Interserve cleaners strike at Waterloo | Xmas strike on for Post Office supply chain staff? | Suspension leads to an unofficial strike at Dundee West delivery office | NUJ members take on the Met police | Brixton sees march for Ricky Bishop | Action off as Portsmouth port bosses back down | Tenants say no bedroom tax in Wales | Support Freedom Riders in court | Pay victory for HTC Plant crane drivers

Hundreds protest against the victimisation of NUT rep Julie Davies

Some 300 teachers, parents and campaigners lobbied Haringey council on Monday of this week in defence of Julie Davies.

Vote yes in UCU ballot over pay

A national strike ballot of UCU union members over pay was set to start on Friday of this week.

Union suspends marking boycott

The UCU union has suspended a marking boycott until 15 January. The action in 69 universities was part of the union’s campaign to defend workers’ pensions.

Striking manufacturing workers angry at pay scam in Leicester

More than 160 manufacturing workers struck for two days last week at specialist component maker Trelleborg in Leicester.

Jurors handcuffed in Jimmy Mubenga manslaughter trial

Six jurors at the Jimmy Mubenga manslaughter trial sat handcuffed last week in a mock-up of the aeroplane seats where he died.

Angry firefighters' protest confronts hated Tory fire minister Penny Mordaunt

Hundreds of protesting firefighters confront Tory fire minister Penny Mordaunt as she turns up to open the new West Norwood station in south London today, Tuesday.

Glasgow mental health cuts will be costly

Campaigners against a 40 percent funding cut to Glasgow Association of Mental Health (GamH) say the cuts will cost more in the long run.

Liverpool walkouts can crack Jacob's biscuit bosses

Around 800 GMB union members at Jacob’s Biscuits Factory in Aintree, Liverpool, began a two-day strike last Sunday.

Thousands join rallies for change in Scotland

Mass meetings of the Scottish National Party and Radical Independence Campaign last weekend showed how the passion for politics remains in Scotland, writes Raymie Kiernan

Meeting slams bosses' trade treaty

About 130 people came to a meeting in Chilwell, near Nottingham on Tuesday of last week to hear activists explain what the proposed US/EU Transalatic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) legislation would mean for workers and services.

Benefit cuts are leaving people hungry

Attacks on welfare are forcing thousands of people to use food banks, a new report says.

Ofsted's 'extremism' clampdown on Tower Hamlets schools is an Islamophobic attack

Ofsted inspectors ‘unfairly humiliated’ Tower Hamlets schools, reports Sadie Robinson

London protest shows solidarity with political prisoners in Egypt

Around 40 people joined a lively protest in central London organised by the Egypt Solidarity Initiative last Saturday.

Theresa May launches fresh attack on civil liberties

Tory Home secretary Theresa May launched another clampdown on civil liberties this week.

News round-up

Lawrence suspect let go; IPCC says cops may face action; Occupy returns to parliament

Hillsborough cop agrees that police 'did nothing' to stop crush

A police sergeant on duty during the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster has said the officers in charge on the day “didn’t step up to the plate”.

Protesters block Oxford Street in solidarity with Ferguson demonstrations

Around 1,000 people demonstrated in London in solidarity with Ferguson protesters yesterday, Wednesday.

Lambeth College workers call new strikes

Workers at Lambeth College have called a one-day strike for Thursday of next week. They plan a two-day strike the following week and a three-day strike the week after if bosses don’t back down.

On the offensive: defence workers escalate strikes in pay battle

Defence Support Group (DSG) workers have gone on the offensive in their dispute over pay, calling another ten days of strikes. The action is set to begin on Monday 8 December and last until Friday 19.

Barnsley College lecturers strike to stop squeeze on pay and conditions

UCU union members at Barnsley College ended a two-day strike yesterday, Thursday. The workers are in dispute over attacks on their jobs and contracts.

Charges against Barnsley Freedom Riders dropped

The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all charges against freedom riders Tony Nuttall and George Arthur as “there is not enough evidence to obtain a prosecution”.

International

General strike in Greece as recovery hopes fade

A planned general strike by workers across Greece on Thursday of this week comes at a crucial time.

Israeli Jewish nation-state bill is racist attack on Palestinians

The Israeli parliament is set to pass a bill reinforcing the exclusion of Palestinians.

Backlash after South African Numsa union expelled

South African trade union federation Cosatu has temporarily eased its all out assault on the country’s largest union, Numsa, which it recently expelled.

Kenya attacks Islamist fighters in Somalia

The Kenyan government claims that its forces in Somalia, east Africa, have killed more than 100 Islamist fighters, in retaliation for attacking a bus in Kenya. But the Islamist Al Shabaab group has dismissed this as “absurd”.

Mexico protest for missing students

Mexico’s annual national Revolution Day parade was cancelled last week and replaced by mass protests demanding the return of 43 missing college students. President Enrique Pena Nieto made a highly defensive speech, as protesters across Mexico burned effigies and photos of him.

Suicide bombing at volleyball game in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber killed at least 57 people at a volleyball game in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province last Sunday.

Angola Three: Fresh injustice as Albert Woodfox has conviction quashed, but remains imprisoned

Former Black Panther Albert Woodfox had his conviction for murder quashed after 43 years last week—but Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell still won’t let him go.

Ferguson: rage as cop who killed Michael Brown is cleared

Protests erupted across the US at the news that Darren Wilson, the white cop who shot 18 year old Michael Brown dead in Ferguson, St Louis, in August will not face trial.

Comment

Artificial intelligence is not as close as its fans make out

John Parrington looks at artificial intelligence, and says it will be a long time before computers are smarter than humans

Ed Miliband has shown he doesn’t get class

If you want to get a sense of how Ukip’s rise is debasing political debate, you need look no further than the absurd martyrdom of “White Van Man”.

Features

Why is Africa poor?

Ken Olende argues that Africa doesn’t need Bob Geldof’s charity, or anyone else’s - but solidarity in the struggle against the system of poverty that keeps them down