April 2005 Archive 

Links: Twenty years on Ann Suddick of Women Against Pit Closures recalls the miners’ strike and its lessons for today’s global justice campaigners.

Trade Unions Protest in Romania Amongst the slew of changes in Romania recently, the only one to unite the trade unions in opposition is the proposed change to the Work Code.

Doing it for the kiddies

Dear Subcomandauntie,

I’ve just been sent £256 from Gordon Brown’s Child Trust Fund (CTF) to invest for my nine-month-old daughter’s future, but I don’t have a clue what to do with it. I understand I can either invest it in stocks and shares or a bank or building society account. Is there an ethical option?

Yours, Sleepless in E9

Institutionalised spite Introduced by Labour largely to protect working class families on inner-city estates from the menace of antisocial behaviour, how could you not applaud Asbos? Because, writes Chris Quayle, they don’t work, have absolutely no regard for the niceties of normal legal process, and are an excuse for completely ignoring the causes of antisocial behaviour in the first place.

Judge gives green light to police containment tactics Alex Nunns reports on the Mayday case in which he appeared as a witness for the prosecution

The Bluffer’s Guide to… the Bolkestein directive on services Preying on your apathy and sunny personalities, free-market lunatics embedded in Brussels are trying to sneak through reforms of the services sector that would effectively steamroller national regulatory systems out of existence. By Graham Copp

The Olympics and the City Oscar Reyes went to Athens to look at how the Olympics affected the life of the city, and found a legacy of privatization and surveillance. Back in London, he draws the lessons for the capital’s own Olympic Bid.

Respect where it’s due? Is George Galloway’s ‘unity coalition’ the model of how a new party can break into a closed political system, or just a single-issue organisation with no prospects beyond the East End of London? Natasha Grzincic reports