TMP Online

So two weeks in, Osborne is able to keep his pledge on making £6,000,000,000 of cuts this year. Well what he has announced proves that he is actually making £5,700,000,000, as he is “redirecting” £500 million, which means he is £300 million pounds short of his pledge.

Whilst the city and business leaders have applauded the “fair but painful” cuts, they note that it will not affect most of the city. Yes some small business will feel the pain particular government contractors and businesses in the IT sector but the Markets and Richard Lambert, head of the Confederation of British Industry could barely contain his joy as taxes will not be raised on the rich, which was the real fear.

(continue reading…)

From the International Collective of Prostitutes

A malicious prosecution with a happy ending.

On Thursday 29 April, in Luton Crown Court, Claire Finch was found NOT GUILTY of a criminal charge of keeping a brothel.  The jury, in line with public opinion, refused to criminalise Ms Finch for working together with friends from her own home for safety.  Ms Finch, her friends and colleagues, her legal team and the English Collective of Prostitutes which co-ordinated the case, celebrated this victory for rights and safety.

Claire Finch

This case is a precedent – it forges a way for sex workers to work together from premises.  Thousands of women who want to protect their safety now have the possibility of a legal defence against criminal charges.  Sex workers are 10 times more likely to be attacked on the street than indoors, and it is much safer to work with someone else than to work alone.  Yet the law expressly forbids this – two or more women working together are classified as a brothel.

(continue reading…)

From Workers’ Climate Action:

On Saturday 22 May, Workers’ Climate Action will be organising a critical mass bike ride in solidarity with the BA cabin crew workers’ struggle and in defence of the right to strike.

UPDATE
British Airways bosses have once again secured a high court injunction against the strike on the basis of a technicality with the balloting process. This represents a further attack on working-class democracy and civil liberties in general; workers who voted overwhelmingly to strike are having their right to do so taken away from them and are expected to simply accept, without any option to protest or dissent, contractual changes in which they had no say whatsoever.

Judges have ruled that the BA strike, recently banned by the High Court on a balloting technicality (see here), can go ahead (see the BBC website and the Guardian website for more).

(continue reading…)

I was hoping to take a little bit of a break after successfully campaigning against the British National Party in the run up to the British general and local elections. However at the early hours of Tuesday 18th May, I received an email from Junya Lek Yimprasert, founder of Thai Labour Campaign, asking for solidarity and a demonstration in support of the people of Thailand for Thursday 20th May.

Junya Lek Yimprasert

My initial reaction was “not bloody likely!” but then moments later I heard on BBC Radio 4, a report about the violence and I guessed that the government preparing for an onslaught against the “Red Shirts” in the occupied commercial district of Bangkok.

(continue reading…)

A peaceful demonstration will be taking place at the Royal Thai Embassy, in Westminster in response to the extrajudicial killings of protestors in Bangkok yesterday.

The ongoing political crisis in Thailand starting from the military crackdown on the protesters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the “Red Shirts”, since 10 April have led to the death of at least 70 people. The Thai government under the leadership of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva has clearly violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights regarding the rights to life of the protesters.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Article 6: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

(continue reading…)