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Trade union Amicus has written to Land Rover, asking them to resume talks to resolve the pay dispute at the Solihull and Gaydon plants in the West Midlands.
TGWU and Amicus members at Land Rover are due to hold another 24-hour stoppage on Monday 9 February after holding a successful strike on Monday 26 January.
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Going to press on 21 January, we do not know what the Hutton Report will say about whether the Blair government culpably exposed government scientist David Kelly to the pressures which led him to suicide.
We know about Katharine Gun, though. And Baha Mousa, Kifa Taha, and Abd al-Jabbar Mossa.
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Cecilia Prosper, former Islington UNISON steward, Socialist Alliance candidate in North-East London in the GLA 2000 elections, and a member of the Socialist Workers Party, has died of cancer at the age of 44. Cecilia was victimised from her job at Islington council after a strike in the late 1990s, but led the appeal which indicted the council. Our sympathy and condolences to her family and many friends. A memorial event will be announced shortly.
Details: Socialist Worker website
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Hugh McGrillen, a long-time MSF left activist and for many years London regional secretary of the MSF, has died of cancer. Hugh, a qualified chemist, worked as an advice worker at the London Hazards Centre. He was also a member of the Irish national chess team.
In 1999 the London Region of the MSF was excluded from voting in the Labour Party mayoral ballot on the utterly spurious grounds of late payment of affiliation. Hugh and his comrades fought the exclusion.
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By Gerry Bates
Railway privatisation has been a disaster, for passengers, for railworkers, for taxpayers. Public money spent on the railways now is three times what it was in the last year of the nationalised railways. Private Train Operating Companies are raking in profits.
Fare rises this year will be above inflation, as Train Operating Companies pass the costs of the improvements they must make on to passengers.
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By Joan Trevor
On 19 January the Civil Contingencies Bill (CCB) had its second reading in Parliament. If it becomes law it will give the Government vastly increased powers in the event of an emergency such as a terrorist attack or... another outbreak of foot and mouth disease!
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By a Tubeworker
The Labour Party has written to the rail union RMT warning the union that unless the Executive revokes its decision to allow Scottish RMT branches to affiliate to the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), we will be outside the rules of the Labour Party. That essentially means our union's expulsion.
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George Galloway and his "Respect" coalition are saying that the June Euro and local government elections should be made a referendum on Tony Blair.
So after June we should add up the Tory, Lib Dem, Scottish National Party, and other non-Labour votes, and crack open the champagne if the total is large enough?
The left should oust Blair. Not by hoping that the Tories' votes plus our little extra come to enough to dishearten him, but by mobilising the unions to reject both Blair and Brown and re-establish accountable working-class political representation.
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By Lucy Clement
This week in the world of the media:
In the grand Government tradition of avoiding awkward issues by having a "review", Bob Phillis, chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, has published his report into Government communications. Phillis was asked to investigate after the Jo Moore affair (she who thought September 11 was a good day to bury bad news). However, Jo Moore's shenanigans have faded into insignificance after the Kelly/Gilligan/Campbell debacle.
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By Tony Jeffries
There are plans to hold the 3rd European Social Forum (ESF) in London. But large obstacles still stand in the way.
About 200 people attended the European preparatory assembly for the London ESF, held on Saturday 13-Sunday 14 December, with a good attendance from all over Europe. About 100 people attended from Britain, but not the range of organisations that will need to be involved if the ESF is to be a success. Reports of the assembly are available here.
