Tyrone O’Sullivan: the gentle giant of the last deep coal mine in South Wales
On the afternoon of 27 May Tyrone O’Sullivan of Tower Colliery died peacefully at home, in his garden, aged 77. Here Brian Parkin pays tribute to a friend and comrade, who through a combination of fire and gentle persuasion, led a community of mining families into a fight to save the last deep coal mine in South Wales.
Behind the Cardiff riot: a community failed by police and politicians
Following the tragic death of two young people in Ely on Monday and the riot that followed, the police’s version of events has unravelled. But, as Ann Marie Zogina reports, the area in west Cardiff has not only been failed by the police, but the politicians who claim to represent it as well. Tragedy has […]
Fighting for the NHS: victory in Wales
The Tories may clap, but they had brought the NHS to its knees before Covid-19. The campaign to save an A&E in South Wales shows how communities can defeat cuts and role back austerity.
“Buried alive by the National Coal Board”: the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster Tribunal
At 9:15am on Friday 21 October 1966, a colliery spoil tip collapsed, and slid down the mountainside onto the mining village of Aberfan in South Wales.
Cardiff Corbyn rally shows how to develop confidence during the election campaign
Seb Cooke reports from Corbyn’s rally in Cardiff yesterday.
Post #Brexit vote: taking on the challenge of ‘acceptable racism’
Kat Burdon-Manley analyses reasons behind the vote in last week’s EU referendum and discusses where now Racism in Britain has been on the rise since the start of the recession. We have witnessed the increasing popularity of UKIP, the shift to the right and acceptance of racism by the Labour Party and the structural racism […]
Welsh Labour keep going, UKIP breakthrough
Seb Cooke reports on the results of the Welsh Assembly elections, which saw UKIP gain seven seats. He argues that the task for socialists has to be to build a stronger radical left that can relate effectively to issues such as steel, fight racism and utilise Corbyn over anti-austerity The Welsh Assembly is made up of […]
Steel: bidders and alternatives
In part three of an analysis of the current UK steel crisis, Brian Parkin looks at the latest options touted by the Tories and, regrettably, seriously considered by the steel unions. Whilst conceding that much momentum for resistance has been lost, he argues that the transparently dubious intentions of the private bidders and the incompetence […]
Steel: round one to vulture capital?
Brian Parkin of Leeds rs21 provides an update on the crisis in the UK steel industry. The announced closure by Tata of over 80% of the UK steel industry at the end of March threw the Tory government into deep crisis. As news of the steel melt-down broke the Tory Business Secretary Sajid Javid was […]
Steel: from resignation to resistance
Brian Parkin of Leeds rs21 offers a detailed briefing paper on the state of the UK steel industry and a alternative strategy for preserving jobs and production. Seize the time In an illusory globalised economy of post-industrial neoliberal financialisation the Tories never expected to have to face an industrial crisis. Industrial crises were surely the […]