Privatisation

NHS at 70: celebrate and defend our health service on June 30

As the NHS approaches its 70th birthday on July 5, we need a big show of strength in London on June 30 to save it from the Tories
Is France heading for another May '68?

From student dissent to militant strikes and a radical alternative, the ingredients are there for mass rebellion, writes John Mullen
The NHS pay offer is divisive and insulting

The media and unions are welcoming the proposed reform to NHS pay, but David Bailey explains why it's a bad deal and should be rejected
University strikes: employers’ retreat needs to be nailed down

As UUK returns with a further offer, Des Freedman takes a look at the immediate options facing university staff involved in the dispute
France, March 22nd: the mobilisation of the public sector begins

Across France, hundreds of thousands of people, spearheaded by combative rail workers, mobilise against Macron’s neoliberal assault on the public sector
Healthcare for the many - book extract

In this extract from Mike Phipps' edited collection, For the Many... Preparing Labour for Power, Allyson Pollock takes a close look at healthcare in the Labour manifesto
Newham says no to academisation

The fight against academisation in the East End is on, with three schools taking strike action
NHS: stop the backdoor privatisation

The defeat of Jeremy Hunt’s plans can lay the foundations for real change under a Corbyn-led government
Lecturers' strike: Deepen the action, spread the support

As the strike continues, we must up the ante, argues Des Freedman
What you can do to support the lecturers' strike

As the strike continues we must keep the pressure on, argues Chris Nineham
Lecturers' strike day one: A bad day for the casino

University strikers across the country are reporting the most successful and well supported industrial action for years
'They think we are weak - they could not be more wrong': Goldsmiths kicks off against pension cuts

On the first day of this historic strike, Goldsmiths lecturers show they mean business and are fighting to win
Biggest ever strike in higher education? UCU members prepare to defend pensions

As education workers get ready to strike, Des Freedman, a professor at Goldsmiths University, tells us what we can do to support them
Recession, Riots and Regeneration

Protesters gathered at the Brixton Arches to mark three years of the campaign to save it from regeneration. Julie Al-Hinai reports
Carillion, Capita and the death of a dogma

Private companies cannot be allowed to continue running public services. The consensus around this practice is thankfully crumbling, argues Sean Ledwith
Save the NHS - Counterfire Freesheet February 2018

The Tory manufactured crisis in the NHS, Carillion, Labour, Palestine, Grenfell and more...
Victory for residents as Haringey Council Leader quits

Haringey Council Leader Claire Kober's resignation is a victory for democracy and the grassroots Stop HDV campaign against social cleansing, Isabel Carr reports
Scavenger capitalists - weekly briefing

Carillion’s spectacular demise reveals the brute vampirism at the heart of privatisation, writes Lindsey German
Residents told they can't be safe until they pay £2m by multimillionaire landlord

Freeholder forcing residents to pay £2m for their own safety is putting lives at risk by not removing Grenfell-style cladding from Croydon complex argues Shabbir Lakha
Carillion collapse: why we need to end privatisation of the NHS

The merry go round of rewarding private sector companies for profiting from our NHS must end along with the hand-in-glove approach it has with big business
Carillion: vampire capitalism stalks again

We have to challenge the idea that the private sector is fit to run our public services, and we can only do that with mass social protest, argues Richard Allday
Carillion: two kinds of bailout, two class interests

This can go one of two ways. Let's make sure it goes the way of the workers
The NHS crisis is deliberate

The ongoing crisis is manufactured as a precursor to further privatisation. Don't let the Tories fool you
Jeremy Hunt should have been sacked, not promoted

As part of her reshuffle, May has added Social Care to Jeremy Hunt's remit. The People's Assembly and Health Campaigns Together respond
Toby Young: may contain offensive material

The views of Toby Young have no place in society, let alone education. Sack him now, argues Judy Cox
Postal workers' strike: 'Usually trade unions are reactive, but this time we've set the agenda'

As current action hangs in the balance, Shabbir Lakha talks to CWU postal executive member Andrew Hopping about what lies ahead for the postal workers
Bob Crow: Socialist, Leader, Fighter - book review

A new biography of Bob Crow shows why he can be considered as the most effective union leader of his generation, argues Graham Kirkwood
Can Macron the Thatcherite be beaten?

The French president is hoping to push through a series of Thatcherite reforms, but the workers are not going to lie down and take it, writes John Mullen
The impending crisis for Macron

With his ratings in freefall, the neoliberal standard-bearer unveils his labour law ‘reforms’ against a swelling tide of anger
SERCO Workers’ strike 25 July 2017: #BartsStrike

Defence of the NHS and resistance to outsourcing continue to fuel the fledgling industrial fightback, reports Ellen Graubart
This is our time, but we have to organise - weekly briefing

The left is on the front foot - we can't let this moment pass
Ken Knight is the last person that should oversee Grenfell response

The retired firefighter that is set to chair the response to the Grenfell disaster has a history of implementing austerity, writes this London firefighter
Grenfell is not an accident - video

A look at how the problems of class and austerity meant Grenfell could happen, with Judy Cox and Shabbir Lakha
Bristol want the Tories out

Bristol's carnival-esque demonstration against NHS privatisation put the Tories on trial
This is a manifesto worth fighting for - Election briefing #15

There is every opportunity for the class to move forward with this clarion call, writes Lindsey German
A manifesto that is anything but chaotic - Election briefing #14

Popular policies take centre stage and Labour forward with one serious misstep, writes Lindsey German
The great academy rip off

The free market in education is a disaster, and children are paying the price, writes Judy Cox
Why nurses will be so angry at this budget: NHS and resistance

As Philip Hammond puts tax cuts before the NHS in his budget, we print this speech from Saturday's brilliant ourNHS demo by nurse militant Danielle Tiplady
Fight to save our NHS

The NHS is in a crisis the Tories created
NHS: close to breaking point

There will always be forces that seek to destroy the NHS, so the fight to defend it must be one that every generation takes on, writes junior doctor Mona Kamal
Rail rip-off: uniting to campaign for renationalisation

The campaign to renationalise the railways is heating up but the TSSA video is not the way to go argues Mick Wattam
Imperial War Museum: three years of privatised crisis

The privatisation of visitor services and security staff at the Imperial War Museum has been an utter failure
Southern Rail: playing politics for profit

As half a million would-be passengers endure another day of frustration, they are being encouraged to blame fellow workers for their misery, instead of the real culprits
NHS Day of Action: Corbyn takes the lead

The battle for the future of our healthcare is being taken to the street, reports David Bailey
Why the 'just managing' just got poorer

Lindsey German argues that austerity as a deliberate choice is holding down wages, not the prospect of Brexit
Aberfan 1966: remembering the victims

Fifty years after the mining disaster that killed 144 people, we should not forget that the survivors never got justice, writes Lindsey German
Critical condition: saving Homerton Hospital

Threatened privatisation at Homerton Hospital has sparked a local campaign. Ellen Graubart reports on how government plans for the NHS are being resisted
Junior doctors: renewed strike action

Junior doctors must continue to stand firm against the creeping marketisation of the NHS, writes Mona Kamal
Olympics: social democratic Team GB vs freemarket England Team

Mark Perryman outlines what Great Britain’s Olympic success does mean - and what it doesn’t mean
Railways: a rebellious mood

Counterfire talks to Alex Gordon from the RMT about the recent wave of industrial disputes in the railway industry
Southern Rail crisis: re-nationalisation is the only answer

Elaine Graham-Leigh takes a look at the crisis of Southern, caused by years of privatisation, and resulting in misery for staff and passengers
Immigration detention and the private sector: state coercion on the cheap

A support group gathers disturbing testimony from people deported by commercial contractors, reports Lotte LS
Should we stay or should we go?

Alex Gordon, convenor of Lexit – The Left Leave Campaign and former president of the RMT trade union, talks to Counterfire about the upcoming EU referendum
The fearless people of Brazil resisting the coup

The movement wants Dilma back in office, but to carry out the progressive, anti-austerity policies with which she was elected, writes Orlando Hill
Chilean student movement: back in the streets for free education

As the Tories announce plans to remove the cap on tuition fees, Hector Rios looks at how Chilean education was marketised, and how students are resisting
Decoding the BBC White Paper

Apocalyptic rumours followed by a row-back and relief. It's an age-old strategy, but what is the reality behind the government's BBC proposals?
Health, wealth and revolution: the fight for the NHS

Mona Kamal outlines the next steps in the junior doctors' campaign, and in preventing the wholesale privatisation of the NHS
The Tories and academies: a coup against democracy

As the Tories plan to turn every school into an academy, Alastair Stephens takes a look at the motives behind the drive
Limpiadores: SOAS Cleaners' struggle - podcast

Yasmin Dahnoun speaks to Fernando González, whose documentary Limpiadores tells the story of the SOAS cleaners' fight for justice
Academies: stop the Tory assault on our schools

The academies programme is a political attack on state education, writes Alex Snowdon
This is serious: what you can do now to support the junior doctors

The junior doctors dispute is the most important industrial confrontation in years. Chris Nineham explains why they need all our support in the coming strike
The spirit of rebellion haunts Ireland’s election

As Ireland goes to the polls on Friday, there is a historic opportunity for a new Irish left to be born, writes Sean Ledwith
Not without a fight: inspiring rally defends junior doctors

The People’s Assembly hosted a defiant and inspiring rally in support of the junior doctors, reports Cameron Panting
Junior doctors' strike live!

Live reports, photos and videos from the junior doctors strike
Education targets: the need for a radical rethink

A culture of target-chasing has become all pervasive in our schools. Phil Armstrong looks at the issues
NHS action spreads: student nurses protest - podcast

We caught up with student nurse Danielle Tiplady, one of the organisers of tomorrow's demonstration against the scrapping of student bursaries
Five years on from Millbank, who are the real vandals?

Des Freedman argues that the government’s new green paper signals an even more deregulated, profit-driven HE sector
Disaster capitalism: outsourcing violence in the UK

Corporations bleed what profits they can from disaster. Democracy is replaced by a business plan. An excerpt from Antony Loewenstein’s Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe
NHS For Sale: Myths, Lies and Deception

The NHS is being privatised behind the backs of the public, as NHS for Sale shows, and we must make this central to the fight against austerity, argues Joanne Land
Video: junior doctors protest - Hunt must go!

Speeches from the protest in support of junior doctors held on Saturday 18 October 2015. Video by Paul Hanes
Prescribing resistance: junior doctors take to the streets

Thousands of junior doctors marched through Westminster on Saturday to protest proposed contract changes. Mark Smith reports
Another Europe is necessary

We cannot be neutral with regard to the upcoming referendum on EU membership. If Britain votes to stay in, we will be effectively signing up to all of Europe’s neoliberal strictures for another generation
In Athens and on the Clyde, workers are striking against neoliberal Europe

Today's strikes in Athens and Glasgow are in opposition to the neoliberal policies of the European Union argues Reuben Bard-Rosenberg
The NHS election

The NHS is a major election issue, but the only thing that will stop its destruction is the mobilisation of a national campaign writes Dr Youssef El-Gingihy
Cameron’s Free School scam

Cameron’s announcement of 500 free schools was a blatant attempt to take the focus off his cuts to education argues John Westmoreland
Tide of protest hits the Irish government over water charges

Jail, hunger strikes and mass protest: this is the face of the struggle in Ireland reports Ramona McCartney
NHS Convention: Planning to save our NHS

The Convention for the NHS saw delegates from local campaigns against NHS cuts, closures, and privatisation gather to plan action in the run up to the election and beyond. Report by James Doran
Video: Stop the PFI plunder: Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public meeting

PFI schemes are plundering our underfunded NHS, besieged by private corporations and their allies in government. Video by Paul Hanes
London bus driver: why we're striking

London bus driver and senior Unite rep Preston Tabois spoke to Counterfire's Dan Poulton about the London-wide strike and its wider context
The morality of the poor: 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers'

Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries you headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget
999 Call for the NHS: national convention for NHS campaigners | 28 February

The Jarrow marchers are organising a convention to help unite NHS campaigners throughout the country
The Establishment: And how they get away with it

Owen Jones’ The Establishmentis a valuable dissection of the networks of power and ideology, but the concept of the ruling class adds a needed dimension, argues Sean Ledwith
'Management out, cleaners in!' - campaigners step up pressure at SOAS

Bringing cleaners in-house at SOAS university, London, is back on the table after protesters crashed a management meeting, reports SOAS student Clare Birkett
SOAS staff and students demand Justice for Cleaners

SOAS Justice for Cleaners (J4C) re-launched their campaign this year with a series of successful events over the past week - demanding the cleaning staff are brought in-house
Irish water charges and the growth of anti-austerity politics

Ireland is facing mounting anger over controversial moves to introduce water charges, with widespread street protests reports Rob Winkel
The scandal of private healthcare in UK immigration detention centres

Four years ago G4S was involved in the unlawful killing of an immigration detainee called Jimmy Mubenga. Now they're winning NHS contracts to provide medical care for immigration detainees
Video: London welcomes the People's March for the NHS

Video of the welcome march and the speeches that greeted the '300 milers' who had walked from Jarrow to London in protest at the privatisation of the NHS
Interview with People's March for the NHS organiser Rehana Azam

Mark Tyers speaks to Rehana Azam, co-founder and organiser of the People's March for the NHS at the march stopping point outside The Church Mouse pub on Chester Moor
Student Loans not for sale after Cable's U-turn

Student campaigners are celebrating victory after Vince Cable announced that the Lib Dems have pulled the plug on the planned privatisation of Student Loans
999 call for the NHS People's March: a 21st century Jarrow Crusade

700 mothers will join forces on the 16th August and march from Jarrow to London in protest at the destruction of the NHS. Ellen Graubart reports
Selling our schools - Gove's Trojan Horse

Gove may have gone but the covert privatisation of schools he initiated continues writes Clare Sambrook

Privatisation

Privatisation

As the NHS approaches its 70th birthday on July 5, we need a big show of strength in London on June 30 to save it from the Tories

From student dissent to militant strikes and a radical alternative, the ingredients are there for mass rebellion, writes John Mullen

The media and unions are welcoming the proposed reform to NHS pay, but David Bailey explains why it's a bad deal and should be rejected

As UUK returns with a further offer, Des Freedman takes a look at the immediate options facing university staff involved in the dispute

Across France, hundreds of thousands of people, spearheaded by combative rail workers, mobilise against Macron’s neoliberal assault on the public sector

In this extract from Mike Phipps' edited collection, For the Many... Preparing Labour for Power, Allyson Pollock takes a close look at healthcare in the Labour manifesto

The fight against academisation in the East End is on, with three schools taking strike action

The defeat of Jeremy Hunt’s plans can lay the foundations for real change under a Corbyn-led government

As the strike continues, we must up the ante, argues Des Freedman

As the strike continues we must keep the pressure on, argues Chris Nineham

University strikers across the country are reporting the most successful and well supported industrial action for years

On the first day of this historic strike, Goldsmiths lecturers show they mean business and are fighting to win

As education workers get ready to strike, Des Freedman, a professor at Goldsmiths University, tells us what we can do to support them

Protesters gathered at the Brixton Arches to mark three years of the campaign to save it from regeneration. Julie Al-Hinai reports

Private companies cannot be allowed to continue running public services. The consensus around this practice is thankfully crumbling, argues Sean Ledwith

The Tory manufactured crisis in the NHS, Carillion, Labour, Palestine, Grenfell and more...

Haringey Council Leader Claire Kober's resignation is a victory for democracy and the grassroots Stop HDV campaign against social cleansing, Isabel Carr reports

Carillion’s spectacular demise reveals the brute vampirism at the heart of privatisation, writes Lindsey German

Freeholder forcing residents to pay £2m for their own safety is putting lives at risk by not removing Grenfell-style cladding from Croydon complex argues Shabbir Lakha

The merry go round of rewarding private sector companies for profiting from our NHS must end along with the hand-in-glove approach it has with big business

We have to challenge the idea that the private sector is fit to run our public services, and we can only do that with mass social protest, argues Richard Allday

This can go one of two ways. Let's make sure it goes the way of the workers

The ongoing crisis is manufactured as a precursor to further privatisation. Don't let the Tories fool you

As part of her reshuffle, May has added Social Care to Jeremy Hunt's remit. The People's Assembly and Health Campaigns Together respond

The views of Toby Young have no place in society, let alone education. Sack him now, argues Judy Cox

As current action hangs in the balance, Shabbir Lakha talks to CWU postal executive member Andrew Hopping about what lies ahead for the postal workers

A new biography of Bob Crow shows why he can be considered as the most effective union leader of his generation, argues Graham Kirkwood

The French president is hoping to push through a series of Thatcherite reforms, but the workers are not going to lie down and take it, writes John Mullen

With his ratings in freefall, the neoliberal standard-bearer unveils his labour law ‘reforms’ against a swelling tide of anger

Defence of the NHS and resistance to outsourcing continue to fuel the fledgling industrial fightback, reports Ellen Graubart

The left is on the front foot - we can't let this moment pass

The retired firefighter that is set to chair the response to the Grenfell disaster has a history of implementing austerity, writes this London firefighter

A look at how the problems of class and austerity meant Grenfell could happen, with Judy Cox and Shabbir Lakha

Bristol's carnival-esque demonstration against NHS privatisation put the Tories on trial

There is every opportunity for the class to move forward with this clarion call, writes Lindsey German

Popular policies take centre stage and Labour forward with one serious misstep, writes Lindsey German

The free market in education is a disaster, and children are paying the price, writes Judy Cox

As Philip Hammond puts tax cuts before the NHS in his budget, we print this speech from Saturday's brilliant ourNHS demo by nurse militant Danielle Tiplady

The NHS is in a crisis the Tories created

There will always be forces that seek to destroy the NHS, so the fight to defend it must be one that every generation takes on, writes junior doctor Mona Kamal

The campaign to renationalise the railways is heating up but the TSSA video is not the way to go argues Mick Wattam

The privatisation of visitor services and security staff at the Imperial War Museum has been an utter failure

As half a million would-be passengers endure another day of frustration, they are being encouraged to blame fellow workers for their misery, instead of the real culprits

The battle for the future of our healthcare is being taken to the street, reports David Bailey

Lindsey German argues that austerity as a deliberate choice is holding down wages, not the prospect of Brexit

Fifty years after the mining disaster that killed 144 people, we should not forget that the survivors never got justice, writes Lindsey German

Threatened privatisation at Homerton Hospital has sparked a local campaign. Ellen Graubart reports on how government plans for the NHS are being resisted

Junior doctors must continue to stand firm against the creeping marketisation of the NHS, writes Mona Kamal

Mark Perryman outlines what Great Britain’s Olympic success does mean - and what it doesn’t mean

Counterfire talks to Alex Gordon from the RMT about the recent wave of industrial disputes in the railway industry

Elaine Graham-Leigh takes a look at the crisis of Southern, caused by years of privatisation, and resulting in misery for staff and passengers

A support group gathers disturbing testimony from people deported by commercial contractors, reports Lotte LS

Alex Gordon, convenor of Lexit – The Left Leave Campaign and former president of the RMT trade union, talks to Counterfire about the upcoming EU referendum

The movement wants Dilma back in office, but to carry out the progressive, anti-austerity policies with which she was elected, writes Orlando Hill

As the Tories announce plans to remove the cap on tuition fees, Hector Rios looks at how Chilean education was marketised, and how students are resisting

Apocalyptic rumours followed by a row-back and relief. It's an age-old strategy, but what is the reality behind the government's BBC proposals?

Mona Kamal outlines the next steps in the junior doctors' campaign, and in preventing the wholesale privatisation of the NHS

As the Tories plan to turn every school into an academy, Alastair Stephens takes a look at the motives behind the drive

Yasmin Dahnoun speaks to Fernando González, whose documentary Limpiadores tells the story of the SOAS cleaners' fight for justice

The academies programme is a political attack on state education, writes Alex Snowdon

The junior doctors dispute is the most important industrial confrontation in years. Chris Nineham explains why they need all our support in the coming strike

As Ireland goes to the polls on Friday, there is a historic opportunity for a new Irish left to be born, writes Sean Ledwith

The People’s Assembly hosted a defiant and inspiring rally in support of the junior doctors, reports Cameron Panting

Live reports, photos and videos from the junior doctors strike

A culture of target-chasing has become all pervasive in our schools. Phil Armstrong looks at the issues

We caught up with student nurse Danielle Tiplady, one of the organisers of tomorrow's demonstration against the scrapping of student bursaries

Des Freedman argues that the government’s new green paper signals an even more deregulated, profit-driven HE sector

Corporations bleed what profits they can from disaster. Democracy is replaced by a business plan. An excerpt from Antony Loewenstein’s Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe

The NHS is being privatised behind the backs of the public, as NHS for Sale shows, and we must make this central to the fight against austerity, argues Joanne Land

Speeches from the protest in support of junior doctors held on Saturday 18 October 2015. Video by Paul Hanes

Thousands of junior doctors marched through Westminster on Saturday to protest proposed contract changes. Mark Smith reports

We cannot be neutral with regard to the upcoming referendum on EU membership. If Britain votes to stay in, we will be effectively signing up to all of Europe’s neoliberal strictures for another generation

Today's strikes in Athens and Glasgow are in opposition to the neoliberal policies of the European Union argues Reuben Bard-Rosenberg

The NHS is a major election issue, but the only thing that will stop its destruction is the mobilisation of a national campaign writes Dr Youssef El-Gingihy