MANY ACTIVISTS were shocked when the leader of the Fire Brigades Union called off planned strikes last week. Why did Andy Gilchrist retreat? Why did this member of the "awkward squad" suddenly seem so accommodating to a government which was abusing him personally and slandering firefighters?
A BOGUS group posing as an authority on immigration in Britain has become the toast of the right wing press and Tories. Migrationwatch UK is constantly quoted in the Times, Sun and Daily Mail. These are the papers that relish attacking workers on strike as much as they enjoy bashing refugees. The group's name is supposed to make you think it is a respected think-tank, like Human Rights Watch.
SHOCK, bewilderment, anger. Those words sum up the emotions FBU members felt when our executive suspended the strike due to start this week. Calling off the strike for "exploratory talks at ACAS" is a major mistake. There is a serious danger that our pay campaign will not deliver, and could even end in defeat.
"THE ABUSE this Labour government is hurling at us is as bad as the Tories' attacks on the miners." That's what Ian Foulkes from Liverpool says of the bile pouring out of government ministers' mouths.
THE FIREFIGHTERS' strike has lifted the lid on the operations of a tightly knit group of intensely political men. They are the unelected bankers, media barons and industry chiefs who control the crucial levers of power. Without having to formally make an agreement they know that at key moments like this they have to set aside their rivalries and line up against a common enemy - workers in struggle.
IT SEEMS as if we live in a democracy. After all, every five years we elect the government. That's certainly better than not electing it. But then there are some questions. Most people in Britain support the firefighters, are against war on Iraq and oppose student fees. How does New Labour respond? It attacks the firefighters, threatening thousands of jobs as the price of a half-decent pay rise.
THEY TALK of modernisation today. Funnily enough that was the language and the fight we faced back then. The employers and the Tory government wanted to break dockers and our employment "scheme", which gave us real protection of jobs and conditions.
MODERNISATION IS what workers are told to accept. There is nothing "modern" about it at all. It is as old as capitalism. And its real meaning is the same as it always has been: "You have to work harder and longer." It is 70 years since Charlie Chaplin famously attacked "modernisation" in his brilliant film Modern Times.
ONE THING is crystal clear after last week's attack on a hotel and Israeli passenger plane in Kenya - George Bush's "war on terror" has been an utter failure. One year ago in the wake of the 11 September attacks Bush pledged action to stop terrorist attacks.
MISS WORLD has come to Britain, bringing with it a torrent of garbage about women and their role in society. Miss World is a symbol of how society reduces women to objects judged on the way they look.
BILLY HAYES, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, has responded to two recent articles in Socialist Worker. One was by Exeter postal worker Fran Choules, the other by Socialist Worker journalist Charlie Kimber.
HARDER, MORE determined, and disgusted with John Prescott, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. That was the mood among 52,000 firefighters and control room staff as they learned that the government had scuppered negotiations and forced them into an eight-day strike.
