Any disabled person capable of walking a measly 20 metres is set to lose their mobility payments when the Tories scrap the disability living allowance (DLA) on 1 April.

Pensioners' South Bank sit in exposes fuel poverty

Pensioners sat in at London’s South Bank Centre on Wednesday of last week to highlight the plight of elderly people grappling with fuel costs.

Newcastle says no to cuts

Around 2,000 people marched through Newcastle on Saturday of last week against massive cuts to services.

Council workers underpaid

A Unison union survey of 14,000 council workers showed most are being affected by job losses, increased workload and stress.

Vote yes for action in civil service ballot

The ballot of some 250,000 civil service workers in the PCS union for industrial action is heating up.

Women take action for One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising, a global day of action in protest at violence against women and girls, took place on Thursday of last week.

'Bring it on' - Jerry Hicks challenges Len McCluskey

Blacklisted engineering worker Jerry Hicks was set to be confirmed as a candidate in the Unite union’s general secretary election on Friday of this week.

Bosses' attack on shifts puts safety under threat

Pilot launch crews on the Liverpool docks are furious over attacks on their conditions from Peel Port bosses.

Women applaud call for a general strike

Unison women’s conference took place in Liverpool between Thursday and Saturday of last week.

Tusc meeting opposes cuts

Around 55 people came to the Hackney Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) meeting on Monday of this week in east London.

Workers and students defend union at London Met

Around 150 university workers, students and other trade unionists protested to defend two suspended workers at London Metropolitan University on Monday of this week.

Lecturers strike to defend victimised union activists

UCU union members at Halesowen College in the Black Country struck on Thursday of last week in defence of four sacked lecturers.

Birmingham lecturers vote to walk out

Lecturers at Birmingham University have voted for strikes to defend jobs and conditions. Some 65 percent of UCU union members backed strikes on a

Sussex sit-in calls privatisation protest

Students occupying a building of Sussex university have called a demonstration on Thursday of this week, following two successful protests last week.

Student protesters' trial begins - for the third time

The trial of student protesters Alfie Meadows and Zak King began on Monday of last week.

Reports round-up

TUC calls rally over Osborne’s budget The TUC has booked a 1,600 seat venue in central London for a rally in the run-up to George Osborne’s budget next month.

Striking journalists at the BBC interrupt bosses’ plan

Programmes were taken off air and newsrooms lay empty on Monday of this week as BBC journalists walked out in a dispute over compulsory redundancies.

Eurozone crisis could mean German credit downgrade

Predictions that the eurozone was coming out of its crisis have turned to dust.

Bhajis, tea and solidarity for BBC strikers in Scotland

In Glasgow 25 NUJ members picketed BBC Scotland with placards, banners, flasks of tea and coffee and homemade onion bhajis and pakoras.

Eastleigh exposes coalition tensions

The race to win next week’s by-election in Eastleigh is bringing the underlying tensions of British politics to the surface.

Holocaust survivor warns: Don't let Nazis tell their lies

Cleo Yvel was living in France when Adolf Hitler’s Nazis were targeting Jews across Europe during the Second World War.

Racist English Defence League not welcome in Cambridge

Supporters of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) protested on against French fascist leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday of this week.

International

Doctors' hunger strike wins victory for poor people in Punjab

Some 200 doctors in Punjab state, Pakistan, went on hunger strike two weeks ago.

Amplats security shoot five miners in South Africa

South African platinum mine security guards shot five miners with rubber bullets as they resisted an attempt by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to re-establish itself at the Amplats Siphumelele mine in Rustenberg.

General strike in Greece shows rulers' weakness

Workers across Greece were set to strike on Wednesday of this week.

Italian election will be vote on austerity

Italy’s national election—set to take place this weekend—has become a referendum on austerity and tax.

International round-up

Huge US march against pipeline Almost 50,000 people demanded action on climate change in Washington DC last Saturday.

Comment

A glimpse of gay liberation in Berlin

Germany after the First World War was a great hope of world socialism.

North Korea: A nuclear bogeyman created by the US

North Korea’s state-controlled news agency, Korean Central, says that the country’s recent nuclear test was conducted to strengthen North Korea’s overall nuclear capabilities.

Features

The power of workers

Socialists welcome resistance to the Tories—whether campaigns to defend benefits, protests over the NHS or marches against council cuts.

Have workers lost their strength?

Some people say social changes mean that the working class no longer has the power to transform the world.

Hungry for a profit - why the market feeds us rotten food

The meat industry is a bizarre world. It goes from the boardrooms of some of the largest companies on the planet to killing floors with medieval working conditions.

The great subsidy scandal

Beef barons can claim bungs for exporting animal produce under the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy. The system of export credits subsidises the profits of the meat industry.

Cold, damp and barbaric - conditions for meat workers

Conditions for meat processing workers are barbaric. Most are paid the minimum wage to work long hours in the cold and damp.

Is the real problem that food is too cheap?

Former Tesco boss and management consultant Pamela Robinson has blamed the horsemeat scandal on cheap food. "The current crisis in processed meat products highlights a growing concern that food in the UK is simply too cheap," she said.

Reviews

Walter Tull - a black British officer, his football and a world war

According to Phil Vasili, Walter Tull is "largely absent from recorded history".

Brecht’s theatre unnerves and shakes its audience

New versions of three of Brecht’s most famous works—Mother Courage, Life of Galileo and The Threepenny Opera—will be performed in London, Salford and Stratford during February and March.

Reviews round-up

Heading Out | Little Yemen | Time Travelling Kids: American slavery to Cheshire child labour | Beasts of the Southern Wild

What We Think

Bosses caused the food crisis, not poor people

More countries have become embroiled in the scandal of adulteration of food. The discovery of horsemeat in products labelled as beef began in Ireland last month and swiftly spread.