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Britain’s royal rip-off

7 May 2023 - by Michael Roberts

Today in Britain King Charles III will be crowned in a ‘coronation’. All the other remaining monarchies in Europe (Scandinavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain) don’t bother with a coronation, but the British monarchy has had a much more prominent (...)
Ten days after the announcement of indecent tax cuts, Liz Truss’ spectacular U-turn

Thatcher’s heritage, tax giveaways, poorly distributed and poorly funded benefits: austerity gaining ground in the UK

13 October 2022 - by Maxime Perriot

Appointed on 6 September 2022, Liz Truss, the new British Prime Minister, rests her legitimacy on the choice made by the 172,000 members of the Conservative party. [1] This ’electorate’, mostly older and rich, voted for a programme of tax cuts and (...)
The UK government’s economic policies under...

1 October 2022 - by Michael Roberts

The UK government’s economic policies under new PM Liz Truss have caused a stir among, not only leftists, but also among mainstream economists. The new government says the solution to the stagnation and failure of British capitalist production (...)
UK: In the shadow of student rent strikes

11 January 2021 - by Robert Firth

Outside the media fanfare surrounding the recent wave of university-based militancy, one community’s fight against developers goes on. Robert Firth reports On Manchester’s Oxford Road, in the city’s university district, there is a building that (...)
Lessons from a decade of student activism in the UK

6 January 2021 - by Hector Rios-Jara

The pandemic has exposed the disgraceful failures of market reforms in the British higher education sector. But the resistance of students continues. n years ago, tens of thousands of students flooded the streets of London protesting against (...)
If Politicians Can’t Face Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion Will

21 May 2019 - by David Graeber

A new movement is demanding solutions. They may just be in time to save the planet. On April 15, thousands of activists from a movement called Extinction Rebellion started occupying several sites in central London, shutting down major roads (...)
How Britain stole $45 trillion from India

31 December 2018 - by Jason Hickel

There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India - as horrible as it may have been - was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the (...)
Debt & Democracy in Newham: A Citizen audit of LOBO loans

4 December 2018 - by Research For Action

Executive Summary A dramatic withdrawal of central government funding in the last decade has exposed the crisis in local government. Austerity measures are forcing closures of youth centres and libraries, reducing bin collection and increasing (...)
The case for a household debt jubilee

7 March 2018 - by Jubilee Debt Campaign, Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Damon Gibbons

A decade since the onset of the global financial crisis, outstanding household debt stands just short of £1.6 trillion, 13 percent higher than its peak in the third quarter of 2008. £239 billion of this is unsecured consumer credit, and this has (...)
Meet the frontline activists facing down the global mining industry

7 February 2018 - by Hannibal Rhoades, Tatiana Garavito, Sebastián Ordóñez

Activists are defending land, life and water from the global mining industry. Tatiana Garavito, Sebastian Ordoñez and Hannibal Rhoades investigate. Leaders from the frontlines of mining struggles in the Philippines, Colombia and Uganda (...)
The revival of the Commonwealth: an opportunity for further exploitation or a time to correct past wrongs?

22 December 2017 - by Mary Serumaga

The Origins of the Commonwealth ‘Commonwealth’ is a word being heard with increasing frequency in the post-Brexit era. It had always been used to refer to the British Empire – first to Australia in the 1890s and later to other territories. From (...)
10 key facts about debt in the UK

15 November 2017 - by Jubilee Debt Campaign, Tim Jones

The UK government is paying virtually the lowest amount of interest on its debt in recorded history, as a proportion of GDP. Of the payments it is making, most are to people and institutions in the UK, with just 25% of UK government debt owed (...)
G4S: When a private company is in charge of your security

11 April 2017 - by Jérôme Duval

The security context in Europe today doesn’t make everybody unhappy, especially among firms that have specialised in security and surveillance. Among them, the British G4S, to which many governments subcontract their dirty work, ranging from (...)
LADA - Local Authority Debt Audits

17 November 2016 - by Debt Resistance UK

Debt Resistance UK (DRUK) is a group of researchers, activists and campaigners dedicated to challenging the narrative of debt as apolitical and inevitable. This booklet introduces our research into how bankers, brokers and advisors have tricked (...)
Students in the UK prepare for a new wave of rent strikes

24 October 2016 - by Callum Cant

Any movement tactic proposed today needs to suit a precarious student population that’s working more hours, carrying more debt and paying more for housing.
London’s councils should audit their debt before raising tax rates

18 March 2016 - by Jamie Griffiths

Last year council tax became the biggest debt problem for families in the UK, overtaking credit card debt as the biggest strain and leading to threats from bailiffs, court action and increased business for exploitative payday lenders. As funding (...)
Can the New Left Govern Europe?

29 February 2016 - by Conn Hallinan

After a year of earthshaking victories and devastating setbacks, Europe’s new progressive parties are slowly learning how to balance governance with activism. Over the past year, left and center-left parties have taken control of two European (...)
Debt policy update, from Jubilee Debt Campaign

10 February 2016 - by Jubilee Debt Campaign

Highlights 1) Debt risks increase as commodity prices stay low According to the IMF and World Bank, 10 low income countries have seen an increased risk of not being able to pay their debts over the last year as global commodity prices have (...)
£139 million of ‘made-up money’ to count as UK aid

25 January 2016 - by Jubilee Debt Campaign

£139 million of ‘made-up money’ will count as UK aid and contribute towards meeting the UK government’s target for spending 0.7% of national income on aid, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed. Under an agreement (...)
Ludovica Rogers at the European Citizens’ Assembly on debt

12 January 2016 - by Ludovica Rogers

Ludovica Rogers is part of Debt Resistance Uk, a collective formed by activists and researchers in order to challenge the political narrative surrounding the debt. This group is based in London and it is a great example of popular campaign (...)
Radio WIBG: Lauren Tooker on student debt and women bearing the brunt

20 October 2015 - by Brigitte Marti, Lauren Tooker

At the CADTM Summer University, the workshop on private debt and resistance broached the system of private debt as debt that is forced on people as public debt is forced on States. The workshop covered micro lending in Morocco, mortgage loan (...)
Britain Needs a Truth Committee on Debt

7 October 2015 - by Caroline Lucas

While the debt of states is widely used as an instrument of submission to neoliberal policies, Caroline Lucas points out, reflected by the recent experience of Greece, the need to set up a truth commission on debt . Over the last few days I’ve (...)
‘Cancel Greek Debt’ Projected On German Embassy In London

10 July 2015 - by Jubilee Debt Campaign

Last night activists from Global Justice Now projected “Cancel Greek Debt” in giant letters against the German embassy in West London, below a a mock-up of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the three wise monkeys (‘see no evil, hear no evil, (...)
’National day of action’ against sell-off of student debt planned across UK

19 November 2013 - by Aaron Kiely

Students on more than 20 campuses across the country are preparing to take part in a national day of action against the government’s plans to privatise the student loan book. The wave of action will take place tomorrow and is being co-ordinated (...)
Inside the murky world of the UK’S Make Poverty

27 June 2005 - by Stuart Hodkinson

Make Poverty History would seem an unprecedented success story in UK development politics. Uniting trade unions, charities, NGOs and a stellar-cast of celebrities, its cause is dominating media coverage while the campaign’s white wristband is (...)