Born on this day in 1931, the heroic revolutionary faces a dangerous new wave of White House aggression. We must treat his birthday as a rallying cry to resist the illegal siege of Cuba, writes ROGER McKENZIE
Latest editorial
Why ScotRail stops short of public ownership
VINCE MILLS exposes the SNP’s agenda of keeping the train service in private hands to comply with EU directives
RAMZY BAROUD decries the rats of Gaza, the rodent and human type. Both abound as profiteering from tragedy reaches obscene levels
When gas company bosses gorged on assets, the GMB union fought back with the help of a 20-stone saddleback sow. MAT COWARD tells the story
JOHN REES looks at why the June 20 international anti-war conference is such a vital initiative
ROGER McKENZIE highlights how health workers in DRC are struggling to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in a region already suffering conflict, aid cuts and a legacy of imperialist degradation
Associate Professor BUI QUANG TUAN explains how modernisation and growth are helping to unlock new foreign investment in the Vietnamese economy
WHO could blame RMT’s general secretary Mick Cash when he said: “We have long campaigned for the Scottish government to utilise its existing powers and take Scotland’s rail passenger services into public ownership and today’s announcement represents a clear victory for this campaign.”
Except that the Scottish government has not taken ScotRail into public ownership. Instead, a publicly owned “operator of last resort” (OLR) will take over the ScotRail franchise in 12 months’ time when the Abellio franchise ends in March next year.
What’s the difference? The difference is that although the SNP is complaining about the current franchising model, it is committed to competition in rail services because it wants an independent Scotland to join the EU, and in the EU it is obligatory for member countries to allow competition for rail services.
Similar stories
As bus builder Alexander Dennis threatens Falkirk closure and Grangemouth faces ruthless shutdown by tax exile Jim Ratcliffe, RICHARD LEONARD MSP warns that global corporations must be resisted by a bold industrial strategy based on public ownership