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The fascist British National Party (BNP) suffered a major setback on Thursday night when it was comprehensively defeated in a council by-election in Barking, east London.

It came as an insult when the Live8 organisers forgot to put any African artists in their line-up in London. Many of these artists regularly fill concert venues in Britain, France and have a huge following across the African continent.

"For Pity's Sake, Let Them Stay!" So ran one newspaper headline last month, in response to the hunger strike by scores of Zimbabwean asylum seekers in British detention centres.

Craigmillar is the fourth poorest estate in Britain. The council decided to put the G8 campsite there, which provides camping for 15,000 people.

One of the most significant factors in the march was its internationalism. African Drop the Debt campaigners protested alongside British Asians from Islamic Relief.

Never before has the issue of global justice been so central to British politics.

I bet you didn’t know that Air Marshal Glenn Torpy is head of British military operations. Last week this obscure figure told the Daily Telegraph that he expected operations in Iraq to reach a "satisfactory conclusion" in the next 18 months.

British workers were very active in providing solidarity for Portuguese workers before and during the revolution. Bruno Ponte and Clara Queiroz were Portuguese exiles from fascism living in Edinburgh before the 1974 revolution.

Class polarisation in Britain is growing. The figures for the distribution of wealth in society fly in the face of the idea that most people are contented, while only a minority at the bottom face the harsh realities associated with being working class.

Some 83 percent of the British public want Tony Blair to challenge George Bush over the issue of climate change at next month’s G8 summit according to a Guardian/ICM opinion poll. But Blair has shown no sign of being willing to do this.

After last week’s argument about the British rebate and the Common Agricultural Policy at the European Union (EU) summit, Tony Blair has set himself up as the champion of "New Europe".

One million children in Britain live in poor quality housing. Council house building has practically ceased and millions of people are too poor to buy a home. Millions more live in fear of a rise in interest rates that will make their mortgage unpayable. New Labour has no solution to the crisis except sell-offs and privatisation. But past struggles show how we can fight back.