England Follow

UP TO 1.2 million workers plan to strike next Wednesday in what will be the biggest strike action since Tony Blair was first elected in 1997. The strike is by workers in almost 500 local councils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The workers are fighting against low pay. It is a battle everyone should support.

THE TRANSPORT firm Arriva is due to face action by two groups of angry workers this week. Arriva bus workers in Northumberland are set to hold a further one-day strike over pay on Friday of this week. Arriva Trains Northern conductors are then due to strike the next day, Saturday 13 July, in their ongoing dispute over pay. Their action will affect services across the north of England.

A HOMELESS man starved to death after his benefits were stopped and he could not afford food. Martin Bowen was reduced to living in a tent within yards of the Tesco supermarket in Reading. The father of one had lived there for six years, after a broken relationship led him into a spiral of decline. Martin died within sight of all the food on sale in the store.

THE NATIONAL conference of the giant public sector union Unison took place in Bournemouth last week, as 800,000 of the union's members in local councils in England and Wales balloted on strikes over pay. If that ballot, and similar ballots in the GMB and TGWU unions, are successful a massive one-day national strike of council workers could take place on Wednesday 17 July.

RACISTS HAVE been going on the rampage in a series of shocking attacks in Burnley and Oldham in north west England. These attacks are the direct result of the Nazi British National Party encouraging racist hatred in the area.

MANY PEOPLE have heard about the great revolution in France in 1789. But they think nothing much happened in Britain at that time. This is not true. The events inspired political and economic revolution in Britain and led to the birth of a new class. Eighteenth century Britain was shaped by the revolution that took place in England much earlier, in the 1640s.

OVER 100 elected reps from branches of the Unison union in the south west of England met in Gloucester last week at the union's regional council. They voted overwhelmingly to support the European Social Forum. Representatives at the the regional council also agreed to send a delegation to Florence in Italy from 7 to 10 November.

ABOUT HALF the 210 children at Christopher Hatton Primary School do not have English as their mother tongue.

LECTURERS HAVE voted to walk out of further education (FE) colleges across England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The vote was two to one for strikes in a ballot with a 44 percent turnout. The lecturers, who are members of the Natfhe union, are incensed at the 1.5 percent pay rise being offered by their employers, the Association of Colleges. It is below the level of inflation and amounts to a pay cut.

THE NATIONAL council of the Socialist Alliance, with delegates from groups across England, met last Saturday in London. The meeting took place a week after the local council elections, where the Socialist Alliance achieved some very good results. Liz Davies, national chair of the alliance, said, "The results show that we are here and here to stay, and serious about campaigning on a grassroots level. We still have a long way to go, but the results put the Socialist Alliance on the map as a player in British politics."

THE LOCAL elections in England show how limited democracy is under capitalism. It's not just the precious little difference between the mainstream parties' policies. The whole system operates by removing the most powerful institutions in society from any democratic accountability. Ordinary people have no say over decisions with the biggest impact on their lives.

YOU WOULDN'T know it from newspapers and TV, but across England thousands voted for socialist candidates in last week's local elections. The Socialist Alliance stood 230 candidates on a platform of left wing opposition to the mainstream pro-business parties. Consistently between 5 and 10 percent of voters cast one of their votes for the alliance.