Britain Follow

'From the hotel rooftop we can see the whole of Baghdad. As night falls sporadic gunfire starts. The city rests under an uneasy curfew.'

ANOTHER MONTH, another resignation from the British National Party. Blackburn councillor Robin Evans has quit the BNP.

IT'S OFFICIAL. US president George Bush will make a state visit to Britain in just over five weeks time, on 19, 20 and 21 November.

TWO OF Britain's biggest multinational corporations are at the centre of protests gripping Bolivia.

AROUND 20,000 workers at Rolls Royce aerospace plants across Britain are set to ballot on strikes over an attack on pension rights.

TRAIN CLEANERS on many of Britain's major railway lines are balloting on strikes over pay.

THE ELECTION for deputy general secretary of the TGWU union, one of Britain's most important unions, is taking place.

A Hartlepool shipyard is trying to make money out of importing 13 old US warships contaminated with dangerous and banned pollutants such as asbestos. But the Maritime and Coastguard Agency says the ships are dangerous, and recommends that the 4,500-mile trip to Britain be put off until further inspections have been made.

HUGE NUMBERS of people marched through the streets of London last Saturday against the occupation of Iraq. Most wanted regime change too-here in Britain. The 100,000-strong protest was called by the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, and took place on the eve of the Labour Party conference.

IF YOU believed the lifestyle supplements, TV ads and government talk of an "aspirational society" you would think most people in Britain had never had it so good.

IN 1998 a relatively unknown train driver from Leeds, Mick Rix, won the general secretary election in Aslef. He was the first in a series of new left wing trade union leaders now known as the "awkward squad". Their election signalled a wider radicalisation taking place inside Britain's trade union movement.

AROUND 350 people crammed into a meeting at Leeds University on Thursday of last week to hear Labour MP George Galloway, Kate Hudson of CND and Anas Al-Tikriti of the Muslim Association of Great Britain.