On the eve of the local elections, all the so-called electoral "experts" are explaining to the rest of us how there's a huge and historic "sea-change" in voting behaviour. All because the single-issue-anti-immigrant Reform leads the opinion polls, supposedly "breaking" the "100-year-old two-party system". A sea-change indeed - in the tiny teacup of local elections!

    And why should anyone feel interested in these elections, anyway? Particularly when council budgets are set (and cut!) by central government. In fact, the turnout rarely makes it above one third, and when it does, it's usually an expression of anger at the government in power, rather than support for a particular party's policies.

    In fact even the turnout at the last general election on 4 July last year was just 59.7%. The skewed British voting system, meant the Labour Party managed to win two-thirds of the seats with just a third of the vote! Some "democracy", this!

    So, if Reform wins many council seats or mayoralties on Mayday, what will this actually prove? That "securing borders" and "faith, flag and family", or even overt racism against immigrants are vote winners?

    Hardly, given that this vote will only represent a tiny minority of the population anyway. In fact the far-right domination of the airwaves may not drive ordinary punters to vote, but what it has done is to drive all parties, without exception, to talk about "securing borders"... Even the left-leaning Greens say "oh we have to limit immigration" as if it's a cause of problems and not actually an effect of them!

    Yes, the "cause" being the declining capitalist system that can't provide a decent standard of living, even for the middle class, let alone the workers and poor - and even in the "rich" countries.

    It's high time, therefore, that the working class had a real party of its own - not to win votes within the system, but to fight against it, for a new society which bases itself on production for need, not profit, in a world without borders, ensuring that this planet's resources are available for everyone...