The Socialist Party of Great Britain

19/08/2026

The Socialist Party’s Summer School weekend of talks and discussion — Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd August 2026 — will explore how the concept of ‘populism’ has developed, why it attracts support and what this tells us about capitalist society. The various talks and discussions will be as follows:

“𝗣𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗔𝘀 𝗔 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱” (Speaker: Bill Martin) 7.15pm—8.45pm, Friday 21 August
“𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁” (Speaker: Brian Gardner) 10:00am—11:30am, Saturday 22 August
“𝗜𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗢𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁-𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺” (Speaker: Paul Bennett) 2.00pm—3.30pm, Saturday 22 August
“𝗥𝗲𝗱-𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗜𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱” (Guest speaker Edmund Griffiths) 7.15pm—8.45pm, Saturday 22 August
“𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 / 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗕𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁?” (Speaker: Paddy Shannon) 10.00am—11.30am, Sunday 23 August

More details about these talks can be found here: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2026/

These talks and discussions will be streamed through the SPGB’s Zoom channel. To connect to a Zoom meeting, click https://zoom.us/j/7421974305

14/08/2026

Imagine a world where venomous snakes are valuable and revered. Practically every adult and teenager handles these dangerous snakes almost every day. The snakes cause all manner of serious problems in society and people are always getting hurt, and many die. Governments insist they need lots of these snakes to repair roads, improve hospitals and health care, build more desperately-needed houses, and so on, but they’re also always telling the public that these things can’t be done because there’s a shortage of snakes, which annoys people, but they just put up with it. A small number of people who own industries, natural resources, land etc, have exploited others, making them work hard, which enabled these asset owners to acquire billions of venomous snakes, when most people only have two or three, if they’re lucky. One political group, the SPGB (Snakeless Party Going Boldly), says having to depend on dangerous snakes, and trying to obtain enough of them to get essential work done and obtain all the things we need, is utter madness, and that — instead — all snakes should be completely removed from society, so in future, we never again have to handle or depend on them. All the other political parties and their supporters laugh, hurl abuse, and say doing that is impossible because people have been handling snakes for centuries, and insist they’re necessary as we couldn’t possibly survive without venomous snakes and the way they help get things done and keep people focused and competitive. Would you like to live in a society without dangerous snakes?

13/08/2026

“Booksellers suspect AI firms are buying and then destroying rare books”. Cutting off spines and then scanning the pages is cheaper and quicker than scanning pages from books that are kept intact.

AI firms quietly bulk buying rare books face resistance from booksellers.

12/08/2026

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧

“Grimly facing drought, hosepipe bans, wildfires and yet another heatwave? You won’t be comforted to know that ‘greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea level and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2025’ (phys.org). European rivers are at record lows. The US has had its hottest July on record, as has the Sahel, Central America, France and Spain. And don’t stock up your freezer with ice cream because you could soon be facing rolling energy blackouts.

“It’s not all bad news though. Water company bosses are still getting bonuses, oil companies are cashing in like never before, and tech stocks are going stratospheric.

“Still think capitalism is humanity’s best hope? We say it’s time to consider the alternative.” https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/snippet/summer-of-discontent/

06/08/2026

‘Infantino’s “shabby, opaque, backroom deal” apparently prepared in secret with private capital is ditched after UEFA and others statement that “demonstrated to FIFA’s President that football is not for sale”.

Hang on!! Football was sold long ago and is increasingly organised to suit pay-to-view media. This explains why fans of EPL and EFL teams now ‘benefit’ from league matches on any day from Friday to Tuesday at kick-off times to suit the TV schedules (and bu**er the away fans!). This is also why the mis-named Champions League has so much group-stage dross (similarly for the Copa Libertadores) to plug so many mid-week gaps.

Sadly, the sport I love is now just an interlude between ads for bookies.’ https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/snippet/not-for-sale/

03/08/2026

More than 40% of 25-year-olds are now living with their parents, their wages have stagnated and employment has fallen. Yet another appalling failure of capitalism.

People in their 20s are facing a tougher start to adulthood than any generation in almost half a century, according to analysis for the BBC.

03/08/2026

“𝑇𝑤𝑜-𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 ‘𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘’.” https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/two-thirds-adults-spend-time-230100880.html

Two-thirds of humankind worrying, getting stressed and suffering for around 22 hours a week because of money when we could easily progress to a new society where money, debts, buying, selling, waged work etc no longer exist. Why are we all putting up with this misery when, as voters, we have the power to end and replace outdated capitalism with a moneyless infinitely better system of working and providing what society needs?

Those affected said their concerns had stopped them from relaxing or prevented them from seeing friends or family as often as they would like.

02/08/2026

Seen this month’s Socialist Standard yet? Read it online for free. https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2026/no-1464-august-2026/

31/07/2026

You might expect that a walking trail called the Severn Way would largely be alongside the river from which it takes its name. But in fact most of the section between Shrewsbury and Telford is not along the river at all.

This is just one illustration of the extent to which there is a lack of public access to river banks in England. In almost three quarters of cases, there is no right of way within a hundred metres of the river, with most reservoirs and lakes also being off-limits.

Private ownership of land drastically restricts people’s ability to enjoy the countryside (not just rivers) and seek some relief from the recent heatwaves. https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/snippet/keep-out-of-the-water/

29/07/2026

If the problem with achieving high quality social care under capitalism is that billions of pounds are required annually to achieve this, and the money cannot be raised without causing difficulties elsewhere (e.g forcing people to sell their homes etc), if at all, then it’s time for decision making to be taken away from politicians because, for them, capitalism is untouchable. They will make headlines about working together to look for an answer but their solution will be unacceptable or a temporary sticking plaster fix. Politicians in power or wanting to govern will never consider that capitalism, and its profit-driven money-obsessed economy is outdated and unnecessary. This makes them part of the problem. This makes it necessary to disempower them. If the electorate continue to legitimise a political elite governing them and deciding what happens, then a majority of the population will continue to suffer unnecessarily. This is not acceptable. Capitalism is no longer needed. It’s role of filling the gap between the past (feudalism) and the future (moneyless class-free socialism) should have ended years ago. For top-quality social care and the solution to all manner of other serious problems, empowered politicians and the out-of-date capitalist system they support must be replaced by people power and a new far better economy.