Lambeth Save our Services, public meeting

After the lobby of Lambeth Labour (see below), about 80 people gathered at the Lambeth SOS public meeting to discuss fighting the cuts in the borough.

Fighting the cuts
A speaker from South Bank University report in the struggle against education cuts and the hike in tuition fees. He also spoke about how the university management had banned all anti-cuts activity at the university and threatened any societies who supported the protests with having their accounts frozen (for the second time).

A speaker from The Pensioners Action Group spoke about the attacks on pensions and benefit and how the Con-Dems were trying to destroy the idea of universal benefits.

Read more »

Lobby of Labour Party meeting 20/11/10

Lambeth Save Our Services and workers from the local libraries turned up to lobby a Lambeth wide meeting of the Labour Party on Saturday morning.

Protesters lobby Labour Party meeting in Lambeth 20/11/10
(credit Keith Spencer)

Read more »

Massive student demo occupies Tory HQ in London

The biggest student demonstration in living memory has marched in London today against the Con-Dems. It is also the biggest demonstration against the government cuts so far.

Fifty thousand students from all over the country have protested against the raising of tuition fees and the government’s cuts in education. But already the leaders of the movement and the media a re preparing for a witch-hunt.

Read more »

ANTICAPITALISM 2010, this weekend

ANTICAPITALISM will bring together a range of activists in the movement to discuss the global economic crisis, how we can build resistance and a socialist alternative to the profit system.

This is an ideal event to learn socialist ideas for the first time, as well as participate in debates on the future of the movement among seasoned activists – ANTICAPITALISM 2010 is not to be missed!

 Full details of programme and speakers here

Lambeth Save our Services, tonight

Lambeth Save our Services, tonight 6.30 at Vida Walsh Centre, Windrush Square

For all those who want to get involved and fight the cuts. We will be discussing the public meeting on Saturday 20 November.

Brixton Demonstration today

Demo returns to Windrush Square in Brixton
(all credits Keith Spencer)

About 200 people demonstrated in Brixton against the cuts today. We rallied in Windrush Square before marching around the High Street and then returning to hear the closing speakers. The mood was angry and determined as speaker after speaker spoke about the cuts on their workplaces or services. What was uplifting however was that the speakers also reported on the resistance, all over the borough and nationwide people were organising and fighting back.

Read more »

Vodafone protest today in Brixton

After the Lambeth Save Our Services demonstration in Brixton today some of us went off to protest outside Vodafone, the tax-doging company which owed £6bn but was let off by George Osbourne. This is the same Osbourne that is slashing our services claiming "we can't afford it" and the same Vodafone that is one of the world's largest multinationals.

ANTICAPITALISM 2010 6-7 Nov, London

ANTICAPITALISM will bring together a range of activists in the movement to discuss the global economic crisis, how we can build resistance and a socialist alternative to the profit system.

This is an ideal event to learn socialist ideas for the first time, as well as participate in debates on the future of the movement among seasoned activists – ANTICAPITALISM 2010 is not to be missed!

Full details of event including speakers, sessions and how to book a ticket

Demonstrate against the cuts, Brixton Saturday 30 October

The Tory spending review will destroy jobs, services and communities.
That's why in Lambeth we are 

UNITED AGAINST THE CUTS

A demonstration will take place on
Saturday, 30 October
Meet 12.30pm, Windrush Square, Brixton
Please tell everyone you know to come out, and defend our jobs and services.

***
Called by Lambeth Save Our Services, (Lambeth Pensioners Action group, Lambeth UNISON, Lambeth GMB, Lambeth NUT, Lambeth UCU) and supported by Right to Work, Defend Council Housing, Green Left, Youth Fight for Jobs

For more info, call 07975 505571

Lambeth Save our Services actions

There will be a weekend stall on Sunday 4 September between 1pm and 2.30pm at Lambeth Town Hall


Watch this space for stalls and the coming public meeting

One O' Clock Clubs victory in Lambeth

The Lambeth One O' Clock clubs have won a victory against the council by stopping some of the cuts. This is an important success coming as it does at the start of the Save Our Services campaign and as Unison in the council starts balloting for action against the budget cuts.

It also shows that the cuts can be stopped. Workers and users campaigned and fought the council and have had some success.

However, despite the victory, workers know that the council is still out to get them. As one of the women from the One O' Clock clubs said at the Lambeth Save our Services meeting: "We've got 100 per cent union density - we know they'll be back for us".

We need to build a mass, united campaign in Lambeth to support the One O' Clock clubs and fight every other cut

Lambeth Save our Services, report

Lambeth Save our Services met on Thursday 5 August. There is a report over at Lambeth Activists 

The next meeting is Thursday 19 August at 6.30pm at the Unison offices at 6 Acre Lane, just opposite the Town Hall. All welcome

Below are the proposals that came out of the meeting on the 5 August.

Read more »

Lambeth Save our Services public meeting

is tomorrow night. please come along if you can make it. The more people there the better we can build a vibrant local campaign against the cuts.


Lambeth Save our Services, 6.30pm, Thursday 5 August
Vida Walsh Centre 
2b Saltoun Road 
Brixton, SW2 1EP

Protest tonight at council meeting, Lambeth Town Hall

Here's a pic at tonight's Lambeth Council. Again most people went in to challenge councillors over the cuts. There will be a public meeting sponsored by Lambeth Unison on Thursday 5 August at the Vida Walsh Centre, 2b Saltoun Road, Brixton, SW2 1EP

Save Lambeth's children and young people's services

Monday night saw nearly 100 people demonstrate outside the town hall in Brixton in defence of children and young people's services, which are facing the brunt of Lambeth Council's cuts. The demo was lively with lots of workers, parents and children attending. Afterwards many went into the committee meeting to challenge the councillors.

Joint trade union leaflet to Lambeth country show

This is part of an 8-page leaflet being put out by Unison, GMB and NUT unions to the Lambeth Country Show this weekend. There will be leafleting and also a stall in the political village at the fair. Please read and show your support. It is crucial to services in Lambeth that the trade unions are supported in defending jobs and services. Show your support by taking some leaflets and getting active.

Nearly half of Lambeth Council homes are substandard

The latest report from Lambeth Council shows that there has been an increase in the number of substandard homes in the borough from 30 per cent (March 2009) to 49 per cent.

During May's election campaign, Lambeth Workers Power highlighted that the council's own figures in its annual report showed that 50 per cent of homes were "Not Decent".

Now we learn that substandard homes in Lambeth have increased by more than 60 per cent since March 2009.

Read more »

Lambeth Activists newsletter: summer 2010

Lambeth Activists is a group of Unison activists who have played a key role in building the union in recent years, and getting fighting policies passed through the Lambeth branch. This is their newsletter for this summer. Download as a PDF here

***

Lambeth Activists Newsletter
Summer 2010

INSIDE:
GAZA – BREAK THE SIEGE!
THE TRUTH ABOUT TEMPS
NO TO EDUCATION CUTS
STAFF CONFERENCES – GOOD VALUE?
LETTERS

Read more »

Lambeth Town Hall protest

Picture of protest at Town Hall on budget day. See report below

Lambeth council workers prepare for strikes

Council workers are ramping up the action to stop cuts to jobs and services. Jeremy Drinkall, a Lambeth Unison shop steward reports

• Unison branch meeting largest for a decade
• Indicative ballot for strikes called
• Branch unanimously calls for general strike

Read more »

Lambeth fights cuts

The Con-Dem cuts coalition was quick off the mark to announce big reductions in council services: £537 million from grants to local authorities, £311 million from funding for schools, £309 million from transport budgets. If you want to see how this billion pound bomb could impact on your town, take a look at Lambeth in south London.

Read more »

Lambeth Council's public consultation sham

Lambeth Council says that it is consulting over its plans for it to become a "John Lewis style partnership".

But it appears that its consultation is not quite the public exercise – in fact the public will have little say.

Read more »

The coming cuts in Lambeth

During the election campaign Workers Power warned about the coming cuts.

Now we have seen nationally what the Con-Dem coalition is considering with its £6 billion programme of cuts announced and more on the way with the emergency budget on 22 June and a spending review in the Autumn.

Read more »

Fighting the Tory/Lib Dem cuts. Meeting this thursday

A key message of my election campaign was to start organising to fight the coming cuts. Now that the Con-Dem coalition has launched its cuts programme we need to start campaign in the area.

So I wil be speaking at the meeting below. The idea is to have a general discussion about the coming cuts and then come up with some ideas about what we can do in Lambeth.

Please come along

How can we stop the Tory cuts? Anticapitalist public meeting 7.30pm Thursday 27 May 2010 @ The Plough, 518 Wandsworth Road, London

General election result: what now?

Thanks to everyone who voted for me. The election work was new and hard for me and my supporters. Now I am concentrating on what comes next: the cuts that every party has said they will make

Here is the Anticapitlist analysis of the election and what we must do next to fight back against austerity

If you wan tto get involved in fighting back against the coming cuts in Lambeth then please email me at jeremy.drinkall@googlemail.com
.

It's polling day!

When you go to the polling booth if you wish to vote for me (Jeremy Drinkall of Anticapitalists - Workers Power) it comes as number 2 on the ballot paper.

Labour's housing policy: a disgrace

Housing in Vauxhall is cramped and falling to pieces in many cases. But Labour’s got no intention of doing anything about it.

Read more »

3 May rally a success

Our May Day Rally held yesterday was very successful and thanks to all that came. Forty people enjoyed hearing inspiring speeches from people who have been at the forefront of resistance to the economic crisis.

Read more »

Mass leafleting

Last week we delivered thousands of these leaflets across the constituency, so I thought I'd put it up here too. You can view the leaflet as a PDF file by clicking here

Resonance FM podcast available: Jam Today!

My thanks to Joe Kassman-Tod and Resonance FM for broadcasting an interview with me and making it available on podcast.


I'm on after about 17 minutes 30 seconds.

Vauxhall rally: The Anticapitalist challenge in the election

The three main parties will make huge cuts. But Anticapitalist candidate for Vauxhall, Jeremy Drinkall, is offering an alternative –he wants to fight back. Speakers to include other workers taking action against the cuts. 

He will speaking at an Election rally on Monday, 3 May at 5pm

King George Conference Centre

40 Stockwell Road (Stockwell tube)
London SW9 9ES
ALL WELCOME – Refreshments will be available – children welcome.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

• JEREMY DRINKALL  – Anticapitalist election candidate in Vauxhall
• ALBERTO DURANGO – Migrant worker leading the fight against exploitation in the City
• GUY SMALLMAN – Kennington journalist and eyewitness to atrocities in Afghanistan
• JOANA PINTO – Student from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts fighting to save higher education

Map details here

Vauxhall election: Unity can save the Triangle

The Triangle is an adventure playground located in the Ashmole estate near the Oval cricket ground. It serves three local estates, and is one of the few spaces left in a densely populated area for young people to gather. The Triangle is a welcome meeting spot and is supervised after school hours.

But recently it has come under threat because of a tussle between the nearby Archbishop Tenison school and the Triangle Adventure Playground Association, which runs the space. Campaigners have been quizzing the Vauxhall candidates on their attitude towards the playground.

Read more »

Latin American hustings: English lessons, citizenship and recognition

I attended the London-wide Latin American hustings for the Spanish and Portuguese speaking communities in South Bank University last night. A hundred people turned up for a lively debate. Candidates from all the main parties and the Greens, as well as myself and a few independents, were on hand to answer questions.

The topics that came up time often were the lack of free English lessons for migrant workers, the burning need for migrants to obtain a legal right to stay in the UK and the desire for official recognition for Latin Americans.

Read more »

Labour and trade unions must challenge immigration myths

This article has been posted on the Workers Power website, and I think it really demonstrates some of the hypocrisy demonstrated by the main three parties.

The so-called ‘Bigotgate’ scandal – resulting from Brown’s comments after talking to an anti-immigration Labour voter – reveals a lot about how the mainstream parties all deal with the ‘immigration issue’.

If you look at the full transcript of Gordon Brown’s exchange with Mrs Duffy it’s clear that she is pretty typical Labour voter, frustrated with its failure to stand up for working people over the last thirteen years. With the recession having brought mass unemployment, cuts to workers’ pay and our public services, and with the mass media conducting a campaign against migrants, many people are now mistakenly blaming migrants for the effects of the economic crisis.

Read more »

St Mark’s hustings: the MP Candidates Debate

On Tuesday evening, nearly 200 people packed the Vauxhall parliamentary hustings in St Mark’s Church, Kennington Oval, to hear and question seven candidates: Kate Hoey (Labour), Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dem), Glyn Chambers (Tory), Joseph Healey (Greens), Jim Kapetanos (Animal Protection League), Daniel Lambert (SPGB) and myself. 

It was a lively, wide-ranging and revealing debate. At times it was also entertaining – most people learned more from it and enjoyed it more than they did the Prime Ministerial debates on TV.

Read more »

General election hustings in Vauxhall: My policies for the borough

Here is my introduction at the hustings outlining my policies in a couple of minutes.

General election hustings in Vauxhall: why i am a socialist

I attended the hustings on Tuesday at St Mark's Church, Oval, Lambeth. See below for various reports. Here is a video of me speaking to the question "What is your moral compass". This was a question asked by the vicar after the introductions, which is all fine as he was the one who set the evening up.

Vauxhall election: Local bloggers report hustings success for anticapitalists

I went to St Mark's Church hustings for the Vauxhall election  in Oval last night. At least two hundred people turned up to hear the debate, with the church full almost to capacity.

The main three parties were all present along with some other candidates – from the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Animal Liberation Party, and the Greens.

Local bloggers and journalists have kindly commented on how I put forward a strong Anticapitalist message for socialism.

Read more »

General election: Education for the masses…

The election has moved onto the subject of schools – and about time, too.

Read more »

'Abolishing the system of war, the capitalist system'

Thanks to Sally, there is now a video of my summing up to the Stop the War hustings in Brixton.

Vauxhall election: Anticapitalists announce 3rd May Rally

The Anticapitalist Challenge in the Election - Mon 3 May 2010, 5pm

The three main parties will make huge cuts. But Anticapitalist candidate Jeremy Drinkall is offering an alternative. He wants to fight back. Speakers to include workers taking action against cuts.

Mon 3 May 5pm | Facebook

King George Conference Centre
40 Stockwell Road
London SW9 9ES

ALL WELCOME – creche facilities and refreshments will be provided

Vauxhall election: Anticapitalists take to streets

Saturday saw an excellent canvassing session round many different estates in South London. 

Accompanied by a car with a loudspeaker, we also spoke to many people on the doorsteps who are fed up with the capitalist parties and their funding of the bankers' greed. 

The day went extremely well for us. We met several dozen new supporters, as well as a number of Labour supporters who agreed with our arguments. We distributed lots of papers, leaflets and manifestos in Stockwell Gardens, Springfield  and Mawbey Brough.

Rich get richer by 30% in a year: more thoughts on the Rich List

The Sunday Times Rich List is published today and, guess what, the rich have just got richer. The collective wealth of the thousand richest individuals increased in 2009 by £77.265 billion to £335.5 billion.

This is the biggest leap in the 22 years the Rich List has been compiled and proves what the Anticapitalists have been saying throughout the election – the super-rich have profited from the crisis they themselves caused, while the rest of us have lost pay, pension entitlements, jobs and homes.

Read more »

Multimillionaires' wealth soar in record-breaking rise

All three main parties have stated that they will make savage cuts to our services and public sector job to pay for the trillion pounds of our money given to bailout the banks.

Now the Sunday Times reveals that Britain's top 1,000 wealthiest people have had a very good year. Their combined wealth rose to £335 billion, up £77 billion on 2009. This is the biggest increase in the 22 years of the Sunday Times' Rich List.

Read more »

Lambeth College to strike against cuts

Eleven London colleges, including Lambeth, have voted to strike on 5 May in protest at the Labour government’s decimation of further education. I give my full support to the staff in their action and urge students, parents and the community to come out in their support, too.

Read more »

Saturday canvassing

Those wanting to help with the Anticapitalist candidate in Vauxhall can come along to the

Bear Pub

296 Camberwell New Road (The Camberwell Green end)

SE5 ORP

at noon on Saturday. We will then split up around the constituency.

Thanks

Two new videos

I have posted a couple more videos on You tube. A better version of my speech at the Latin Amercian hustings a couple of weeks ago. And one from the STW husitngs earlier this week, this time me speaking on Iran

You can find them here with the others

Meet The Candidate

The Anticapitalists are holding the first of our "Meet the Candidate" surgeries tonight:


6:30 – 8:00pm
Montgomery Hall
Kennington Oval
SE11


If you are unsure of where Montgomery Hall is, turn left from the Oval tube exit, swtay on the same side of the road, start to go round the Oval and you will find it immediately after the Oval Theatre and the "White House".


Please come along and bring your friends and neighbours.

Read more »

Support the Palestinians

Here is me speaking at the Stop the War hustings on support for the Palestinians. I have been to Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement and my union branch, Unison, in Lambeth has done some excellent work over the issue. I also support the six demands of the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Stop the War hustings video links

Following on from brief report yesterday, here are a couple of video clips of me speaking at the hustings on Monday night. Also see below for an audio boo link of the evening aswell

First one is where I call for troops out of Afghanistan now.

Stop the war hustings Brixton

Fifty antiwar activists and Stop the War Coalition supporters came to the Brix in St Mattews Church, Brixton to hear candidates' policies on Britain's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was invited and gave a five-minute introductory speech, along with the Green, SPGB and LIb Dem candidates. But there was no sign of Labour (who simply sent emails declaring that they were against the war in Iraq, but were not in favour of pulling the troops out of Afghanistan) or Conservatives.

My message of troops get out now, solidarity with the Palestinians and spending the money on jobs, homes and services rather than banks, bullets and bombs went down very well.

Read more »

A Vauxhall view on my candidature

Local blogger Jason Cobb interviewed me last night. I posted the link to the interview yesterday (see below).

You can read his thoughts on the interview and on the election in Vauxhall on his onionbag blog

Thanks to Jason for giving me the time.

Blue, open skies and the BA strikers

What a beautiful day, sun shining bright and the sky a lovely deep blue free of clouds and aircraft.

The drifting dust from the Icelandic volcano has again grounded all air travel in the UK and Europe.

The media are full of stories of plucky individuals trying to travel abroad and of people enjoying the Sun and clear blue skies. I heard interviews on TV with residents who live below flight paths saying how wonderful it was. Life continues as normal.

Read more »

Investment Bank Goldman Sachs charged with fraud

Goldman Sachs has been charged with fraud. The Times reports that

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused the Wall Street bank of creating a loss-making financial instrument called a collateralised debt obligation (CDO).

Goldman Sachs is an internationally renowned investment bank that has made billions from the financial crisis while workers around the world have been made unemployed and their public services cut.

Read more »

Interview with Jeremy Drinkall, anticapitalist candidate for Vauxhall

Here is an interview with me about why I am standing as the anticapitalist candidate for Vauxhall  by Lambeth's Jason Cobb. Please go and listen and tell me what you think. http://boo.fm/b117270

Leadership debate conclusion: the revolution will not be televised

Today, the papers are full of discussion and comment about last night's televised debate. The consensus is that Nick Clegg won. Polling companies, such as YouGov, put Clegg in front and the state of the parties polls are now showing that the Lib Dems are picking up votes from the other parties. Even Cameron and Brown admitted today that Clegg did well.

Even so, I quite liked the viewer who said that none of the "leaders" addressed her concerns or had "anything to say for working families about jobs". Unfortunately, the whole exercise is aimed at moving the UK towards a US presidential style of contest, where personalities count for all because there are only capitalist parties in the ring.

Read more »

Transport for Vauxhall

Here's my views -

Why I am standing

Here I explain in a nutshell why I'm standing for the millions and not the millionaires

Lambeth Stop the War Election Hustings

Next Monday I will be taking part in a debate with

Rahoul Bhansani - Conservative candidate for Streatham
Joseph Healey –Green Party candidate for Vauxhall
Daniel Lambert –SPGB candidate for Vauxhall
Chris Nicholson –Lib Dem candidate for Streatham

at the Lambeth Stop the War Election Hustings,

Monday 19th April
7:30pm - 9pm
The Brix, St Matthews Church, Brixton Hill, SW2 1JF


This will be an excellent chance for supporters of my campaign and voters to ask candidates questions about Afghanistan, Civil Liberties, Nuclear Weapons, Palestine and find out where candidates stand on the War on Terror generally.

Not to be missed!



Join the event below:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=109105112458882&ref=mf

Anticapitalists Launch Election Manifesto

Here's the press release for our manifesto launch tomorrow…

'For The Millions, Not The Millionaires'

•  Labour, Tories and Lib Dems promise cuts to services, jobs and benefits
• Anticapitalists say: take over the banks, take back our money and tax the rich
• Use it to create three million new jobs, a million new council houses, a massive repair and improve programme for council flats and a £9 an hour minimum wage.
• We need a new anticapitalist party to get rid of the chaos of financial capitalism and create a democratically planned economy

The Anticapitalists are launching its manifesto, For The Millions, Not The Millionaires, tomorrow morning, Tuesday 13 April, at College Green outside Parliament. The Anticapitalists are standing one candidate, Jeremy Drinkall, in Vauxhall, South London.

Read more »

Weekend update part 2

If Saturday’s demo was a little disappointing for its turnout, Sunday was the complete antidote. The Ibero-American Alliance and Minka News brought around  700-1,000 people along to hear Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dems), Jenny Jones (Greens), Val Shawcross (Labour) and myself give short speeches on the election.

There was no doubting who received the best reception. With clear statements on migrant workers’ rights, defence of Cuba and Venezuela and bringing killer police to justice, our message went down a storm. If an old fashioned clapometer decided elections, I’d be a shoo-in!

Read more »

Weekend update part 1

The first weekend of the campaign proper was a busy one. On Saturday, I attended the demo to “Defend Public Services” in central London. Then on Sunday, I addressed a 750 strong public meeting of the Ibero-American Alliance in the Elephant & Castle.

I’ll tell you about the demo first. 

Read more »

Latin American hustings and Spanish leaflet

A really good hustings at the Elephant and Castle with more than a thousand Latin Americans.  I'll write a full report soon as I am off leafleting estates but here is the Spanish text of our leaflet

Read more »

Troops Out of Afghanistan Now!

The Stop the War Coalition is surveying PPCs' attitudes to the war in Afghanistan. The campaigning organisation has set up a tool  on its website where you can e-mail the candidates in your constituency requesting their views on the war.

The Anticapitalists are for Troops Out Now.

Read more »

Tories lose lesbian and gay support

Chris Grayling, you may remember, is the Tory shadow Home Secretary, who said that B&B owners should have the right to turn away lesbian and gay couples. This currently contravenes the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 and therefore suggests that, should the Tories win, they may seek to amend the Act.


A number of observers also noted that David Cameron edited out a reference to "gays and straights" in his speech about the Tories turning to the "great ignored", where he listed "young and old, black and white, Christian and Muslim", etc. 


Now the chairperson of the main Conservative lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group LGBTory, Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, has declared she is now voting Labour – in disgust at David Cameron's failure to reprimand Grayling

Read more »

Cameron and Brown clash over National Insurance

Predictably David Cameron focused on Labour’s proposed rise in National Insurance in the last parliamentary question time. But despite the rise of indignation from businessmen (yes, check it out, all of the Telegraph business leaders who called for the NI rise to be reversed are men, except Anya Hindmarch), this measure would hit workers, not bosses.

Read more »

Financial News: "bankers beware!"

The Financial News website has warned bankers that my election campaign is "not exactly financier-friendly". Vivek Ahuja writes on their blog:

Drinkall has supported several protests over the years, from the miners’ strike to the anti-poll tax movement, becoming convinced the state was “not neutral but defended the rich and powerful." It would appear there is yet another threat on the horizon for the City and its financial folk.

 

Anticapitalists Target Bankers In Vauxhall Election Challenge

We sent out this press release this morning. Finally the official campaign is underway!

New initiative to stand in Vauxhall at General Election

Local teaching assistant Jeremy Drinkall is candidate

Anticapitalists say take over the banks, take back the bailout billions

Drinkall:

“Spend it on 1/3 of all Vauxhall council dwellings that are officially not decent.
Spend it on 51% of local children officially in poverty”

Read more »

Anticapitalist Manifesto online

The Anticapitalist Manifesto, Drinkall for Vauxhall: for the millions, not the millionaires is now online!


You can view it by either clicking on the chapters on the right or by viewing it all in one click by going to Workers Power.


All feedback welcome!

Support the RMT's right to strike

What a disgrace British justice is. A judge has decided that Network Rail signallers in the Rail Maritime and Transport union cannot strike next week because of technical faults in the balloting process. I condemn the use of these undemocratic laws and call for their immediate repeal – will Kate Hoey, who is supposed to represent the RMT in parliament?

Read more »

Leisure services in danger despite Streatham Hub deal

Lambeth Council and Tesco's have finally signed a deal over the Streatham Hub, the area around the swimming pool, the ice rink and bus garage, in return for building a great big Tesco's next to Morrison's and few hundred yards away from Safeway.

Read more »

Labour 'not supporting working people'

Great clip from the Today programme on Radio 4 about left wing challengers to Labour:

Labour 'not supporting working people'

David Henry, Salford TUSC candidate sends solidarity greetings

This weekend saw the annual national conference of Workers Power. It went really well and we discussed what we think will happen in the year ahead, and how Workers Power should respond. Many thanks to David Henry, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition Salford candidate who sent a touching solidarity message to our conference.

Trade Union and Socialist Coalition launch rally London

Thursday night I attended the launch rally of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the Friend's Meeting House, Euston, London. Newsnight, Radio Four and other media were there covering it.

It was a good, lively meeting and the candidates outlined why they were standing to fight back against the cuts. I wish all the TUSC candidates the best in their campaigns. As Dave Nellist said, "It's not just about votes, but what we do after the election." Hopefully we can use the next few weeks as a springboard for the launching of a new mass party of the working class.

Here is a longer report of the meeting from Workers Power.

Ashmole Estate at the Oval transferred

Metropolitan Housing Trust have taken over the Ashmole Estate. The deal with Lambeth Council is supposed to deliver a £40 million regeneration programme.

I was involved in campaigning against this and leafletted the estate several times. The actual vote that passed the deal was 53 per cent in favour on a 64 per cent turnout, if it was a union balloting for action it would have been declared illegal.

Read more »

Kennington Park residents tell Kate Hoey of Hyde Southbank failures

I was invited along to a Tenants Association meeting on Kennington Park estate in the Oval last night. It was a packed and lively – at times angry – meeting. I counted at least 40 residents and almost all of them had grievances against housing association Hyde and privatised utility firm Thames Water.

Read more »

Lambeth Council has built only one in nine of the homes needed

Lambeth Council has built only 11 per cent of the affordable homes needed in the borough.

Experts claim that the council needs to build more than 4,000 to provide for people in the borough. The council has built 478 homes, so that's one in nine of the houses needed.

Read more »

Lambeth College workers join 1000 in march for education

The Lambeth College UCU banner was among those which joined Saturday's central London education protest. The march was held to defend the jobs of teachers who are threatened with Labour's cuts to the education budget.

Read more »

BA cabin crew strike to defend jobs and wages

The BA cabin crew strike has become a key political issue in the forthcoming general election. The Tories are clamouring against workers’ right to strike over terms and conditions, while Gordon Brown has disgracefully denounced Unite for striking.

Read more »

Election work, Saturday, 20 March

Anyone who wants to help us leaflet tomorrow, please come along.


We are meeting midday at Oval tube, south London (it's on the Northern Line) to go leafletting in the area. So come along and help us.


Published and promoted by Vauxhall ANTICAPITALISTS – WORKERS POWER on behalf of Jeremy Drinkall both at Unit 256, 99-103 Lomond Grove, London SE5 7HN

Stockwell Job Centre walks out to defend jobs

The Public and Commercial Services union took two days of strike action last week. I attended the picket line at Stockwell Job Centre, where the strike seemed fairly strong: only 14 scabs crossed the picket line out of a workforce of 70, i.e. 80% solid.

Read more »

Lambeth College plans £3.5 million cuts

I’ve learnt that up to 100 workers, many of them support staff, low-paid women and men, could lose their jobs. The University and Colleges Union (UCU) wants to ballot for strike action.

Read more »

Lambeth backs down over school catchment area

Good News. The council has now backed down over the primary school with the exclusive catchment area. They have said they will build an extra primary school. As I wrote at the time why did the council come up with a plan in the first place to exclude children from council estates from the school

Campaign off to a good start

We kicked off our campaign last Saturday with a meeting of supporters, followed by leafleting and canvassing.

Twenty of us gathered in the Oval ward. While most were locals, some came from as far away as Colchester and Norwich. We started by discussing the big issues of this election: who should pay for the economic crisis, how all the main parties were offering the same, how to get the troops out of Afghanistan.

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Icelanders refuse to bow to bankers and governments

Heartening news came over the weekend from the far north. Asked in a national referendum whether Iceland should pay British and Dutch banks £3.4 billion, the islanders voted by 93% to put much needed public services first. Only 2% of the people backed the deal brokered by British and Dutch governments.

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Why are so many young people in jail?

The Prison Reform Trust has published figures for the number of 10-17 year olds given custodial sentences last year. The Guardian reports:

The resulting league table was topped by Lambeth in south London, where almost one in 200 young people were given custodial sentences over the year, 25 times more than the equivalent figure for Dorset.

This is an appalling state of affairs. While overall crime rates in Lambeth are falling, our courts are locking up more young people — some as young as 10.

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Lambeth primary school to exclude poor children?

The Streatham Guardian has this story about a new primary school – good you may think, Lambeth needs more schools. But this school's catchment area excludes council estates.

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