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Of themselves, elections don’t change anything. They act as a barometer of the deeper social forces at work. But that doesn’t mean that elections are irrelevant. Only a fool would say that the victory of the Tories under Margaret Thatcher in 1979 had no effect on British society.

Retirement New work and pensions minister David Blunkett is set to step up the attack on pensions in the public and private sectors. He is expected to announce his plans after the publication of a report by former Confederation of British Industry chief Adair Turner. The queen’s speech also confirmed government plans to savage housing and incapacity benefits.

The fascist British National Party (BNP) did not enter the general election expecting to win a parliamentary seat. But it did hope to increase its share of the vote in a number of areas, building a base for next year’s local elections.

More than 60 engineers who look after domestic gas equipment in London staged a one-day strike on Monday of last week.

Bradford on Avon

There are two big issues with nuclear weapons coming up during Blair’s third term. Firstly Blair has said that a decision will need to be made during this parliament on whether to replace Trident — Britain’s nuclear weapons system.

"Apart from George Galloway’s success, candidates standing for the anti-war Respect party won an average of 6.9 percent of the vote, easily the best performance by a far left party in British electoral history."John Curtice, Professor of politics at Strathclyde university

The general election results have demonstrated that millions of people are deeply alienated from the entire political establishment. British politics is fracturing and being shaken up in an extremely volatile manner.

The fascist British National Party (BNP) made some gains at the general election, but failed to make any serious breakthroughs in its target areas.

As the sun came up over Brick Lane on Friday a new dawn had truly broken over the East End of London — and over British politics.

The pillage of Magdala is well documented in contemporary British accounts.

Newham, the borough which encompasses West Ham, is now one of the most ethnically mixed areas of Britain. Black and Asian people who arrived from the 1950s onwards have added to the area’s battling tradition by facing down racists and Nazis.