2017 in Cartoons: the Best of M Orning Star Satirists
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
£1.20 Weekend edition Saturday/Sunday December 30-31 2017 MorIncorporatingni the Daily Workerng ForS peace andt socialismar CHRIS WILLIAMSON INDIA’S STRUGGLE UKRAINE’S DOCTOR DEATH On cementing your head in a microwave: p13 2017 was unprecedented: p12 President slammed by communists: p6 www.morningstaronline.co.uk MAJOR ASKED P17 SCAB MINERS HOW TO BREAK UP INDUSTRY UDM’s Lynk backed phased closures in secret chat by Conrad Landin tion of the remaining pits. The industry was Industrial Reporter privatised shortly after those closures. EXCLUSIVE The minutes state that Mr Lynk favoured JOHN MAJOR met secretly with the strike- a “phased programme closing down 12 to breaking Union of Democratic Mineworkers 18” pits and argued that the remainder could (UDM) while formulating plans for pit clo- be made profi table. He said he wanted min- sures, the Morning Star can reveal today. ers “to be given 10 per cent of the new indus- Newly declassifi ed government documents try’s shares… with the opportunity to buy show that, in 1992, the then prime minister perhaps 15 per cent more in instalments.” invited UDM leader Roy Lynk to Downing But Mr Lynk’s pet project would require Street. closures, he told Mr Major, because “if you The disclosure follows the Star’s revelation were going to amputate a leg it was better satirists: Star Morning of best The last year that Margaret Thatcher held sev- not to do it toe by toe.” eral secret soirees with Mr Lynk. Mr Major sought the UDM leader’s advice The UDM was formed when the Notting- on the impact of pit closures on small com- hamshire and South Derbyshire divisions of munities dependent on mines. He replied: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) “Horrifi c.” voted to break away after the 1984-85 strike, Mr Lynk recommended that miners’ hard- which was not joined by many workers in won benefi ts, including concessionary coal those areas. and clothing allowances, should be “cut out” In 1988, Ms Thatcher wrote in a memo to as they “drained the industry.” her private secretary: “We have to keep the He also suggested that Nacods, the over- UDM satisfi ed. We (and the country) owe a men, deputies and shot-fi rers’ union, which lot to their members.” LYNK LINKS: Ex-energy minister Tim Eggar did not join the strike, should be “abolished” Now, documents from the administration joined John Major in meeting with the and he appears to have suggested that safety of her successor Mr Major have been released UDM leader shortly before he was ousted costs were too high. to the National Archives. Among the fi les, the The minutes of the meeting show Mr Morning Star has uncovered memos proving “Some people thought the NUM were Eggar suggesting that, “if safety rules were that Mr Major continued to have a close rela- paranoid. We might have been paranoid, but cut, might that not make Mr Lynk’s job and tionship with the scab “union.” that doesn’t mean they weren’t out to get us.” the acceptability of privatisation more prob- Responding to the revelation of the meet- Downing Street minutes detail a meeting lematic?” ing, current NUM leader Chris Kitchen told between Mr Major, energy minister Tim The UDM leader responded by claiming the Star: “This is evidence this close relation- Eggar and Mr Lynk on October 1 1992. This that there were “too many outdated regula- ship between the UDM and the government was just under two weeks before British Coal tions” and that “more fl exibility was needed.” continued to 1992. announced that it would axe a large propor- Turn to page 4 HAPPY NEW YEAR! WE’RE BACK ON JANUARY 2, DON’T MISS OUR BUMPERSIZED START TO 2018! cartoons: in 2017 Morning Star 2 NEWS HOME Saturday/Sunday December 30-31 2017 NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE ENJOYING THE WHITE STUFF: A woman and child speed downhill on a sledge at Mam Tor in the Peak District yesterday after Christmas crisis Britain had one of the coldest nights of the year, with temperatures falling to -12.3°C at in intensive care Loch Glascarnoch in the Scottish Highlands ‘put kids at risk’ by Lamiat Sabin ment must urgently explain … how they will avoid another appalling slump in care.” HALF of children’s intensive Meanwhile, offi cial NHS care units were dangerously England fi gures also show that full in the run-up to Christmas non-emergency calls to the 111 Day, Labour Party analysis of hotline reached this year’s new NHS England data peak in the seven days ending revealed yesterday. on Christmas Eve. The units were running at There were 396,262 calls over 85 per cent capacity made, compared with 325,042 between December 18 and 24. the previous week. More than a third of the 38 Also, bed occupancy rates on units in England had all of Christmas Eve dropped to 84.2 their beds occupied in the per cent, compared with 95.3 same period. per cent the previous week. The worst day of the week The number of hospital was December 19, when 55 per diverts, where patients are cent of children’s intensive care redirected to another hospital, units were running at over 85 fell from 30 to six in the week per cent capacity and 47 per cent ending Christmas Eve. of them were completely full. And there were 812 beds Shadow health secretary closed due to norovirus or Jonathan Ashworth said: “To diarrhoea and vomiting as run a children’s care unit Christmas approached, down above 85 per cent occupancy from 1,071 the previous week. places patient safety at sig- An NHS England spokes- nifi cant risk and is an entirely man said despite the pres- intolerable situation. sures, “occupancy and noro- “With the new year fast virus levels all dropped thanks approaching and demand likely to the hard work of NHS staff.” to further increase, the govern- [email protected] FIFTH COLUMN Compass ‘backing calls for Labour Party breakaway’ “CENTRIST” Labour pres- In the message, the organi- sure group Compass is lining sation also takes credit for halt- up with calls for a new party, ing “the march of a nasty self- YOUNG PEOPLE Labour sources say. serving brand of right-wing In a New Year email to all politics that runs right through members seen by the Star yes- the Tories, Ukip and the DUP.” terday, Compass chair Neal “A straightforward call for Huge ‘inheritance boom’ Lawson implies that the group’s a new party has been argued work in 2018 lies beyond Labour. in the Glasgow-based Herald He writes: “Our journey recently by Chris Deerin, con- started in the Labour Party, tributing editor of the New and that party still matters, Stateman, accompanied by a won’t solve housing crisis but it never sought to end there. vituperative attack on the cur- “One party can’t possibly rent Labour leadership,” a by Lamiat Sabin a property now, renting a meet and overcome all the member of the Campaign for house is also out of reach after multiple challenges we face.” Socialism told the Star. a 3 per cent price increase in YOUNGER people will enjoy the past year, a new study the biggest “inheritance revealed yesterday. boom” of any post-war gen- Research by credit-report eration, but it will be too late provider Noddle found that to solve the housing crisis and average rental deposits across DRESS LIKE wealth inequality, according Britain stand at just under to a new report published £1,000, rising to more than today. £1,800 in London. A STAR The Resolution Foundation One in six people under the said assets and riches accumu- age of 34 is now unable to leave lated by older people would the family home because of the Be the envy of your benefi t younger generations in rising cost of renting a prop- friends and comrades years to come. erty themselves, said the with these mint The think tank said inherit- report. embroidered Morning ances would double over the called millennials, born expectancies, the Foundation Landlords and letting agen- next 20 years as so-called baby between 1981 and 2000, who estimated that the most com- cies are often rejecting pro- Star polo shirts. boomers, born between 1946 are yet to get on the housing mon age at which millennials spective tenants because of These high-quality and 1965, grow older. ladder, are less likely to have inherit would be 61. their credit history, a survey Almost two-thirds of people property passed on to them. Resolution Foundation sen- of 2,000 renters and landlords cotton shirts are aged 20 to 35 have parents who Even for millennials who ior policy analyst Laura Gar- revealed. available for the low, low own property, which they might can expect an inheritance, this diner said that inheritance is An analysis of offi cial data price of £7 – don’t miss out! expect to get a share of in the may happen far too late to help “not the silver bullet” that will and Noddle’s research sug- future, according to the report. them buy their fi rst properties get millennials on the housing gested that hundreds of thou- By contrast, fewer than two and may be more use for ladder or will address the sands of 18 to 34-year-olds Available M, L, XL for just £7+ £3 p&p in fi ve adults born in the 1930s grandchildren’s home owner- inequality gap. believed renting a house is shop.morningstaronline.co.uk received an inheritance.