Monthly Archives: August, 2009
Last WW1 Veteran Dies
The last surviving soldier from the First World War has finally been laid to rest at St Michael’s Church, alongside his parents and brother, near Bath. Harry Patch, who died on 25th July, aged 111, fought in the trenches during the First World War and later became critical of those who glory in war. Born [...]
Jobless Figures Escalate
The number of unemployed people has increased by 753,000 to reach 2.38 million, the largest increase since records began in 1971, according to figures just published by the National Statistics Office. Other figures reveal that the total number of people in employment for the three months to May 2009 has fallen to just under 29 [...]
Fightback at Tower Hamlets College
On 5th June the Principal of Tower Hamlets College, Michael Farley, emailed staff a document called ‘Securing the Future’ that hit us like a tsunami. The ensuing 30-day ‘consultation process’ has left us with the following: Redundancies (voluntary and compulsory) in the region of 30 ‘full-time equivalents’ (i.e. about 50 members of staff). The loss [...]
Learning Wisden
It’s summer and it’s raining outside so it must be time for the tender thwack of leather on willow – no we’re not turning Freedom into a bondage mag, it’s Cricket. Torn between ‘anyone but England’ revolutionary defeatism and an unwillingness to hang corks from our hats, Freedom takes no position on the Ashes test [...]
Spitalfields Fair
Whitechapel Anarchist Group (WAG) staged a revival of the ancient tradition of Spitalfields Fair on Sunday 25th July. Allen Gardens just off Brick Lane was the location for six hours of merriment followed by a demonstration of practical support for local hostelries and ale houses hard hit by the depression. Kicking off at high noon, [...]
Dismissed Tube Workers To Sue Bosses
Glasgow underground bosses face lawsuit over using CCTV to catch ‘skiving’ staff Track maintenance workers forced to resign at the beginning of July are set to sue Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) for the misuse of surveillance cameras to illegally spy on them. Company bosses at SPT, the authority that oversees west Scotland’s transport network [...]
Landlords Benefit From Housing Change
Poorest to get less whilst private landlords get cash bonus The Local Housing Allowance, introduced at the beginning of 2008, was a welcome, if flawed attempt to overhaul the shambolic Housing Benefit system. Previously Housing Benefit rates were an esoteric secret known only to a handful of officials at the Department of Work and Pensions [...]
Only One Convicted For RWB
An anti-fascist has pleaded guilty at South Derby Magistrates court to assaulting police at the protests against the British National Party’s (BNP) Red, White and Blue (RWB) festival last summer. He was the only person charged after 33 anti-fascists were arrested en masse during confrontations with police on the opening day of the weekend festival [...]
Vestas Still In Occupation
At time of going to press, workers at the Vestas Blades UK Ltd wind turbine manufacturers on the Isle of Wight are still in occupation. Workers took action on the 20th July, frustrated by the imminent transfer of production to the USA with the subsequent loss of 600 jobs, and also to highlight the hypocrisy [...]
Impersonating ‘Murderers’
CPS decision to prosecute the Space Hijackers The investigation into the G20 have at last resulted in charges. Not of any of the cops involved in Ian Tomlinson’s death of course, that would be ridiculous. Instead eleven people from the Space Hijackers group have been charged with ‘impersonating police officers’ and ‘wearing items of police [...]
