THE PUBLIC funds the luxury lodgings of judges to the tune of £5.6 million a year. That is £900 for each night a judge spends away from home. These lodgings have servants, smoking rooms, wine cellars and even a tennis court.
US BOMBS, missiles and cannon fire slaughtered at least 207 Afghan people in the village of Niazi Qalaye in Afghanistan last Sunday. Villager Janat Gul was distraught after the US bombs killed 24 members of his family. "People are very upset," he said. "There are no Al Qaida or Taliban people here."
THE GOVERNMENTS of India and Pakistan brought their countries to the brink of war at the beginning of this week. Such a war, between states armed with nuclear weapons, would directly involve over one billion people and could affect many more.
PRINTERS AT a key national newspaper plant have won an important victory after voting to strike. The victory represents a turning point in an industry where workers have lived for 15 years under the shadow of the catastrophic Wapping defeat. Management at West Ferry Printers on east London's Isle of Dogs wanted between 90 and 100 job cuts and a pay freeze.
THE NATIONAL strike by tens of thousands of Benefits Agency and job centre workers in the PCS civil servants' union has taken a major blow. This dispute saw 40,000 people strike for two days in mid-December against government plans to remove safety screens from the newly merged Jobcentre Plus offices.
CHALLENGING New Labour in 2002 was the theme of the first meeting of the new Socialist Alliance national executive, which took place in the run-up to Christmas.
PRESSURE IS growing among Scottish Power workers to make their strike all out. An important shop stewards' meeting was scheduled for this Saturday in Penrith, where the progress of the dispute will be discussed and tactics debated. A series of three two-day strikes have seen very solid support from around 1,500 workers in North Wales, Merseyside and Scotland. There have been some localised power cuts.
"Thug and Liar Walk Free". Amazingly, it was the front page of Rupert Murdoch's Times that summed up most people's feelings last week as Leeds United footballers Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate walked out of Hull Crown Court. The two players were cleared of causing grievous bodily harm to student Sarfraz Najeib.
WAR Shock report: more civilians killed in Afghanistan than in the World Trade Centre
Families that become homeless could have their children taken away from them by councils trying to save money. Councils across Britain are exploiting a new legal loophole which says they only have to offer housing to homeless children, not families.
As European Union (EU) leaders discussed more market "reforms" and privatisation of services in Brussels in Belgium, 100,000 trade unionists marched last Thursday in protest at this "neo-liberal" Europe.
