The Trickle-Down Lie
Liz Truss’s government is rehashing the idea that funnelling money to the rich produces more wealth for everyone else. There’s just one problem: it doesn’t work.
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Ko Leik Pya works as a teacher and writer in the UK and Myanmar. He writes here under a pseudonym.
Liz Truss’s government is rehashing the idea that funnelling money to the rich produces more wealth for everyone else. There’s just one problem: it doesn’t work.
A new spin on the classic ‘murder mystery in a big house’ genre takes aim at the class fractures in an allegedly politically progressive generation.
Unless the government acts now to ban evictions and freeze or cap rents, we’re facing a catastrophic wave of homelessness this winter.
This week Grace speaks to historian David Broder about Italian fascism in the wake of recent elections in which the far-right party led by Giorgia Meloni, the Brothers of Italy, came to power. They discuss the longer-term background of the rise of fascism, which David will be covering in his forthcoming book, Mussolini’s Grandchildren.
Since 2009, pay in further education has fallen in real terms by a shocking 35%. Now college staff have joined the strike wave – for decent pay, and for a system that values workers and the communities they serve.
Mike Gold was once one of America’s best-known writers, but his refusal to knuckle down in the McCarthy era saw him written out of history.
Research shows that only a drastic reduction in inequality can guarantee both a decent life for all and the future of the planet. In other words, to save the world, we have to tax the rich.
By threatening the biggest real-terms cut to benefits ever made in a single year, the Tories are making it clear they don’t care about ‘making work pay’ – they care about punishing the poor.
The NHS is already on its knees, and the government want another round of public spending cuts, just as the cost of living crisis causes a fresh wave of health disasters. Let’s call that what it is: social murder.
Today, hundreds of 999 call handlers are on strike against poverty pay. Their dispute sums up modern Britain: lives are being risked because bosses won’t even discuss pay rises for key workers.
The Grenfell Tower tragedy had many causes – but at its heart was the contractually-enforced neglect in the British construction industry.
Conservative Conference 2022 has been a heady mix of blue-on-blue attacks, naff merch and sadness. But it’s made one thing clear: when it comes to successfully functioning as the party of the ruling elite, they’re having serious trouble.
Stacey Clare’s ‘The Ethical Stripper’ is a flawed but valuable account of work in ‘sexual entertainment venues’.
Truss and Kwarteng have rowed back on the top tax rate, but they’re still lifting the bankers’ bonus cap and threatening cuts to public services and benefits. We need to push for a much bigger change in direction.
Truss has been prime minister for just four short weeks, and she’s already got the Tory Party tearing new chunks out of itself – which might be great, if they weren’t dragging the rest of us down with them.
In the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections, Lula triumphed. But the threat of a Bolsonaro victory to the world is clear – and must be passionately fought in the upcoming run-off.
The NHS is the pride of Britain, but the last decade has seen pay for nurses fall dramatically and food banks set up in hospitals. It’s a disgraceful situation that can’t be tolerated any longer.
The Tories are reportedly considering slashing benefits to fund their bankers’ budget. It’s sickening proof of just how deep their cruelty runs.
Friday’s budget might have caused more chaos than Truss and Kwarteng foresaw, but they always hoped to open the door to more spending cuts and sell-offs – and in that respect, things are right on course.
More than 500 dock workers in Liverpool are out on strike against a real-terms pay cut from a company turning over millions – and proving the power of industrial action and solidarity to build a better world.