Class Struggle n°18 · January 1998

Less than seven months after coming into office, Blair's Labour government switched into full gear in its attacks against the poor. First, in November, Brown's "Green Budget" outlined the framework of these attacks. Then, in December, the first piece of legislation was introduced in the Commons, to be implemented, together …

New Labour's ten-year plan for the NHS was announced in a white paper in December 1997, under the predictable title of "The New NHS: Modern and Dependable". Further details will follow in a green paper, called "Our Healthier Nation", to be published in January. This could not …

Shortly after Labour's election victory in Britain, in June last year, the French Socialist party made an unexpected return to office, leading a so-called "plural coalition", which includes the Communist party and the Greens. Since then, the British papers have often compared the policies of the two governments. And …

In mid-November last year, the financial crisis finally reached Japan, the world's second industrial and imperialist power. This raised the spectre of a possible meltdown, with certain, but unpredictable, worldwide consequences. The situation was considered serious enough in December for the Japanese government to introduce an emergency package worth almost …

The African continent has two unenviable but unique features. It is the planet's most impoverished continent and, by the annual UN World Development Report's own admission, it is becoming poorer every year - in relative terms overall and in absolute terms for many of its constituent parts. At the same …