News

In the days following the publication of the Tory manifesto the Telegraph trumpeted “Tories pledge £8bn rise in NHS spending.” It added, “Conservatives would also triple the fees charged to migrants for using the NHS, to help raise more funds from overseas patients.”

The overt racism of this proposal shouldn’t surprise us. But what of the £8 billion pledge? The figure is over the course of the next government, so roughly £1.6 billion per year.

It may seem bizarre to many people that the Conservative Party has been riding high in the polls after seven years of battering public services and fuelling racism. One popular explanation for this is the role of the media. Given the magnitude of its attacks on Jeremy Corbyn that seems to make sense.

The Sun ran the headline “Blood on his hands” for a vile rant against Corbyn and McDonnell, attempting to attack them over their relations with the IRA. It was printed the day after the Manchester bombing.

We can only guess at the extent of Donald Trump’s knowledge of Latin America, Enlightenment philosophy and Russian revolutionary history. Nonetheless it would be nice to think that the election of the superbly named Lenin Voltaire Moreno Garces as president of Ecuador will have raised a few eyebrows in his administration.

At the National Union of Teachers conference in April a historic motion was passed supporting positive positions on transgender rights and committing the union to fully implement the recommendations of the Gender Recognition Act.

Over recent years arguments have taken place about transgender rights both on the left among feminists, and on the right. These have often been specifically about the right of transgender people to self-identify and have access to single sex bathroom facilities.

Members of the National Union of Teachers have been battling in education to halt academisation, over testing and, more recently, against £3 billion in funding cuts up to 2020. We have always attempted to get parents’ groups on board to work jointly on campaigns. 

With negotiations over Britain’s future relationship with the EU now under way, Theresa May still hasn’t spoken out to unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU nationals currently living in Britain. Instead the Tory government has stated that it wants to wait until it gets an offer from EU member states securing the rights of British nationals abroad. People’s lives, their relationships, homes and future plans, are all being used by politicians as bargaining chips.

Tory cuts to school funding in England, which could see the first real term cuts in 20 years, have prompted a fightback by teachers and parents. Hundreds have attended meetings across England to organise resistance to the attacks on education.

Chile heats up

There were huge demonstrations in Chile last month against the privatised pensions system. According to organisers 2 million people marched in cities across the country. Pension contributions are set to rise. Protesters want them replaced with a public social security system.

Landlord is untenable

A flagship promise of the Trump campaign was thrown into chaos last month. The American Health Care Act, known as “Trumpcare”, was pulled from the floor of the US House of Representatives at the end of March, having failed to win enough support from Republicans to pass.

Throughout the presidential election Trump had made attacks on the rising costs of Obamacare a central strand of his campaign, promising to repeal and replace it.

Reports last month revealed that girls and young women have missed days of school because they can’t afford to buy sanitary products.

Teachers in Leeds noticed that some of their female students seemed to be missing school regularly. They found that it was because they had no cash for tampons or sanitary towels and were embarrassed to ask for help. One girl told BBC radio, “I wrapped a sock around my underwear just to stop the bleeding, because I didn’t want to get shouted at.”