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Longstanding socialist Chanie Rosenberg's Lips sculpture has won a place in the Royal Academy's prestigious summer exhibition. If you want to visit the exhibition it is at Burlington House, London, W1J. Nearest tube Piccadilly Circus.

AROUND 10,000 people marched in London last Saturday against the great pensions robbery. The demonstration was organised by the TUC.

PLANNED ACTION by steel erectors, pipe fitters and welders to hit construction work on high-profile sites for this week has been called off after employers rushed to negotiate a deal. The relatively small group of specialised workers were due to strike at Heathrow's Terminal 5 and Wembley Stadium in London as well as BP Grangemouth, BNG Sellafield and Novartis Grimsby.

ACTIVISTS IN train drivers' union Aslef are battling to undo the damage wrought by a bitter faction fight among their top national officials. Anti-union commentators have seized on reports of a brawl at a barbecue held at the union's headquarters in north London.

RAIL AND London Underground workers are set to stage a one-day strike, called by their RMT union. Over 7,500 signallers, station staff and maintenance workers at rail infrastructure company Network Rail are due to strike for 24 hours from 6.30pm on Tuesday.

KEPT IN the dark and fed bullshit. That's exactly how mushroom pickers working in Britain felt after a ruling over their pay by the High Court in London last week. These workers, like many in the agriculture industry, suffer low pay and long hours. They were pleased with a decision from the Agricultural Workers Board to increase their pay this October.

The Respect vote around the country Lindsey German, Respect candidate for London mayor, wins fifth place-beating the British National Party and others London mayoral elections (first preferences)

Grassroots campaigns that built an anti-war alternative to New Labour

RMT MEMBERS on the Mitcham Belle bus company in south London struck for union recognition on Monday of this week. They are also set to strike on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Union members voted by 69 to four in favour of strike action after management refused to negotiate with the RMT.

THE LECTURERS' union Natfhe has called a boycott of links with London Metropolitan University after management issued dismissal notices to 387 academic staff. The boycott, called by Natfhe's higher education national committee, is the first step in what union activists hope will be determined resistance. Other university bosses are looking to see if LMU is able to get away with its bullying tactics.

SIMON HUGHES, the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor, made a surprise announcement at the Muslim Council for Britain hustings last week. "I want to bring the troops home immediately," he said. "That's the first time I've heard that," shot back Lindsey German, Respect's mayoral candidate.

IF YOU live in the same place for more than 20 years, you start noticing things. You find yourself thinking things like-Didn't that used to be a school? Wasn't that a park? I've lived in the London borough of Hackney for nearly 30 years so I have a sense of things changing.