{"id":264365,"date":"2026-06-23T16:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/?page_id=264365"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:48:25","slug":"july-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sleeping on the street<\/h3>July 1, 2026<\/small>

The government has just repealed the Vagrancy Act of 1824, which made rough sleeping a crime. There are about a million empty homes in England alone with more than a quarter of them empty for more than six months. So there is absolutely no need for anyone to sleep rough. <\/p>\n

In London, there are over 47.000 homes that have been empty for more than six months, enough to house the estimated 13,000 people sleeping rough there each year, and the 200,000 living in temporary accommodation. <\/p>\n

In this supposedly relatively wealthy country, the possibility of providing decent homes for everyone is perfectly feasible, but capitalism\u2019s profit motive prevents it from happening.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

The merry-go-round<\/h3>June 24, 2026<\/small>

So Keir Starmer has resigned and Andy Burnham is likely to take over. Will it make any difference? It probably will to Labour’s standing with the electorate. For most people, perception of a leader’s personality seems, unfortunately, to be the key element in what passes for political thinking.<\/p>\n

But will a new leader be able to do anything different to resolve the problems of the crisis-ridden system we live under? The answer to this has to be a resounding no. There will only be any difference to speak of when we decide collectively to scrap that system and replace it with an entirely different one that uses the abundant resources that already exist to satisfy all our needs the world over. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

The Chinese Dream<\/h3>June 17, 2026<\/small>

Workers in China are feeling jaded nowadays. After Tiananmen Square, Deng Xiaoping stopped pretending China was ‘communist’ and pulled the capitalist stops out. In 1980 home ownership was 20%. Today it’s 96%. So a success, right? But wait. 10% own over 70% of wealth (Economist<\/a><\/em> – paywall).<\/p>\n

The ‘entrepreneurial’ generation were ‘faced with open roads, you could go far even on a three-wheeled cart’. Now ‘the roads are jammed, and\u2026 the [wealthy heirs] can take helicopters’. Seeing nil prospects for success, today’s young people are ‘lying flat’ instead. ‘They think that effort is no longer rewarded\u2026 and that the keys to success are connections and being born rich.’<\/p>\n

Welcome to our world. Capitalism is pretty dismal for workers, and utopia is only for the rich.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Watch out Makerfield, you\u2019re about to be conned again!<\/h3>June 10, 2026<\/small>

In the coming UK parliamentary by-election in Makerfield, apart from the two confessed jokers, candidates will all be putting out the same message:<\/p>\n

\u2018Trust me, I have a plan that\u2019s guaranteed to make life better for you\u2019<\/p>\n

Some will add a rider that there will be challenges ahead, there\u2019ll be sweat and tears, but in the long run it\u2019ll come right.<\/p>\n

The plans will differ slightly, of course, but they will all have this in common \u2013 they’ll ignore the inescapable reality of the capitalist system, in which the profits of the minority will always take precedence over any other considerations, precedence over any of the needs or desires of working-class voters.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Looking forward to retirement?<\/h3>June 3, 2026<\/small>

Workers toil not just to live, eat and raise a family, but also to prepare for retirement by building a pension pot. However, recent reports from the Pensions Commission have argued<\/a> that fifteen million people in the UK are not saving nearly enough to have a secure retirement, even by the miserly standards of capitalism. <\/p>\n

Nearly half of working-age adults are not saving into a pension at all, with just 4% of \u2018self-employed\u2019 workers doing so. Future retirees may well be worse off than today\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Not only does capitalism dominate people\u2019s working lives, the pressures of daily life also make it much harder to get ready to live comfortably after their days of toil and exploitation are over.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tNext<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"First time? WATCH THIS<\/strong><\/a> or START HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Socialism – it may not be what you think…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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JULY LIVE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Meeting on now? Zoom link here<\/a>
\nLoads of talks, debates, other audio stuff here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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WORLD SOCIALIST RADIO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n