Trade union leaders came under pressure this week to call nationwide action to stop New Labour’s assault on pensions. Five million public sector workers will face an extra five years of work—claiming their pensions at 65 instead of 60—if the government manages to ram through its "reforms".
ORDINARY PEOPLE across the globe have united in solidarity and practical aid for the victims of the tsunami.
THE BOXING Day tsunami, caused by an earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has caused devastation across Sri Lanka. It engulfed buildings up to one kilometre from the shore and killed thousands of people.
What was the cause of this catastrophe?
EVEN THE amount of aid Western governments have been shamed into giving so far could turn out to be a mirage.
THE US military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia was undamaged by the tsunami. The base had been forewarned, officials at the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said.
PRESTON RESPECT councillor Michael Lavalette has taken the initiative to raise support in the town for the victims of the tsunami disaster.
THE ONLY aspect of this disaster that is "natural" is that the tsunami happened in the first place. The widespread death and destruction the tsunami has brought are largely man made.
ENTIRE TOWNS in the Aceh province of Indonesia have been wiped out by the earthquake and tsunami. But human rights campaigners say the huge death toll is increasing because the Indonesian government has delayed aid reaching the stricken province.
CANCELLING ALL the debts of countries hit by the disaster is the minimum that Western governments could do. But they won’t.
IT TOOK immense pressure from ordinary people to force the British and US governments to come up with the—still inadequate—aid they have now offered.
