused in March 2020 because of Covid-19. Screening has since restarted, but there’s much to be done as almost a million women have missed mammograms.
Covid-19: Russian lessons for British schools
7 February 2021
Russia’s main opposition party is campaigning for the “natural right” of children to go to school in the face of widespread closures.
How the EU created a vaccines disaster
30 January 2021
Remember the warnings? Poor Britain, too small to go it alone in the big bad world. Now look at the EU’s vaccines debacle…
Vaccines: progress all round
18 January 2021
The government's plan to manufacture and deliver Covid-19 vaccine shows the remarkable progress made in finding a way out of the pandemic.
PPE: local firms step up
17 January 2021
A Yorkshire company has developed new production facilities for personal protective equipment, one of many innovations from British firms in the face of the pandemic.
The arts in a time of coronavirus
While a significant minority in the cultural industries cried (literally) over their imagined loss through Brexit, coronavirus succeeded in uniting the country around a cause all corners of Britain could agree on: survival…
Devolving health: it doesn’t make sense
For Britain to persist with devolved health services is a nonsense – economies of scale are being lost and during the current health crisis efforts are being dissipated. A look at Scotland indicates the scale of the problem…
Coronavirus: workers taking control [print version]
Nothing illustrates the potential of collective and people-led organisation like the response of British workers to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid-19 - Normal Service
Hardly any libraries in the whole of Britain’s higher education system maintained their usual services through the fraught 2020 autumn term.
Covid-19: Lessons from Liverpool
1 December 2020
The news that Liverpool is to enter Tier 2 when the current restrictions end this week is a challenge to the government’s default top-down, we-know-what’s-best-for-you approach to dealing with the pandemic.
Behind the vaccine breakthroughs
23 November 2020
The scientists involved in developing vaccines against Covid-19 coronavirus – wherever they are based – are part of a global collaboration that has achieved the near impossible in record time.
Coronavirus: workers taking control
22 November 2020
Nothing illustrates the potential of collective and people-led organisation like the response of British workers to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Devolution 'confusion' hampered Covid-19 response, says report
9 November 2020
A report from the Institute of Government points out the dangers of devolution exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
What future for Britain’s railways?
With nationalisation the only sensible option for rail, the government is moving swiftly to avoid doing it. Instead, it is looking to turn the industry upside down, with huge implications for jobs, pay, conditions and services…
Fighting Covid-19, Cuba-style
Socialist Cuba continues to demonstrate the inherent strength of its society through its capacity to bring a rise in Covid-19 infections under control – while continuing to innovate and resist the attacks on it from the US…
Cuba begins clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine
Cuba has begun trials of a coronavirus vaccine – the first vaccine against the virus in Latin America to achieve certification by the World Health Organization.
NHS - Getting ready
The NHS is preparing for winter and a predicted second wave of Covid-19 infections. The service must also look at how it has dealt with patients referred for investigations and treatment for other conditions.