Young nature writers appeal to all ages
In Dining across the divide (22 June), Julian, 57, finds himself moving 'right' as he gets older and pays more taxes. There is no inevitability about this: I am 64 and the more taxes I pay, the more I'm aware of inequality, and move left.Rupert TaylorYork
'The 50 hottest books to read now', ran the web headline on your summer reading roundup (21 June). Wouldn't the 50 coolest books be more appropriate?James NyeEast Cowes, Isle of Wight
Having your nose in a book is not always a good idea, Adrian Chiles (25 June). In 2002 in a Barcelona station, my husband left me to look for the left-luggage. When he came back, he asked where his rucksack was. It was a very good book.Helen EvansRuthin, Denbighshire
The welfare bill was opposed by many voters: listening to MPs and making changes isn't a major 'U-turn' (Report, 26 June), it is democracy at work.Linda KarlsenWhitstable, Kent
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Democratic socialists think they're on a winning streak – can they build on Zohran Mamdani's victory?
It's an energizing time for democratic socialists across the country, and not only because New York state assembly member Zohran Mamdani's recent win in the New York City mayoral primary moves the United States' most populous city closer than it ever has been to having a member as mayor. For supporters of the leftwing, worker-led political ideology, last weekend's annual democratic socialists of America national convention in Chicago, which welcomed tens of thousands of politically minded individuals from across the country to the unionized McCormick Place convention center, was further recognition of the growing influence of the DSA, the country's largest socialist organization, founded in 1982. Amid the backdrop of a fraught national political stage, one in which traditional Democrats are struggling to connect with voters and a Donald Trump-led GOP continues to push a far-right agenda, a growing cadre of democratic socialist politicians are finding increasing success in local elections by touting platforms of progressive policies, tapping into social media with snappy, engaging content, and connecting face to face with typically forgotten voter blocs. The continued presence of democratic socialists Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative; and Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan representative, in Congress has been an inspiration to many of these similarly minded political hopefuls. However, it's Mamdani's recent success that many DSA-endorsed candidates like Jake Ephros, running for Jersey City council; Kelsea Bond, running for Atlanta city council; Jorge Defendini, running for Ithaca common council; and others who attended this convention are hoping to replicate. The goal is to show that the campaign isn't a flash-in-the-pan win, but instead a burgeoning tide shift toward a leftwing political future divorced from capitalism, despite criticism from traditionalist Democrats and Republicans alike. 'Zohran Mamdani's win in New York or Omar Fateh in Minneapolis, also poised to become a socialist mayor of a major city – these are things that come after years of structure that DSA helped build up in a bunch of chapters … This is also why DSA is growing so much and having all this new energy, because we're just really demonstrating what the alternative is,' said Ashik Siddique, the national co-chair of the DSA. 'The Democratic party has not really presented a meaningful alternative.' With the DSA's membership having surged in recent months, and both the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential elections on the horizon, this weekend's convention was a key opportunity for many to strategize on how to capitalize on expanding influence and recent wins. 'There's so much excitement around our huge victory, Zohran Mamdani winning the primary,' said Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair for the New York City chapter of the DSA. 'People are coming up to us and asking us about the campaign, wanting to learn from our experience as well, and I'll say that the big change that I've seen over the years is that DSA as an organization has matured politically.' While the NYC-DSA continues its work, other chapters will attempt to follow its lead, organizing around their own socialist candidates while the national DSA organization reaffirms its position on Palestine, organizes to end US aid to Israel, supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement – which calls on consumers to stop supporting both Israeli companies and companies that have supported Israel – and stands against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in solidarity with immigrants. That and a clear economic agenda that supports the working class 'over billionaires, the bosses, the corporations that are raising prices, that are keeping our wages low' are what will lead to further success for democratic socialist candidates, in Gordillo's eyes. Persistence can also be helpful. It helped Alex Brower, who won his election for Milwaukee common council district three alderman in an April special election after the death of his predecessor, in his third bid for office as a democratic socialist. 'That happens to a lot of socialists because … if socialists were 100% successful, we'd have a socialist America right now. So there's a lot of losing, but I think, honestly, I think we learn more by losing than winning,' Brower said. Many DSA-endorsed candidates will also be deep in the throes of fieldwork in the coming months: knocking on doors, attending events, meeting with neighbors and being visible in communities, all key to keeping the DSA's recent momentum going, according to Ephros, who is currently running for the Jersey City council on a platform of affordable social housing, universal rent control, universal childcare, public healthcare and the Green New Deal, among other issues. 'It goes a long way to just demonstrate: 'Oh, this isn't some shadowy, weird, fringe guy who calls himself a socialist and that means scary things to me; it's my neighbor and he's active in the community and he's showing up,'' he said. Over the three days of the convention, the conference's largest in its history, DSA members gathered to deliberate resolutions that will guide chapter actions and concerns over the next two years. Members voted to approve a measure for 'a fighting anti-Zionist DSA', a resolution that prompted much debate and some resistance due to a clause that would expel members for supporting Israel. Arguments both for and against the measure were raised to the crowd of voting members on Sunday afternoon, delayed by calls from DSA leadership to hold applause in favor of the silent American Sign Language motion for clapping, consisting of the waving of both hands. The request was only mildly successful. Members also voted to prioritize efforts to put up a DSA-endorsed socialist candidate for the 2028 presidential election, and elected both new and returning delegates to the DSA's national political committee, the 16-person body that serves as the organization's board of directors. On Friday, members heard from Rashida Tlaib, the keynote speaker for this year's convention. As one of Congress's most outspoken supporters of Palestine, Tlaib largely spoke about the responsibility Congress has to condemn Israel's bombing and starvation of the people in Palestine. She also emphasized the work she believes the DSA still has to do. 'For DSA to live up to our potential, we have to be willing to grow ourselves. We need more members for more diverse communities and leadership roles, y'all. We are failing, and again, I'm telling you as a big sis, we are failing when a room like this only has a handful of our Black neighbors. You need to be intentional,' Tlaib said to Friday's intently listening crowd. 'A lot of working-class folks have strong historical ties to the Democratic party. They know they have been let down, and they're looking for a new home. They want to envision the alternatives, and we have it.' Álvaro López, an electoral coordinator for NYC-DSA who assisted Mamdani's campaign, attended the DSA convention for the first time after being a member since 2017. He's grappling with what to take from the convention's more introspective measures. 'In this convention, unfortunately, Donald Trump was not raised. Zohran's victory was not strategically discussed, and I think that's a product of our larger, big-tent organization that we have. I think there is a lot of work for the left and the DSA to still get to a point where we are really thinking about how do we build power, and how we are not so inward looking and think of ourselves as the protagonist of everything around us,' López said. The NYC-DSA's strategy for creating successful campaigns has previously involved contesting local and state-level positions, before shifting to one that seeks to place democratic socialists in the highest levels of local politics. With many DSA chapters strategizing what that looks like for them back home, taking similar steps may help, Gordillo believes. 'Many working-class people, for example, don't really know what the state assembly is,' he said. 'It's harder to get traction or to do mass communications that way, so we decided to run a socialist for mayor,' he said of reaching voters in local elections. 'We need to do that, not just in New York City. We need to do it in Minneapolis. We need to do it in Los Angeles and in Detroit and Michigan, eventually in 2028. I hope that we take that to the federal stage in the presidential run.' A resolution brought up at this year's DSA convention would create a strategy to build socialism in each of the 50 states and help the DSA build more statewide organizations. The DSA has also previously expanded an electoral program to provide more support to chapters that want to learn how they can run their own candidates and develop class-struggle elections. It's political actions like these that can be the key to winning races, even by the smallest of margins, Tlaib said on Friday, reminding DSA members of her win in 2018 by only 900 votes. 'We are standing at a crossroads in American history,' Tlaib said. 'We are going to take this country back for our working families and defeat these pathetic, cowardly, hateful fascists. We're going to win because we don't have any other options, and yes, we are going to free Palestine. They don't have any other choice. Our movement isn't going anywhere, and we're just getting started.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
The ultra-wealthy have exploited Australia's tax system for too long. It's time to ensure everyone pays their fair share
Unions want to tackle intergenerational inequality by reforming Australia's tax system. For the first time in living memory, younger Australians risk facing lower living standards than those before them. This is not acceptable to the union movement, so our one big idea is to rebalance the tax system so that productivity gains are fairly shared, housing becomes more affordable, and essential services are properly funded. Australia's current tax system is exploited by big business and the ultra-wealthy, entrenching intergenerational inequality and placing affordable housing out of young workers' reach, which threatens the services and infrastructure we all rely on. We need a minimum 25% tax on gas export revenues, a minimum 25% tax for trust funds and individuals earning more than $1m, and a one investment property limit for negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount benefits, with the grandfathering of current arrangements for five years. These changes have a simple intention: to make sure everyone pays their fair share, so productivity gains flow across society fairly. These proposed reforms would help restore fairness and opportunity for young Australians to get ahead in their lives. For the past 25 years, productivity increases have gone back into company profits, shareholder dividends, share buybacks and executive bonuses. Working people know that every time they check their bank accounts, there is no 'direct debit system' where the extra profits generated by increased productivity are automatically shared with them. Australia is a rich country but, for decades, as the 'economic pie' has got bigger, corporations have not just taken their own bigger slice, they have been eating into ours. The way to stop this is to make sure workers have strong rights at work to get the pay rises they deserve and to make sure our tax system ensures everyone – not just the ordinary worker – pays their fair share of taxes. There are flaws in our tax system that disadvantage younger Australians and reinforce inter-generational inequity. Just 1% of taxpayers own 25% of investment properties, fuelling house prices, skyrocketing rents and putting home ownership out of reach. House prices have gone up at twice the rate of wages in the last 25 years. The result? Workers can no longer afford to live near their jobs, while young people face high rents and are priced out of buying homes. It is true that housing supply needs to increase, but the tax system is adding to the affordability problem and that needs to change. The loudest complaints will come from those who have gamed the system to accumulate enormous economic and political power. Australia's economy is dominated by an artificially inflated property market, in addition a small number of large companies in a small number of industries. Claims that working people will automatically be better off if productivity increases are wrong. Dr Jim Stanford's recent paper on productivity shows that if real wages had grown at the same rate of productivity since 2000, average wages would be 18% – or $350 per week – higher than they are now. What you won't hear from big business is the real reason productivity growth in Australia has been slow: they have prioritised distributing profits rather than investing in capital, research and people. Workers' rights are not 'red tape', they are the way we get pay rises and limits on working hours. They are essential to workers benefiting from the productivity gains our hard work creates. If we take them away, workers will get even less. Our proposed reforms are targeted and achievable. These are simple changes that close loopholes and restore balance, because we recognise that the problem isn't everyday investors who are looking to build a nest egg with a housing investment, the problem is that the current tax system rewards investing in housing as an asset class so the richest mega-investors are accumulating a large number of properties, tying up capital that could be invested in things that contribute to productivity growth and forcing property prices up beyond what any ordinary working person can afford. Working people pay their fair share of tax, we just want everyone else to as well. Ninety-one people with an income over $1m paid no income tax in 2022-23. Not one cent! When the very wealthy pay less tax than a bus driver or an aged care worker, something is very wrong. Trust funds have also become tax minimisation schemes for rich people, and mega-profitable resource companies are also getting away with paying little or no corporate tax. Our proposals are about ensuring the economy works for those who actually keep it running: working people. Sally McManus is a trade unionist and political activist who has served as the secretary of the Australia Council of Trade Unions since 2017
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
West Mercia Police to cut staff jobs as it tackles £8m shortfall
Staff posts are to be cut at West Mercia Police as the force tackles an £8m budget gap, even though redundancies have already been police force for Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire has not confirmed to the BBC how many posts will go but has said the shortfall must be and crime commissioner (PCC) John Campion said there were issues about the distribution of police funds that had not been fixed by current or previous governments, an "unfairness" he had raised on several BBC has approached the Home Office for a response. Chief constable Richard Cooper said: "The difficult decision we have made, to make further police staff redundancies, is certainly not something we would choose to be doing."He said protecting people from harm remained the force's priority and it stood by its neighbourhood policing commitment. 'Action is being taken' The force had already made "significant savings" by cutting police staff, which are non-officer posts, but additional savings needed to be found, which included a further reduction in police staff roles, he force said it had continued to face challenges because of government funding not keeping pace with inflation and a growing demand on also revealed the cost of the workforce this year had been underestimated, because of the number of officers reaching higher pay points, and its officer cost was "higher than was budgeted for".The PCC said: "I want to reassure our communities that action is being taken to address these issues and ensure that the force is able to continue delivering an efficient and effective service and keep communities safe."Criticising how the government distributed funds to police, he said the force also faced growing mandates from government dictating how money should be and the chief constable were making best use of all resources, but it was "not enough", he said. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
