Birmingham Follow

On Friday of last week 250 copies of Socialist Worker were sold outside Rage Against The Machine's concert at Wembley campaigning in support of Mumia Abu - Jamal. Workplace sales of Socialist Worker included 19 at Riverside House council offices in Greenwich, 15 at Manchester Royal Infirmary, 14 at Dunlop Tyres in Birmingham, 13 at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 10 at each of De La Rue Printers in High Wycombe, Remploy in Neath, Glazier Metals in Glasgow, Sunderland Civic Centre and Nottinghamshire County Hall, 9 at both Chivas Regal in Paisley and Manchester Town Hall, 8 at both Vickers in Newcastle and the Inland Revenue offices in Nottingham. Despite the rain and wind Socialist Worker selle

The Free Satpal Ram Campaign has called a vigil outside the Home Office on Monday 28 February. The campaign is to meet with minister Paul Boateng to press the government to release Satpal. Satpal has been in prison for 13 years for defending himself against racist thugs who attacked him in a Birmingham restaurant.

Altogether 62 copies of Socialist Worker were sold on the Haringey council picket lines in north London on Tuesday last week while on Saturday 108 papers were sold in Wood Green campaigning in support of the strikers. Elsewhere on Saturday 196 papers were sold at the Monument in Newcastle, 140 in Birmingham High Street, 100 in Sheffield, 36 in Sunderland and 26 in Port Talbot. In Manchester 205 papers were sold in Market Street, 44 in Gorton and 31 in Cheetham Hill.

AROUND 70 people marched from Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital last Saturday, shouting, "Hospital closures, no way-tax the rich and make them pay!" They were protesting at the building of a "super-hospital" under the Private Finance Initiative approved by the Birmingham Health Authority.

OVER 700 workers from Birmingham City Council's housing department met on Tuesday of last week to discuss what to do about the imminent giveaway of council homes. Birmingham City Council is the biggest municipal landlord in Britain. The proposed transfer of all its 93,000 homes will "change the face of social housing in this country", according to Housing Today magazine.

AN EXCELLENT 25 copies of Socialist Worker were sold at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley while 12 were sold at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Elsewhere 11 papers were sold at Royal Liverpool Hospital with £11 collected for the Socialist Worker Appeal. In the last week 5 people have joined the Socialist Workers Party in Birmingham; 4 at a public meeting in Hackney; 2 in Camberwell and at the University of Central England; 1 in Neath, Romford, Kent University, Toxteth, Wirral Metropolitan College and in Newcastle.

POSTAL WORKERS at the giant Mount Pleasant office in central London are waiting to hear if their site is to lose 1,600 jobs. Royal Mail plans to shift most of Britain's international mail work to a new "greenfield" site at Langley near Slough in Berkshire. That would mean huge job losses at Mount Pleasant - and at Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Reading and Dover. The key date is 15 November when the Royal Mail board meets.

"I'VE BEEN a Labour Party member for many years. But I'm so angry at the government that I came out with a torrent of abuse when someone rang me to donate to the Labour Party election fund. I'm giving the money to Socialist Worker instead." So said pensioner Thelma Battersby as she handed £5 to a Socialist Worker seller in Birmingham last week.