In its prebudget statement, the government last week claimed it planned to squeeze the rich in an effort to boost income, and spare "core" public services from any serious cuts.
Despite the apparent need for austerity, MPs still managed to claim £10.7 million towards their second homes last year—an average of more than £17,000 for every MP outside inner London.
Within days of the government’s announcement of a one-off tax on bankers’ bonuses, the slimy boys in the City of London were already finding ways to avoid paying.
The government’s commitment to privatisation is putting schools, hospitals and the care of the vulnerable and elderly at risk—and it is costing us on average £8,400 each.
Alistair Darling last week told Britain’s 5.8 million public sector workers that pay rises would be capped at just 1 percent and that their pension benefits could not last much longer.
The battle lines between union-busting British Airways (BA) boss Willie Walsh and 14,000 cabin crew workers have been drawn.
"We’re not a militant bunch of people, but we’ve been forced to do something," says Julie, a long haul cabin crew worker at British Airways (BA). "If we don’t stand up now we don’t know what will happen next."
British Airway’s cabin crew belonging to the Unite union are set to strike for 12 days from 22 December. This follows a 92 percent vote for strike action among the 14,000 cabin crew in defence of pay, jobs and working conditions. Over 80 percent of those entitled to vote did so, a turn out far greater than at the last general election.
Joe Glenton, the serving British soldier who refused to fight in Afghanistan, has been released from military prison in Colchester.
Police officers have been giving evidence to the inquest into the death of Mikey Powell who died in police custody in 2003.
Land Registry management have sacked Jane Brooke, a PCS civil service workers’ union rep in Weymouth. She and other workers have made an industrial injury complaint against their employer.
