Britain: the lull before the storm

We publish are extracts from a statement on Britain agreed at the Socialist Party National Committee on 19 January. The full document will be discussed at the party’s national congress in March.

No new start for Obama

President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration (20-21 January) did not inspire the mass enthusiasm aroused by his first in 2009. There is widespread disillusionment with Obama, who helped save big business after the 2007 slump but has failed to deliver improvements for working people. LYNN WALSH reports.

Doha climate talks dead-end

The UN-sponsored climate talks in Doha in December ended in total failure – just as previous summits have. Even the big environmental pressure groups, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - which have, in the past, tried to take as positive a position as possible after such events - are in despair and can see no way forward. PETE DICKENSON writes.