Science and Technology

If workers in the NHS (the area I work in) were able to get more insight into how we all respond to “authority” they would be better able to rely on their own skills and knowledge and be more assertive about resisting the current reforms. My argument (which could be extended to other workers) is that in order to do this it is vital we extend Marx’s micro analysis of the relationship between the worker and the capitalist in the light of advances in psychological theories and therapies. The nature of politics requires developing a forcefulness in response to the power of the capitalist system...

Paul Vallely (Ebola’s victims: “only Africans”?, 8 Oct) runs the risk of weakening a case by overstatement. When Ebola virus broke out this year, no one had any reason to expect it would take such a hold. The average death toll had been 67 a year since its identification in 1976. The current official total of 4,500 is already three times that of all previous recorded deaths in the last 37 years. Who could have predicted that? Who would have been brave enough after the fuss about bird ‘flu where millions of doses of vaccine were stockpiled unnecessarily? Niels Bohr’s quote about prediction is...

From a scary but rare problem, Ebola Virus has exploded into public consciousness as a real disaster in West Africa and a potential threat to anywhere else connected by any means of travel. The problem has been exacerbated by the lack of local health care infrastructure, distrust of aid agencies and lack of help from the richest countries. Where has the virus come from and why is it now such a problem? Back in 1976, a new virus was discovered in a group of villages in the equatorial forests of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Victims suffered fever, pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and...

Few of us can remember a time when people could die from trivial injuries or infections which now respond to antibiotics. The World Health Organisation estimates that drugs like penicillin and streptomycin have added some 20 years to our life expectancy. Yet antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) could end our complacency and make even routine operations hazardous. Already, hospital-acquired infections by MRSA and Clostridium difficile are a major difficulty. In fact, a scarier problem is that of multi-drug-resistant bacteria or “superbugs”...

During the Gulf war it was hard to avoid the impression that Britain was a country in the grip of a mass psychosis. From the grey dull Thatcher-made Prime Minister, with his robotic voice and the grey metallic glint round the eyes, by way of no-guts Neil Kinnock translating John Major's pronouncements into a better class of sub-Churchilian rhetoric, all the way down into the sewers of the tabloid press, official society was caught up in a fierce fantasy about fighting a glorious war for freedom and liberty against great odds. The TV pictures of Iraqi cities being flattened might have been...

During the Gulf war it was hard o avoid the impression that Britain was a country in the grip of a mass psychosis. From the grey dull little Thatcher-made Prime Minister, with his robotic voice and the grey metallic glint round the eyes, by way of no-guts Neil Kinnock translating Major's pronouncements into a better class of sub-Churchilian rhetoric, all the way down into the sewers of the tabloid press, official society was caught up in a fierce fantasy about fighting a glorious war for freedom and liberty against great odds. It was nothing of the sort but not many seemed to notice. The TV...

During the Gulf war it was hard o avoid the impression that Britain was a country in the grip of a mass psychosis. From the grey dull little Thatcher-made Prime Minister, with his robotic voice and the grey metallic glint round the eyes, by way of no-guts Neil Kinnock translating Major's pronouncements into a better class of sub-Churchilian rhetoric, all the way down into the sewers of the tabloid press, official society was caught up in a fierce fantasy about fighting a glorious war for freedom and liberty against great odds. It was nothing of the sort but not many seemed to notice. The TV...

Martin Thomas’ article ‘Socialism, CPA and Facebook’ (SCPAF) in Solidarity 305 outlines some problems that emerge from the integration of social media into everyday life and its interaction with the culture of the left. Constant “noise” and distraction leading to a neglect of serious reading, erosion of the conditions for serious debate given a lack of depth to high speed responses, online abuse and diversion from offline politics are all real. The article relates these factors to more general social effects of the internet such as the decline of print media, an individualised access to...

Alan Sokal, leftwing scientist and author of the famous " Sokal Hoax ", spoke at a meeting of the University College London Left Forum, chaired by the AWL's Omar Raii, on 12 February 2014. Click here for the recording

A development worker in the renewable energy industry spoke to Solidarity about renewable technology and energy policy. Note: this is a longer version of the interview than the one which appeared in the printed paper. The old ways of thinking can’t last forever. Reliance on fossil fuels, particularly imported coal and gas, leave us exposed to the whims of markets. There is a need to arrive at a better way to address our energy needs, both on an environmental level and a societal level in terms of dethroning the “Big Six” energy companies. But there’s also a need to refine, develop, and test...