Glasgow Follow

AN EXCELLENT 25 copies of Socialist Worker were sold at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley while 12 were sold at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Elsewhere 11 papers were sold at Royal Liverpool Hospital with £11 collected for the Socialist Worker Appeal. In the last week 5 people have joined the Socialist Workers Party in Birmingham; 4 at a public meeting in Hackney; 2 in Camberwell and at the University of Central England; 1 in Neath, Romford, Kent University, Toxteth, Wirral Metropolitan College and in Newcastle.

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 SCOTTISH Socialist Party's "Socialism 2000" conference took place in Glasgow last weekend against the background of growing dissatisfaction with the Scottish Parliament's failure to deliver change. That desire for change translated into a huge vote for the left at the parliament's first elections last May. Some 100,000 people across Scotland voted for socialist candidates in the elections. Scottish Socialist Party member Tommy Sheridan was elected to the Scottish Parliament.

ABOUT 50 people attended a counter-demonstration to face down an annual anti-abortion commemoration in Glasgow last week. The anti-abortion "vigil", on the anniversary of the passing of the act which legalised abortion in Britain in 1967, was much smaller than in previous years. The pro-choice lobby included health workers, lecturers and students. Men joined women in with angry chants of, "No return to the backstreet - a woman's right to choose", and, "Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate."

POSTAL WORKERS at the giant Mount Pleasant office in central London are waiting to hear if their site is to lose 1,600 jobs. Royal Mail plans to shift most of Britain's international mail work to a new "greenfield" site at Langley near Slough in Berkshire. That would mean huge job losses at Mount Pleasant - and at Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Reading and Dover. The key date is 15 November when the Royal Mail board meets.

Scottish director Bill Forsyth's new film Gregory's Two Girls is on general release. By choosing to make a belated sequel to his 1981 film, Forsyth has taken a calculated risk. The original Gregory's Girl was a gem of a film. It was a story about working class teenagers set in the new town of Cumbernauld on the outskirts of Glasgow. It made Forsyth's name as an accomplished film maker. He went on to make the whimsical Local Hero and the much underrated Comfort and Joy.

THE VERDICT in the long running union disciplinary case against Glasgow UNISON activist Roddy Slorach has been adjourned until 16 November. Roddy's reconvened hearing last week saw him rebut the union leaders' allegations against him. Scottish UNISON secretary Matt Smith, who carried out the initial investigation into Roddy, was not even present.