Britain

At least 800 people participated in the TUC march and lobby of the Lib
Dem conference this morning (Saturday) in Gateshead. Meanwhile inside
the Conference Centre the Lib Dem leadership are coming under pressure
from their own members who are not surprisingly worried that the party
faces electoral disaster.

The campaign against the government’s plans to attack Health Service
Pensions has been strengthened over the last few days as the results of
consultation by trade unions and professional bodies on the proposed
deal. This is despite the government’s position that they have presented
their final offer.

All eyes are on 28 March. This will see the next mass strike by
public sector workers in defence of their pensions.  Over a million
workers are likely to participate, including fire fighters, who did not
participate in theaction on 30th November.

“The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it." (Aneurin Bevan)  Despite the ambitions of Bevan’s
present day counterpart to dismantle a system of which Britain can be
proud, the words of the miner’s son seem to be holding true, considering
the widespread opposition to the implementation of the Health and
Social Care Bill. The Bill is based on government proposals to reform
the NHS, released in in July 2010 as a document titled ‘Equity and
excellence: Liberating the NHS’, more commonly known as the White Pape

The Coalition government is very keen to tell us at every
given opportunity that we are “all in this together” even as they announce cut
after cut. However, a new report published by the TUC has revealed a very
different truth about how the working class has been affected in recent years.

The latest shocking unemployment figures provide grim
evidence of the real affects of the crisis and the measures being taken by the
Coalition government to “resolve” it. Women and youth have again been hit
hardest.

For the government and the City of London, the ‘austerity’
measures are all about cold balance sheets, charts and slashing figures on
computer screens. However these cuts are also about real people facing real
misery.

It will go down in the annals of the labour movement as one of the
greatest victories that has ever been achieved in Britain. Forty years
ago to the day, when the NUM was picketing the Saltley Coke works in
Birmingham, some 30 to 40,000 engineering workers struck in support
across the city.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: A new two-handed version of Stephen Lowe’s original
adaptation of Robert Tressell’s book.

ON TOUR THROUGHOUT 2012 – read on for more info

When things get bad the ruling class has been known – if all else fails –
to turn on its own "for the greater good." With all the anger
continuing to boil up over the cuts and the role of the bankers, the
government decided it was time for a sacrificial lamb to come forward.
So this week "Fred the Shred" – Fred Goodwin – got his knighthood taken
away from him. The former head of RBS was told that he was being
punished for helping to bring down the world financial markets.