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POLITICIANS HAVE said that the allegations of torture by British troops have impugned the reputation of the army. In fact, torture is a weapon long used by the British army to terrorise those who have challenged its imperial power.

TENANTS AND trade unionists from across Britain were travelling to the House of Commons this week to lobby their MPs and attend an important meeting about council housing. It is the All-Party Council Housing group of MPs' inquiry and meeting on the \"Fourth Option\".

IRAQ 2004: Blair claimed that he would bring human rights to Iraq. This picture shows US troops torturing an Iraqi in Saddam Hussein's old torture chamber. On page five we prove that British troops are also involved in torture. The brutality and killing will continue until we...

TOP BRITISH companies have dodged their taxes to the tune of £1 billion. Thirty companies are being investigated for their tax avoidance schemes. Accountancy firms such as Ernst & Young devise the schemes and sell them to companies.

AFTER BOARDING a Lithuania Airlines aircraft to photograph celebrations marking the country's entry into the European Union (EU), I was absolutely appalled to find three Lithuanian women being deported in shackles. With them were three terrified unaccompanied children. British immigration officials had one child in a neck lock, and one woman in an arm lock-all were screaming in fear and pain.

SHOCKED, YES. Certainly disgusted. But no one, least of all the British and US governments, should be surprised by the revelations of systematic torture of Iraqi detainees. The pictures from Abu Ghraib prison broadcast on US television last week are the latest confirmation of what people in Iraq, human rights organisations and soldiers speaking anonymously have been saying for a year.

UNITE AGAINST Fascism is the biggest anti-fascist movement in Britain since the 1970s. It has brought together anti-racist activists, the Muslim Council of Britain and socialists with youth clubs and musicians. Every trade union has signed up. Unite is planning to take the campaign to the next stage with five big festivals in areas that the Nazi BNP are targeting in the 10 June election (see below for details). The first of these took place in Sunderland on Monday of this week, with at least 8,000 people during the day. There will also be a national campaign of mass leafleting.

'DOOMED TO failure.\" That was the conclusion of 52 ambassadors and top officials in a letter to Tony Blair slamming his relationship with Bush and his policies on Iraq and Palestine. These officials come from one of the most privileged and loyal layers of the British establishment.

THE BRITISH National Party's attempt to hold a fundraising event with the French Nazi leader Jean-Marie Le Pen spectacularly backfired last Sunday. A campaign organised by Unite Against Fascism trashed any hope the BNP had of favourable press coverage for their \"respectable\" black-tie dinner with Le Pen.

THE FRENCH Nazi leader Le Pen was due to come to Birmingham on Sunday. The leader of the National Front organisation announced on his website this week that he was planning an \"official visit\" in England on Sunday. He was likely to be speaking at an £80 a head fundraising dinner for the British National Party (BNP) in the West Midlands.

ONE MILLION children are living in housing that stunts their health and education, according to a study last week by housing charity Shelter. It found the number of homeless families has increased 31 percent since New Labour was elected in May 1997. There is a housing crisis in Britain. We now have the lowest level of housebuilding since the Second World War. Council housing is virtually not built any more.

SCORES OF local councils claiming to have \"ethical\" investment policies own shares in Britain's leading arms export companies. The Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) has uncovered the roll of shame after a study of company documents, and published its findings last week.