Socialist Worker

Issue: 2291

Dated: 25 Feb 2012

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Woman who tackled Lansley speaks out: ‘We all need to fight now or soon we won’t have an NHS’

"Lansley said he’s not trying to privatise the NHS. I said to him, ‘Codswallop, don’t lie to me!’

International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Are poor people to blame for their own poor health?

David Cameron has got drinkers in his sights. He says minimum prices should be slapped on alcohol—and claims the NHS has to spend billions on treating people who are "irresponsible".

Activists build vote for pensions action on 28 March

Scottish education union EIS is the latest to announce moves to strike on 28 March.

Dancing against construction bosses

As part of the campaign, up to 300 construction workers took their fight to the building bosses last Wednesday.

Mark Serwotka: 'Strike to stop austerity'

"The pensions dispute is at a pivotal stage. People will be deciding in the next few weeks whether we are seriously going to oppose the government’s austerity or are we going to let them get away with attacking our pensions.

New name for News of the World as scandal lingers

More revelations about the murky world of phone hacking have come to light.

Judges rule against Occupy London

Three senior judges refused permission for Occupy London activists to appeal against an eviction this morning, Wednesday.

‘We won’t work if you won’t pay!’ say Tesco protesters

The Tories’ "workfare" programme is in crisis. Activists have targeted Tesco, which had taken on workers using the unpaid labour schemes.

Andrew Lansley is humiliated as hate for health bill grows

Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley was accosted outside Downing Street on Monday of this week.

Big rise in strike days last year - in both public and private sectors

The number of strike days was higher last year than at any time since 1990, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Bigotry in schools is fine, says Michael Gove

Tory education secretary Michael Gove has said that the Equality Act of 2010 doesn’t apply to the school curriculum.

News in Brief

Soames has his snout in trough Some MPs are grabbing hundreds of thousands of pounds a year from extra jobs.

Electricians protest in Bradford and London as boss declares Besna 'finished'

Update (Wed, 4.30pm): NG Bailey has now withdrawn from Besna.

Mass opposition to west London academy conversion

A monster meeting took place in a west London school last night (Tuesday) after a threat to force it to become an academy.

Protesters target McDonald's over workfare

Right to Work campaigners stormed a McDonald's and a Holland and Barrett store in the City of London tonight (Wednesday) in their latest protest against unpaid work schemes.

St Paul's Occupy camp prepares for threatened eviction

Equality and Human Rights Commission workers strike

Workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) struck this morning (Thursday) over the threat of huge redundancies.

Kingston protest targets workfare high street stores

Forty people joined a protest against workfare, that marched around Kingston yesterday (Wednesday). School students and pensioners took part in the two hour protest organised by Right To Work and the Kingston anti-cuts campaign.

Victory: Electricians defeat building bosses

Rank and file electricians have won. They have beaten the building bosses who wanted to tear up their terms and conditions and slash their pay.

SWP responds to Tory Grayling's farcical smear

A rattled Chris Grayling, beleaguered Tory minister for workfare, accused the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) of hacking his email on Radio Four’s Today programme this morning, Friday.

London workfare protest forces McDonald's to close

Protesters forced a McDonald's on London’s Oxford Street to close today, Saturday, in the latest protest against the Tories’ workfare schemes.

Angry marchers show Eric Pickles he is not welcome in Leeds

Hundreds of anti-Tory protesters gathered in central Leeds yesterday (Saturday) so that communities secretary Eric Pickles would know he was not welcome. Students, NHS campaigners and delegations of trade unionists marched from Woodhouse Moor to the Queen's Hotel, where Pickles was due to address the Tory local government conference.

London protest shows solidarity with struggle in Greece

Hundreds of protesters marched around the Greek embassy in London yesterday, Saturday, in solidarity with the fight against austerity in Greece.

List of anti-cuts protests as councils set budgets

Email yours to <a href="mailto:reports@socialistworker.co.uk"> <a href="mailto:reports@socialistworker.co.uk">reports@socialistworker.co.uk</a></a>

Bootle workers' factory occupation spooks the bosses

Angry print workers rushed the gates of Mayr Melnhof Packaging (MMP) in Bootle, near Liverpool, last Saturday in response to a management lockout.

Victory in Barnsley's battle of the buses

Striking bus workers in Barnsley and Rawmarsh have won a significant victory in their battle over low pay with Stagecoach.

Heathrow Express workers head for a strike

Rail workers on the Heathrow Express shuttle service between London Paddington and Heathrow airport were set to strike for 24 hours from 12.15pm this Sunday.

Firefighters protest against cuts in Barnsley

Over 50 South Yorkshire firefighters protested outside the fire authority meeting in Barnsley on Monday of this week.

Meat workers strike against greedy bosses

Meat processing workers at food firm Vion in Cambuslang near Glasgow struck on Monday of this week over pay.

Anger over Tory cuts at Unison women's conference

Around 600 women attended the Unison union’s women’s conference in Brighton last week.

Drug workers call off their strike

Staff at the Lifeline drug treatment centre in Hackney, London, have called off their strike against cuts.

200 protest to save Filton Airfield

Around 200 people protested in the rain against the closure of Filton Airfield near Bristol on Saturday.

Student protester nearly died - but now he's in the dock

On 9 December 2010 thousands of students occupied Parliament Square in central London. They were attacked by riot police and charged with horses.

Solidarity protest at Wandsworth prison against jailing young people

Some 50 campaigners, defendants and families gathered outside Wandsworth prison in south London last Saturday for a "noise protest" against the imprisonment of young people.

Nazi Nick Griffin shows his true colours

British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin showed his true Nazi colours at a rally outside Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month, when he was pictured posing behind a "white power" flag.

Victim's family condemns racist EDL march

The family of a 17-year old who was violently assaulted in Hyde, near Manchester, earlier this month have told the EDL not to hold an anti-Asian protest this Saturday.

Balfour beaten by surge of rank and file power

Workers have scored a major victory against multinational corporation Balfour Beatty.

TUSC chooses London list

RMT transport union president Alex Gordon has been selected to head the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition’s list for the London Assembly elections.

Anti-cuts group launched in Barking

More than 30 people came to the launch meeting of Barking Against the Cuts on Thursday of last week.

Courts scrutinised by mass reporting

A project to open up the legal system in Scotland is to start on Monday of next week.

Legal challenge to stop tuition fee rises fails

Two students last week lost a High Court case against increased tuition fees in England. Callum Hurley and Katy Moore argued the rise breached human rights and equality laws by discriminating against poor and ethnic minority students.

Southampton - how can workers beat Tory cuts?

Around 200 council workers and their supporters lobbied Southampton council’s budget-setting meeting on Wednesday of last week.

London sixth forms set to strike against cuts

Teachers in London sixth form colleges were set to strike and lobby parliament on Thursday of this week.

School bullied into academy status

Governors at a north London primary school say they have been bullied into accepting academy status.

Vote left in UCU elections

Elections for the UCU national executive committee and national officer positions will end on Thursday of next week. UCU Left is backing Mark Campbell for general secretary.

Judge rejects construction firm’s anti-strike injunction claims

Balfour Beatty failed to obtain an injunction against the Unite union at the High Court last Thursday.

Striking Swindon cleaners protest at Carillion's London HQ

Some 50 striking workers in the GMB union marched and blockaded the central London headquarters of their employer Carillion today (Tuesday).

International

Greeks plan mass protests as new austerity plan is imposed

The International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank want to change the Greek constitution.

Spain: Resistance erupts against worst attack on workers since Franco

Hundreds of thousands of people all over Spain took part in demonstrations called by trade unions in defence of workers’ rights last Sunday.

Iran: West's cold war raises threat of Iran attack to boiling point

Tory foreign secretary William Hague said that Iran’s nuclear program could lead to a Middle East "cold war" last week. He later warned that an Israeli assault on Iran would not be "a wise thing".

A new workers' paper in Greece

A new newspaper produced entirely under workers’ control in Greece hit the shelves on Wednesday of last week—and became the highest circulation paper in Athens.

Mass protests in Syria defy regime

International pressure is mounting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Thousands on the streets against fascists in Dresden

Around 15,000 people formed a human chain around the city of Dresden, Germany, on Sunday of last week.

Zimbabwe: magistrate rules against socialists, so the trial will resume

Six socialists in Zimbabwe have lost their application to have charges of "conspiring to commit public violence" dismissed.

Comment

Features

Palestine and the Arab Revolutions

The wave of popular revolutions across the Middle East is radically shaking up established political structures and allegiances—and the tremors from these centres of unrest have had an effect on Palestine too.

Rivalry of Fatah and Hamas

The rift between Hamas and Fatah runs very deep, despite their reconciliation last year.

Israel mourns the fall of dictators like Egypt's Mubarak

Israel did not share the worldwide celebration of the fall of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

How class society led to women's oppression

Women’s lives today are dramatically different to how they were just a few decades ago.

What is the real cause of the crisis?

World leaders are in a panic about the future of the eurozone and the economic crisis in Greece.

Reviews

A Bigger Picture: David Hockney’s joy-filled and life affirming landscapes

If an exhibition of landscape paintings may not sound like your cup of tea then think again.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer chooses politics

The popular TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured Buffy as the "Chosen One"—one girl chosen to fight vampires. Now the Chosen One is exercising her right to choose abortion.

The Muppets: a red turn for the green frog?

"Why is being rich bad all of a sudden in today’s society? We’re teaching our kids class warfare. Where are we, Communist China?"

Fighting the Cuts, Banner Theatre

Birmingham-based Banner Theatre has put together a hard-hitting music and multimedia show called Fighting the Cuts.

Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture

This three-part documentary looks at how class became a central issue in British culture as the 20th century unfolded.

The Life Scientific

This half-hour radio documentary features presenter Jim Al-Khalili talking to the forensic scientist Angela Gallop, who provided vital forensic evidence in the Stephen Lawrence trial.