DIANE ABBOTT: The priority should be a plan for growthTHERE are widespread reports that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not introduce any tax or spend measures in the Spring Statement on March 3. This would be a mistake. The G7 economies are struggling and the British economy is among the worst. We are effectively stagnating, and unemployment is rising. This is no time for passivity. The economy is failing to deliver for the population, while the turmoil in British politics reflects that. Of course, any commitment not to make things worse for workers and the poor would be welcome. Doing nothing would be an improvement on the last two Reeves’s Budgets, which deepened the austerity that the Tories had bequeathed. It is amazing to me that it is ever disputed that this government has implemented austerity. This was the government that carried out the stealth tax of freezing income tax thresholds, raised energy prices and fares, pushed council tax higher and imposed sub-inflation pay rises in the public sector.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/priority-should-be-plan-growthIsrael’s Economy Has Problems, but It’s Not Collapsing YetIn the last quarter of 2023, Israel was simultaneously reeling from the shock and trauma of the October 7 Hamas attack on the cities and kibbutzim of the Gaza Envelope and mobilizing for a campaign of revenge and retaliation. Over 200,000 Israelis were evacuated from communities bordering the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and some 300,000 reservists were mobilized. In the following months, the Israeli economy was dislocated. Consumer spending, imports, and exports declined dramatically. Ultimately, nearly 50,000 businesses went bankrupt. Meanwhile, Israel’s global brand is in the trash can. Its genocidal campaign in Gaza put it in bad odor among progressive circles worldwide and across much of the Global South. But the economic disruption that Israel has experienced to date has been manageable for its leaders.
https://jacobin.com/2026/02/israel-economy-tech-weapons-tradeTen Days that Shook the World by John Reed Chapter VI The Committee for Salvation Beside my door when I came down in
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