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NEW LABOUR is highly selective about the countries it chooses to condemn over human rights abuses. The government's dossier graphically describes torture methods under Saddam Hussein. Yet it does not detail the torture and repression that is carried out by regimes that are allies of the US and Britain.

THE INQUIRY into Bloody Sunday, the day in January 1972 when British paratroopers killed 14 unarmed civilians, continues to expose the violence and lies at the heart of the British state.

SOME 40 percent of people in Britain firmly oppose war on Iraq, according to a poll on Monday. You wouldn't get that impression from the debate over Iraq in parliament that same day. Most of the debate was over how to wage a war.

THE GOVERNMENT says it would cost too much to pay the firefighters a decent wage. Ministers can't pretend that Britain is not rich enough to fund such an increase.

ONE PERSON you won't see running into burning buildings to rescue people is Jean-Pierre Garnier. He's the boss of the British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline who has achieved notoriety by announcing that he can't survive on his £7 million annual salary. It's not enough, he says, to "keep him motivated". He wants more to continue running the company from his penthouse in Philadelphia. That's global capitalism for you - a British drugs firm run by a French man from the US.

BRITAIN'S BOSSES were under siege at their annual conference in Manchester this week. Hundreds of anti-war and anti-capitalist protesters stormed the conference centre on Sunday. That was just one of a wave of protests that greeted the conference. The fat cats of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) gathered in Manchester's plush GMEX centre.

"SHOCKED". "DISGUSTED". "Horrified". Those were the reactions of many people on the streets of Blackburn last weekend. The Nazi British National Party won a council by-election in the Lancashire town that is the parliamentary seat of New Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw. The Nazi candidate was elected by a 16-vote margin in the town's Mill Hill ward on Thursday of last week.

SOME 50,000 pensioners had their income cut by 20 percent last week. The announcement came from one of Britain's biggest insurance companies, Equitable Life. Yet New Labour still wants to make us all rely on private pensions. The average Equitable pension, built up by people saving for many years, is £6,000 a year.

AN EMPLOYMENT tribunal has been hearing shocking allegations of brutal and racist bullying in the British army. Timur Kalayaci had lived all his life in Hackney, east London. Like many people in Hackney he is of Turkish background. He is also a Muslim. He joined the army, believing all the propaganda about serving queen and country, and the image of "equal opportunities" the army has pushed in recent years.

THE WORLD is much closer to a terrifying war after the United Nations Security Council vote last week. "Senior British and US officials say that both George Bush and Tony Blair privately regard war against Saddam as inevitable," reported the Observer on Sunday.

"THE BEST army in the world." This is how the New Labour government and right wing papers like the Sun describe the British army. As Britain gears up to back George Bush's planned attack on Iraq they will be piling on the pro-war and pro-army propaganda. Through the media they promote the image of "our brave boys" putting their lives at risk to defend democracy.

CRANE DRIVERS stopped work at sites across Britain on Monday to hold protest meetings about their pay and conditions. Some 80 drivers attended in Wembley, London, and meetings took place at another five sites including Manchester and Glasgow.