England Follow

Alem is 14. He is both Eritrean and Ethiopian, and Eritrea and Ethiopia are at war. Alem's father finds that his family is unwelcome in either country. He brings Alem to Britain and leaves him there, where he thinks he will be safe. The book follows Alem as he gets to grips with England, the weather and the immigration system. He suffers many major setbacks.

The Socialist Alliance in England held its biggest ever conference in London last Saturday. Nearly 700 people came together to discuss how to turn the Socialist Alliance into a more effective, outward looking organisation. The day kicked off with an anti-war rally. There was an enthusiastic reception for guest speaker Gennoro Highore from the left wing Communist Refoundation in Italy.

Bus strikes get results Bus workers in two Stagecoach companies in Hastings and the north east of England have voted to accept improved pay offers. Two days of strike action by workers in Teesside, Hartlepool and Darlington forced Stagecoach management to increase their offer to a flat rate of £6 an hour.

Stagecoach bus workers in the north east of England held another one-day strike on Monday of this week to force the company to increase their pay. The workers in Teesside, Hartlepool and Darlington are due to be joined by fellow workers in the AEEU union who maintain the buses.

BUS WORKERS employed by the giant Stagecoach company in the north east of England have voted for a series of one-day strikes over pay, due to start on Friday of this week. Multi-millionaire Brian Souter runs Stagecoach.

NEW LABOUR has enraged charities by breaking its pledge over care for the elderly. The government's new system for nursing care for people in England came in this week.

I WORK at a school in north west England. I was very shocked by the deaths at the World Trade Centre and I still feel horrified whenever I see the pictures on the television. But I am also very determined that this horror should not lead to others, such as the further destruction of Afghanistan.

OVER 400 angry UNISON members met last week to plan a campaign against privatisation proposals in Nottinghamshire county council. The chief executive, who is about to take up the post of director general for schools in England, is pushing for over 600 jobs to be handed to a private company.

SCOTTISH Power workers are voting on strikes against attempts to cut jobs and worsen conditions. Scottish Power is a multinational which operates in North Wales and north west England as well as Scotland.

HUNDREDS OF Albanian football supporters travelling to watch their team play England in a World Cup qualifier were banned from entering the UK last week. Were these football hooligans intent on causing trouble? No.

SOME 230 people demonstrated in Hereford on Saturday against the impact of a PFI scheme on the Hereford Hospitals Trust. Over half the protesters were health workers. "This is supposed to be Middle England," one told Socialist Worker. "But we are protesting because jobs and services are under threat due to privatisation.

DAVID BLUNKETT, the home secretary, has banned the Anti Nazi League (ANL) carnival in Burnley set for 1 September. The carnival was to be a celebration of multiracial society in the face of the support for the Nazi British National Party (BNP) in the north west of England in the recent general election.