In the report to Sandwell Council's Planning Committee two weeks ago the local police said they had no problem about establishing a casino in a quiet residential area, because if anything, casinos can lead to a reduction in crime. Thankfully, the Planning Committee still rejected the ridiculous casino proposal... and in the meantime, two miles away, the police can get to work on this.
Stop stealing our F****ing signs! Must be worth a bob or two on Ebay.
Tony Woodley is right. The law on solidarity action should be changed by a Labour Government. Workers should be allowed to stand up for weaker colleagues being attacked by a third party employer. Currently Tory controlled Walsall Council is proposing to "hive off" over 2,000 staff to three different employers. The new employers, Fujitsu, Vertex and United Utilities, although acting as a single consortium, are adamant that the transferred workers, although being transferred under the same TUPE conditions, will work for individual and separate employers, with distinct and separate bargaining 'rights'. Thereby making any solidarity action taken by employees from across the companies immediately unlawful, and the workers will find their action will be be "repudiated" by cowering union full-time officials anxious not to have their company cars sequestrated. These are all workers carrying out work for what is, fundamentally, the same employer: Walsall Council. Any action should be considered in that light, and employers shouldn't be able to hide behind the labels of privatisation.
Letter in The Guardian
I am mystified by the fuss Israel is making over the removal of 2% of its illegal settlers from the Occupied Territories. Israel managed to ethnically cleanse half a million Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war. In recent years, it has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes. So are we supposed to be so impressed by the "trauma" of removing 8,000 squatters from Gaza, that we no longer expect Israel to abide by 30 years of international laws demanding the removal of the other 98% of settlers from the Occupied Territories?
Chris Webster
Abergavenny
That should be enough to get the loathsome Melanie Phillips spitting blood.
