Michael Meacher recently wrote an interesting article contrasting the UK/US model of capitalism, with the prevailing model in Germany. As Michael says
Under the market fundamentalism of the last 3 decades economic growth in the US-UK has been half of what it was in the previous 3 decades. Most in the Eurozone have done better, and Germany in particular had had consistently higher growth. In manufacturing, which should be the lifeblood of any advanced economy, the US-UK have scored badly with their industries hollowed out both by international competition and political neglect, while Germany has established a world-class reputation for quality engineering and has an exports record second only to China.
How have they done it? They have consistently worked at producing a strong manufacturing base – our is now only half the size of theirs – and have developed a strong and sound relationship between middle-sized banks and production companies where both partners are committed to the longer term.
By contrast, US-UK have indulged in excessive size particularly in finance, have been far more concerned with mergers and takeovers which has inhibited competition, and have put our industrial companies under unrelenting pressure by the short-term churning of shares in the City of London. As a result Britain now has a deficit in traded goods of £106bn last year, 7% of our entire GDP, while Germany for many years has had a robust surplus.
This is an important context for understanding the current debates about EU membership, in two senses.
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Can you describe the position of the Syrian Communist Party toward the imperialist aggression against Syria?
A report from Carole Vallelly, organiser of the 
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May 25 2013 will go down in history as the night when two of the most courageous men to ever grace a boxing ring served up a classic at the O2 Arena in front of 18,000 fans and millions watching around the world via pay-per-view.
Three days ago, more than 