Public sector cuts

The stench coming from this government? It’s the corrupt mixture of private wealth and public squalor | Jonathan Freedland

Johnson, Sunak, Sharp and Zahawi operate in a gilded realm, while the services that keep Britain running are hobbled and broken, says the Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

Jonathan Freedland

27, Jan, 2023 @5:29 PM

Thames Water’s real-time map confirms raw sewage discharges

Effluent in Gloucestershire river pinpointed by digital map as water companies accused of routinely pumping out waste to rivers

Sandra Laville

23, Jan, 2023 @7:00 AM

Stress, poor pay, no trust. Who’d be a teacher now? | Letters

Letters: Readers respond to analysis that showed a third of teachers who qualified in the last decade have left the profession

11, Jan, 2023 @6:02 PM

When state services fail, citizens pay extra or sink. This is Sunak’s Britain now | Nesrine Malik

I’ve seen what happens in countries when wealthy people go private and the rest suffer. Now that’s life here too, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

Nesrine Malik

09, Jan, 2023 @6:00 AM

Labour will not open ‘big government chequebook’, Starmer to say

Party leader’s new year speech to promise ‘national renewal’ if elected but stress role of private sector too

Kiran Stacey

04, Jan, 2023 @10:30 PM

An alternative to government borrowing? Just print more money | Letter

Letter: Fawzi Ibrahim on why printing money doesn’t have to cause a rise in inflation

03, Jan, 2023 @6:28 PM

Rishi Sunak refuses to budge on NHS pay as strikes continue

PM says rises could make inflation worse and states politicians should not ‘cut across’ independent pay review process

Pippa Crerar and Peter Walker

20, Dec, 2022 @6:10 PM

Nurses’ strike is ‘badge of shame’ for ministers, Starmer tells Sunak

Labour leader accuses PM of putting political considerations above patient safety by refusing to discuss pay rises

Peter Walker Political correspondent

14, Dec, 2022 @1:04 PM

The Guardian view on Sunak’s strikes: to be more inflexible than Thatcher is a flaw | Editorial

Editorial: The prime minister should be like his political idol and award inflation-proof pay rises to end industrial strife by key workers

Editorial

12, Dec, 2022 @7:02 PM

Is the UK really facing a second winter of discontent?

Comparisons with 1979 are misleading – strikes over pay now are smaller in scale and focus, and stoked by inflation

Richard Partington

08, Dec, 2022 @6:00 AM

The Guardian view on Sunak and the strikes: misreading the mood of the nation | Editorial

Editorial: The prime minister is seeking confrontation with the unions in the belief he will reap a political reward