Why Boycott Israeli Universities?
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine 2007
35 pages, £2.50
Visit <http://www.bricup.org.uk>
British Committee for the Universities of Palestine 2007
35 pages, £2.50
Visit <http://www.bricup.org.uk>
Alex Miller
On May 10, British PM Tony Blair finally made his long-awaited resignation statement. Blair will stand down as prime minister with effect from June 27. He will also stand down as leader of the Labour Party, and preparations for the election of the next Labour leader — who will simultaneously become PM — got underway immediately.
In the May 3 elections to the Scottish parliament, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won 47 seats out of a total of 129 — a rise of 20 seats compared to the 2003 election. Labour lost four seats, emerging with a total of 46; the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats lost one seat apiece, winning 17 and 16 seats respectively. The results mean that for the first time in Scottish political history, the SNP won more seats that any other party, although not enough to command a working majority in parliament.
Having recently slated Ian Thatcher's woeful 2003 biography of Trotsky (GLW #696), I approached David Renton's contribution to the Haus Publishing "Life and Times" series with some trepidation: would this be another piece of incompetent anti-Trotsky hackwork?
Dances in Deep Shadows: Britains Clandestine War in Russia 1917-20
By Michael Occleshaw
Constable, 2006
360 pages, US
By Michael Occleshaw
Constable, 2006
360 pages, US
An authoritative opinion poll for the Scotsman newspaper indicates a strong increase in support for the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections on May 3. The April 6 Scottish Socialist Voice reported that “in both the constituency and regional list vote, 5 per cent of Scots voters plan to vote Scottish Socialist”, according to the ICM poll. This represents a 3% rise in the regional vote and a 4% increase in the constituency ballot — the biggest increase in support in the previous month for any political party in Scotland.
Darwins Origin of Species: A Biography
By Janet Browne
Allen & Unwin, 2006
174 pages, $22.95
By Janet Browne
Allen & Unwin, 2006
174 pages, $22.95
Official British government figures released on March 27 revealed that in the past year, the number of children in Britain living in relative poverty increased by 200,000. According to the March 27 BBC News, in 2005-06 the total number of children who satisfied the official definition of relative poverty living in households with incomes equalling less than 60% of the national average when housing costs are included rose from 3.6 million to a staggering 3.8 million.
More than 120 branch delegates and a substantial number of visitors attended a conference in Glasgow on March 3 to finalise the Scottish Socialist Party’s manifesto for May’s Scottish Parliament elections.
On February 24, 60,000 anti-war protesters took to the streets of central London in a demonstration against the US-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and against the threat of military action now hanging over Iran. On the same day, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Glasgow, demonstrating against the Labour Partys plans to upgrade the Trident nuclear weapons facilities based in the Clyde estuary.
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