Articles by Michael Jacobs

Inner Cities Michael Jacobs THE Inner City is all the rage. Everyone- thinks something should be done about it. The decaying urban centres of Britain's industrial past are the subject of regular newspaper articles and television programmes. To great media fanfare, Prince Charles frequently visits poor communities in London and elsewhere, urging businessmen to create jobs and training opportunities for the young, and particularly Black, unemployed. Even Margaret Thatcher's government regards the inner cities as a top priority.


UNITED KINGDOM Where Now for Labour?
Michael Jacobs MARGARET THATCHER'S crushing victory in the general election secures her place in history as the first prime minister this century to win three consecutive terms of office. With an overall majority in the new parliament of 101 seats, the Tories will continue with the radical policies of their first eight years. The next stages promised in the Thatcher Revolution' include the wholesale selling-off of council houses to private property companies, the privatisation of the last remaining public utilities, including the water authorities and the electricity board, further reductions in direct taxation, and the gradual dismantling of the-comprehensive state education system in favour of grant- aided, fee-paying and selective schools. Margaret Thatcher announced no measures to reduce unemployment from its current 3.2m (14 per cent).

Privatisation and the Tories Michael Jacobs WHAT do telecommunications, aerospace, defence equipment and weapons, nuclear submarines, shipbuilding, motor vehicles, oil, gas, water, electricity and forests have in common? All strategic industrial sectors or key utilities? Yes

Left Realignment within Labour Michael Jacobs THE annual conference of the British labour Party, held earlier this month in the south-coast resort of Bournemouth, turned into a triumph for Neil Kinnock, the party leader. In two speeches which stunned delegates with their power and directness, he turned Labour firmly against the Trotskyist Militant faction and the 'hard' Left associated with the Miners' president Arthur Scargill, and set the Party's sights clearly on victory at the next general election. Labour's right wing, and a grateful Press, hailed Kinnock's performance as a 'historic' turning point in Labour's fortunes, welcoming his apparent shift to the right. But the leader's personal success may in fact disguise the beginnings of a move in the opposite direction, with the influence of the Party's "soft" Lett strengthened.

UNITED KINGDOM BBC, Censorship and Northern Ireland Michael Jacobs THE furore over the banning of a BBC television programme about Northern Ireland at the 'request' of the British government has reverberated around the world. The government has been accused of censorship; the BBC's reputation for 'independence' has been badly damaged. But the row has mostly obscured the fact that that reputation is founded on an illusion. This was by no means the first time that such Censorship' had occurred. Perhaps more crucially, what that censorship reveals of the government's policies towards Northern Ireland has largely been ignored.