europe

Bodied? Grilled? Stand aside weakling clickbait titles, we have a new queen.

From the perspective of capital, this move makes perfect sense. But it presupposes the betrayal of the republican front and the establishment of an ‘entente cordiale’ with the RN. For the latter, this exclusion of the left is a blessing, making it the only ‘credible’ alternative to Macronism while granting it extraordinary power over the new government. In recent weeks, Macron submitted the names of prime ministerial candidates to Marine Le Pen, who was free to make her selection. Barnier owes his nomination to her goodwill, which he presumably earned with his virulently anti-migrant remarks during the 2021 primaries. His appointment represents an attempt to guarantee Macron’s anti-labour agenda under the watchful eye of the RN, on which the future of his premiership depends. He has become linchpin of a de facto alliance between Macronism and the far right.

linky

According to the latest optimistic estimates of UK economic growth, that means Reeves has just about £10bn to spare on improving public services, unless Labour breaks its promise not to raise taxes or to borrow more. That means the vicious austerity that the NHS, local governments and schools and universities have experienced over the last decade or more will continue – at least until the miracle of faster growth appears. Total health spending annual growth of 0.8% would result in the next four years being the tightest in NHS history under the Labour pledges – tighter even than the former Tory coalition government’s “austerity” period, which saw funding grow by just 1.4% real terms a year between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

What about housing? The new Labour government says it will aim to build 300,000 new homes a year through the next five years.

No, the whole housing plan will depend on private developers building homes for sale with minimal monitoring for ‘affordable homes’. The Labour leaders are more concerned with removing planning regulations in local areas so that private developers can build where and how they want. And who are these developers? As has been pointed out, they are likes of BlackRock, the American investment company, which already owns 260,000 British homes on which it is making some eyewatering fees, around £1.4bn last year.

Then there are the energy and water utilities. The scandal of these privatized utilities is is for all to see, where shareholders have got billions in dividends, while debt and prices rise, The total collapse in the water infrastructure has reached the point where the UK’s water supply, rivers and beaches are no longer safe to drink or touch. And yet, Labour has no plan to bring these utilities back into public ownership. Instead, it wants ‘better regulation’. Apparently, it wants less regulation in housing and more regulation in utilities and the postal service.

Securonomics however, does mean more investment in one key sector: defence. The new Labour government has pledged to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in this parliament in order to ‘secure’ the country, supposedly from the threat of invasion by Russia or China – but in reality to meet the demands of the US and NATO. UK defence spending is already 2.3% of GDP, but more is to be spent while the NHS remains in austerity mode.

Securonomics is really a return yet again to the idea of ‘public-private partnership’. What that means is that the government will borrow or tax a bit more to invest a bit more, mainly to encourage and subsidise the capitalist sector to invest more and let them take the lion’s share of any extra revenues produced. Public sector investment will mainly be used to help the capitalist sector invest, not to replace it.

linky to tweet

Being duped into hating your fellow in the proletariat and seeing killing them to "protect your nation" is very easy to do in times of war, and people there, from the communists-in-hiding to the Nazi bozos Sieg-heiling on the frontlines get to experience the horrors of war.

Many can't deal with it and go abroad to a safer haven.

Here, you have not just thousands - millions of Bozos for whom you are also merely an instrument for advancing that state's interests. Be it working at shit jobs for shit-euro-pay or getting sent back to die in a WW1-Style-trench. Who hate you if you are too much of a loser to fulfill their ever rising demands, who hate you if you dare existing too obviously.

The Europeans eagerly march into the same hatred as above, millions supporting the military, Sabre-rattling, even open warfare! All to show strength, even if it causes WW3!

Willing to FUCKING DIE for the nation, for its interests, economic and/or political, to own the evil barbarians (the same is highly likely to be said in Russia)

Proletarian Internationalism? But have you considered everyone but ~~me~~ us (and they say humans are selfish by nature) is morally evil!

And anger against all this doesn't seem to be going anywhere, just into people who are considered better managers of nationalism - the fash.

ogey

how could you possibly think thats what i meant

Chris Bee, another member of the local party, said: “Our candidate gets some real traction and with a week-and-a-bit to go they pull him out and will not allow him back into the constituency to fight for a place in this area’s most important election in a generation. This is absolutely disgusting on every level.”

In a letter to Labour’s general secretary, David Evans, seen by the Guardian, Martin Suker, Owusu-Nepaul’s election agent said: “Reform UK stands for everything we the Labour party stand against … and I’m struggling to come to terms that it appears the party doesn’t even want to be seen to be putting up a fight.

“Jovan was told [by an official] to never come back to Clacton, and yesterday, was instructed to move to the West Midlands region.

linky

real spd hours @1928

Little bit less shit interview of nfp at fedcobin, dunno if they honestly think ps wont stab them in the back though

(this is in relation to recent rocket strike which injured 100 people on the beach)

completely lib framing, but may interesting for political nerds

Far left parties are now run of the mill socdems