Issue: 2133
Dated: 10 Jan 2009
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Israel has expanded its murderous air attack on Gaza into a full ground assault. With all borders sealed, 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped – with little electricity or fuel and severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines – and facing Israel’s military might.
As Socialist Worker went to press yesterday details emerged of Israel’s worst atrocity yet in its murderous military campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Gordon Brown pledged this week that up to 100,000 jobs could be created by planned public works in the coming years.
The last 200 Woolworths stores were closing down as Socialist Worker went to press.
The average household debt increases by over £6.30 every daySome 2,430 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) for debt are issued every dayOn average 124 properties were repossessed every day during the last three months. The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates this will increase to approximately 205 a day this yearGovernment figures say that 44 percent of mortgage holders are worried about being able to meet their payments and 47 percent of local authority and housing association tenants are worried about being able to pay their rent Some 422 mortgage possession claims are issued and 323 mortgage possession orders are made every day
Teacher sacked over his trainers Teachers at St Paul’s Way secondary school in Bow Common, east London, are threatening strike action over the dismissal of Adrian Swain, their NUT union rep.
Some 300 of the lowest paid bus workers in London struck for 24 hours on Monday of this week. These were the opening shots in this year’s battle for better pay across the capital.
When it comes to war Israel has a single, simple strategy. Trap millions of people between tanks and warplanes. Cut off all food, water and electricity. Then systematically bring buildings down on their heads.
The government’s reliance on housing associations rather than councils to provide homes is in crisis.
Former Liverpool dock workers with asbestos-related illnesses have been given the right to sue the government in a landmark ruling at the High Court late last year.
"The situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas," announced George Bush as the Israeli army battered its way into the Gaza Strip.
Some 120 mostly Asian women workers at Chemilines pharmaceuticals factory in north west London are set to take a second day of strike action on Wednesday of this week.
Socialist Worker has received a message from a Palestinian activist living in the West Bank. He wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. The message reads:
Journalists in County Durham are starting the new year by taking industrial action on three consecutive days.
A serious situation is developing over pay in the civil service. The PCS civil service workers’ union and the government recently reached an agreement over pay.
Gordon Brown recommitted the government to the privatisation of Royal Mail this week.
Twenty one community service supervisors in Glasgow in the Unison union began an indefinite strike on Tuesday of this week over their single status pay deal.
Fury has exploded onto the streets of Britain in response to Israel’s barbaric assault on Gaza. Big demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people have taken place in towns and cities across the country.
Three people who admitted lying in the Lynette White murder case have each been jailed for 18 months for perjury.
Habib "Paps" Ullah was arrested during a stop-and-search in a car park in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on 3 July last year.
The scale of the protests around Britain have shown the depth of the anger against Israel’s actions.
Demonstrations and sit-ins have been organised daily in Beirut and other cities in Lebanon since the beginning of Israel’s aggression against Gaza.
Lecturers at Tower Hamlets college, east London, organised a protest on Thursday to make a splash in east London and big up Saturday's national demonstration.
Israel has committed the gravest of war crimes by corralling civilians into a home and then shelling it.
Up to 150,000 people took to the streets of London on Saturday in a mass show of solidarity with Palestinians caught under Israeli bombs in the Gaza Strip.
Greece’s right wing government is facing a hot new year. The mass movement that rocked the country after the police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on 6 December is to take to the streets again on Friday of this week.
So what is Israel trying to achieve with its assault on Gaza? And what role is being played by the US and its outgoing and incoming presidents?
The economic crisis that swept the globe in 2008 provoked debate about whether individual states or trade blocs could insulate themselves from the international turmoil through "protectionist" economic measures.
On 28 December, Israel bombed a truck in Gaza, killing several bystanders. The Israeli army celebrated this strike by publishing video footage of it on its YouTube page.
What are the roots of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians?
Welsh nationalism today articulates itself through things like popular culture, rugby and language.
Shortly after the 1958 Notting Hill "race riots", the notorious British fascist Oswald Mosley announced that he intended to become MP for the west London neighbourhood.
The new year begins with renewed war and an economic crisis that threatens to turn into a slump. The connections between the two run very deep.
The Great Depression of the 1930s was preceded by the drying up of credit and the development of a trade war.
Baz Luhrmann’s new film is set in the late 1930s in remote northern Australia.
George Bush is to award Tony Blair – along with former Australian prime minister John Howard and Colombian president Alvaro Uribe – with the laughingly titled Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gordon Brown and other European leaders have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. This contrasts with the fervent backing that the dying US administration of George Bush has given to Israel’s invasion.
David Cameron has torn up his pledge to back Gordon Brown’s spending plans that were drawn up in response to the recession. The Tory leader now says he wants tax cuts for traditional Tory voters, more privatisation and cuts in public spending.
Brian Pearce, who died recently, was a socialist intellectual and activist over eight decades, having joined the Communist Party (CP) in 1934.
Gary Kelly, a lifelong socialist and member of the Socialist Workers Party for 25 years, died in hospital on 22 December aged 45. He will be missed greatly by all who knew him and worked alongside him in the many struggles he was at the heart of.
Legal aid cuts hit poor Around 35 members of the Unite union who work in advice centres lobbied the headquarters of the Legal Services Commission last month in a protest against cuts to Legal Aid.