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Glasgow's dustcart workers went on strike in June 1975. As they fought for parity of pay with other HGV drivers 60,000 tons of rubbish built up. The new film Ratcatcher is set in the slum tenements of Glasgow during the strike. James, a young boy, ekes out a miserable existence. His home is an overcrowded slum. His family has no money. He accidentally drowns his friend and has to watch his family mourn.

THE INQUEST into the death of 28 year old Peter Knox began this week. He was found dead in Belmarsh prison in January. He was the fourteenth prisoner to die in Belmarsh since it opened in 1981. A recent report produced by the inspector of prisons showed that between 1988 and 1998 there were 600 "self inflicted" deaths in prison custody. Peter's family says he should have been in a hospital due to a mental condition.

THE POLICE Complaints Authority is to investigate eight officers who were called to investigate a racist attack on a black college lecturer but who then, allegedly, beat up the lecturer. Denese Mapp is a science lecturer at Haringey College in north London. She says she phoned the police after a man threatened her with a knife and shouted racist abuse at her family.