Who owes the IMF money?
1 December 2025
The IMF is central to the way finance capital runs. It’s instructive to see how it controls the international economy through debt.
Debt
Debt
Tax and war: workers have a choice
Taxes will rise in the Budget on 26 November – what’s the excuse? Tories, Reform, Brexit, lazy workers, low productivity. Never the EU, never devolution, never net zero policy, never lack of investment, never the debt to financial markets and interest paid. Never capitalism.
The real university challenge: debt
Many of Britain’s universities are sliding deeper and deeper into debt. Yet, instead of looking for solid foundations, they are calling for yet more dependence on the volatile global market for international students…
‘Super university’ – or not?
In September, the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent announced a plan to create a new “trailblazing” multi-university.
Airport sale – bad news
31 October 2025
London City Airport is now effectively under the control of investment giant Macquarie. In October the Australian-based multinational group moved to acquire 50 per cent of the business just four months after an initial 25 per cent stake.
Britain in the red
Borrowing is on the rise, and debt interest is a big part of government expenditure…
1945: More than a loan
Our ruling class has a track record of not protecting Britain’s national interest. One typical episode occurred at the end of the Second World War…
The burden of Thames Water
25 February 2025
Thames Water continues to be a burden on its customers and the public purse. Its latest financial plan agreed in the High Court drew criticism from water campaigners and trade unions.
Water companies pump even more sewage
23 February 2024
Privatised water companies continue to pollute. Regulation of the heavily indebted industry is failing to change this.
Borrowing: Britain's ballooning debt
The government has been borrowing at a huge rate – something that tends not to be reported in general news, appearing rather in the relative backwaters of newspaper business sections.
Birmingham – political bankruptcy in council provision
20 September 2023
Birmingham City Council announced that it could not meet its financial liabilities. Essentially it is bankrupt, threatening both jobs and services. These are structural problems, shared by other councils.
Britain’s crippling debt
21 August 2023
Government debt headlines when it goes up or when the government says it wants to reduce it. The level of debt has spiralled out of control, and capitalism has no answer.
Student loan burden grows
17 July 2022
British students pay heavily for their loans because of high interest rates and flat wages meaning graduates don't make substantial repayments.
Budget 2021: what it means for workers
1 November 2021
The government’s economic statement isn’t the final word on our economic future. Workers must take this on – in fighting for pay and more.
Time for new rules
Two closely related financial opportunities present themselves next year when Britain leaves the EU…
Debt at record high
Global debts have risen to a new record high of £167 trillion, a rise of £21 trillion compared with 2016, according to the Institute of International Finance.
The less you earn, the higher the interest
Many graduates will spend their 30s and 40s dealing with effective tax rates of above 50 per cent.
The road to £9,250 fees
Looking back over the past two decades, the history of student fees is starting to look like a relay race.
Fight the fees? There’s no time like the present
Students facing a working lifetime of debt are up against the clock. They must use their time at university to demand the abolition of tuition fees – and force their vice-chancellors to join them in the fight…
Downward spiral
With 20:20 hindsight, a former chairman of the Financial Services Authority looks at debt…and the EU
Students fight against fees and debt
5 November 2015
Students from 60 university campuses across Britain converged on the Department of Business Innovation and Skills on Wednesday 4 November to call for an end to tuition fees and debt.
Economical with the truth on debt and deficits
15 July 2015
The recent Budget cynically repeated well rehearsed lies masquerading as truths. Fundamentally, there is no financial soundness in the “austerity” regimes.
Paying the cost of university
A report at the end of March showed that almost half of the 9 per cent increase in household debt in 2014 in Britain was accounted for by young people trying to fund their way through university.
Deficit and debt
Inextricably linked, though quite different, the terms deficit and debt are often used interchangeably by politicians.