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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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