Socialist Worker

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Tories rob £13bn from poor

The Tories plan to start 2013 by slashing every benefit they can lay their hands on.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

2 Sisters food workers push fowl bosses back

Workers at the 2 Sisters Food Group in the West Midlands won an important victory last month.

Hundreds protest in Caerphilly at council bosses' secret pay rise

The fight is on for workers at Caerphilly County Borough Council in the South Wales Valleys.

Witnesses allege senior Tories involved in sex abuse scandal

Did senior Tory and other prominent figures rape children in a south west London guest house in the early 1980s?

Revealed: Tory plot to take the welfare state apart 30 years ago

The Tories hoped to dismantle the welfare state in the 1980s but were scared of the possible reaction to their plans, files reveal.

Teachers take action against attacks by school bosses

Dunston school Teachers at Dunston school in Chesterfield struck on 19 and 20 December over intrusive appraisals and monitoring. The action followed five days of strikes earlier in December.

We can beat Gove if we strike

Teachers across Britain ended last term by calling on their union leaders to organise national strikes to defend pay and conditions.

Tyne and Wear Metro cleaners in festive strike

Cleaners working on the Tyne and Wear Metro struck for 72 hours over Christmas over pay.

NUJ fightback in York could pave way for national battle

Journalists at Newsquest in York have forced management into talks over pay after holding a mandatory chapel meeting last month.

Reports round-up

Walkout for Bristol postal workers Around 100 postal workers at a delivery office in south Bristol struck on 17 December for a second time.

Inquest verdicts quashed for Hillsborough victims

A judge last month quashed accidental death inquest verdicts for 96 Liverpool football fans who died as a result of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

British government tries to stop Mau Mau torture compensation

The government has decided to contest the right of Kenyan people tortured by British forces during the Mau Mau War to claim compensation.

Inquiry closes into 2005 cop killing of Azelle Rodney

The public inquiry into the police killing of Azelle Rodney has heard all its evidence and is expected to report its findings this month.

News round-up

Tax dives while profits soar The biggest firms in Britain are paying a fifth less tax than they did 12 years ago, a Reuters report says.

Sainsbury's workers in Leeds defect from Usdaw to Unite

Over 100 members of the Usdaw union at the Sainsbury’s distribution centre in Sherburn in Elmet, Leeds, have defected to the Unite union.

Civil service walkout hits 50 Department for Transport offices

Thousands of Department for Transport workers struck at 50 sites across Britain on Friday of last week over a threat to close DVLA offices. The workers, members of the PCS union, walked out for 24 hours against the plans.

Employment Tribunal win for PCS activist Finola Kelly

Trade union activist Finola Kelly has won an Employment Tribunal case against the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

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International

Hope amid the horror with protests at Delhi rape case

In the middle of the unspeakable horror of the rape and murder in Delhi is a spark of hope.

Protests in India take on rape and repression

The brutal rape of a 23 year old female medical student on a public bus in Delhi on 16 December has caught India by storm.

Baha Mousa inquiry verdict is just the tip of the iceberg

Iraqi Baha Mousa died as a result of his treatment at the hands of British troops, according to a public inquiry. This included "hooding" and being held in stress positions.

Marikana cops shot injured miners dead, witnesses say

Some miners at Marikana were shot after being taken into custody by police, new evidence suggests. The evidence was given at South Africa’s Farlam Commission into the massacre.

Anti-fascists plan united protest to stop Greece's Nazis

Activists in Greece are building for a massive demonstration against the fascist Golden Dawn party on 19 January.

International news round-up

Monti will run against Berlusconi Italy’s ruling class is in turmoil once more in the run-up to next month’s general election.

A referendum won, but Egypt's Mursi is still on shaky ground

Egypt’s president Mohamed Mursi won a majority with 64 percent of the vote in last month’s referendum on his new constitution.

Thousands more join Syrian revolt

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime faces the prospect of a long and slow defeat.

US economic deal will hit ordinary workers and protect the rich

US politicians agreed a deal on the economy last week amid panic that failure to do so would lead to economic disaster.

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Comment

Cliffhanger for the US economy

Will the US economy fall over the "fiscal cliff"? As Socialist Worker goes to press, this question remains unanswered.

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Features

Radical surgery: snapshots from the fight to save the NHS

Twenty five years ago this month 38 nurses from North Manchester General Hospital went on strike. They sparked a wave of action that spread across Britain and lasted the rest of the year.

A glimpse of the working class

Britain has become the Daily Mail’s worst nightmare. That’s according to the findings of the 2011 census, published last month.

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Reviews

Gil Scott-Heron: a revolutionary who began with empathy

Gil’s music and poetry have always been popular in Britain, despite them being about conditions that are far removed from here. Why is that?

Exhilarating new performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Phyllida Lloyd’s all female production of William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar is exhilarating.

William Morris: Poems of Protest

William Morris was one of the most respected and admired decorative artists and writers in Britain in the 19th century.

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What We Think

Thirty years of Tories trying to look tough

Yet again former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher proved her spite—by not dying at the end of 2012. That wasn’t the only bad news.

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Other Categories

Tim: Goodwill

Tim's view

 

Letters

Tory stirs up tensions over halal meat Geoff Driver, Lancashire county council’s Tory leader, last week announced that Muslim school children in the county would now only have access to what he termed "ethical" halal meat.

Quotes from this week's news

‘There will inevitably be feelings among some that Mrs Moran has got away with it’

Tories fall out with their cop pals over 'plebgate' scandal

"If this can happen to a senior government minister," said former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell, "then what chance does a youth in Brixton or Handsworth have?"

Meet the loan sharks who trap millions in debt misery

Up to four million people planned to take out a payday loan to cover the cost of Christmas. Now, with the festivities finished, they’ll be stuck with the financial hangover.

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