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Teachers in London are to ballot for strike action over pay. Ballot papers will go out to over 40,000 members of the NUT union the week after next. Teachers will vote on a one-day strike over the allowances paid for working in London and neighbouring areas.

Over 70 people went to a teach-in against the war at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London last Saturday. The event was called by the Stop the War Coalition. It attracted a new audience of people who have just started to get involved in opposing the war.

Tens of thousands more workers in London are to be balloted on possible action over pay. Council workers, health workers, higher education admin workers and more could be united in a vote across the capital which could pave the way for action. We reported in Socialist Worker last week that delegates from Unison union branches across London had backed an indicative vote among council workers.

"There is no longer a case of a winter beds crisis-there is a total beds crisis all the time." That was the reaction of a worker at the Whittington Hospital in north London after the furore that erupted over the treatment of 94 year old Rose Addis. Rose's family complained that she was left unwashed for three days in the hospital's casualty department.

Over 85,000 Unison union members working in local councils across London are moving towards action over pay. In a few weeks workers in all the 32 London councils will be taking part in an indicative ballot organised by the union. If that goes well a ballot on action will follow, and could coincide with May's council elections.

The Anti Nazi League will be holding its conference in early March as the fight to stop Britain's Nazis moves into a crucial phase. The Nazis are convinced that they can win council seats in the local elections in May 2002. The BNP and NF Nazis are targeting areas across Britain including the north west, the Midlands, the north east and east London.

Message from the West Bank SOMETHING important happened last night. We were watching MBC, an Arab TV station seen by millions of people in the Middle East. News from London was shown, with people demonstrating at Selfridges, the big store in Oxford Street.

Campaigning against New Labour's attacks on the NHS, Socialist Worker sellers received a great reception. On Saturday Manchester sold 187 copies of Socialist Worker, while in north London 80 were sold in Wood Green and 71 in Dalston.

A campaign has been set up at London Guildhall University after management pressurised the student union president and a vice-president into resigning. The university then replaced them with its own unelected appointees.

A CENTRAL London meeting organised by Globalise Resistance last week saw some 150 people attend a discussion on the crisis in Argentina.

PRO-PALESTINIAN activists returned to top London store Selfridges last Saturday. Before Christmas the store agreed to stop stocking goods labelled "Made in Israel" which had been made illegally in occupied Palestinian territories. The store's bosses came under huge pressure to restock the goods. The Israeli ambassador in London toured the shop.

PARENTS, STAFF and the local Socialist Alliance are set to fight against New Labour's plans to close nine council nurseries across the west London borough of Ealing. Four of the nurseries cater for under-fives with special needs. Ealing council is viciously hacking back services. The closures will hit voters in key Labour wards in Acton and Southall.