UK Newswire Archive
Huntington Lane Coal Mine Eviction?
13-10-2010 13:05
The eviction process at the Huntington Lane coal mine site near Telford, Shropshire appears to have begun, but no eviction notice has yet been served. The National Eviction Team and local constabulary are currently on site but no arrests have been made. Heavy machinery is now on site and breaking ground.Huntington Lane Eviction Call Out!
13-10-2010 13:03
Huntington Lane protest camp is in the process of being evicted - part of the site has already been taken by bailiffs, and the other half is expecting eviction any time from tomorrow. The site was set up over six months ago on the site of a proposed open cast coal mine in a beautiful stretch of ancient woodland near the Wrekin in Shropshire. Find some mates and get yourself down there to support!Call 07503 583419 or check out
http://defendhuntingtonlane.wordpress.com/
New project - inner city free community garden.
13-10-2010 12:25
In the heart of Bristol.New project - Inner city free community garden - In the heart of Bristol
An idea by Tails X - Eco village resident and a chance for you all to plant, learn, and make new friends.
PLEASE PLEASE spread the word.
Hope to see ya there.
Bath Bomb #34 Out Now!
13-10-2010 12:25
The latest offering from Bath's monthly radical freesheet, mostly obsessing about the cuts nowadays...THE BATH BOMB
@nti-copyright: copy and distribute!
Issue #34
free/donation
October 2010
"abusing authority figures and the english
language since 2007 "
*
Hand Made Hard Times Handed Back: yes, the
Bath Bomb is now officially skint. It's a
miracle you're even holding this issue in your
hands, if you are. If you can find it in your
pockets to make a donation, please contact us
as bathbombpress[at]yahoo.co.uk. Or
alternatively, for armchair activists, £15
gets you a year of Bath Bombs posted to your
door – so you don't even have to leave the
house – plus other possible goodies.*
*Terms and Conditions: offer subjected to
social change. Your statutory, inalienable
human rights are not effective
*
Take A Chants On Me
Sunday the 3rd October saw 8,000 activists
from across the U.K. flood in to Birmingham to
protest the opening of the Tory Party
Conference. With more and more people
realising just how deep and devastating the
Tory cuts will be, the protest marked the
start of the fightback nationally. The protest
was a noisy and high-spirited affair, buoyed
up by some militant and inspiring speeches
from community and union activists, that
captured the mood of determination and
solidarity that pervaded the demo. On the day,
the police enforced a draconian security
arrangement that prevented the protest from
getting near the conference whilst the
delegates cowered behind steel fencing,
despite prior arrangements to allow the demo
past. However, a few unlucky Tories had the
smug wiped off their faces when they were
caught in the open by groups of protestors,
receiving a barrage of angry abuse before
being hurriedly escorted back inside their
hotel by police. The day ended with the police
cordoning off of the 200-strong anarchist bloc
for no apparent reason, while other
protesters, in a display of solidarity,
gathered around the police and demanded their
release - which they eventually did after a
number of unnecessary and heavy-handed
searches and assaults. At the close of
proceedings, O.T.T. police riot vans also
insisted on escorting each coachload of
demonstrators home.
Bath will of course be holding its own
anti-cuts demo on Wednesday the 20th of
October, starting at 5p.m. outside the Abbey.
Whether you are a public or private sector
worker, unemployed, a pensioner, student or
disabled, we all have good reasons to unite
against these cuts, so why not come along and
bring your mates.
*
Cutting The Crap
Following Monday's demo, on Wednesday 22nd
September, Bath Trades Council and B.A.N.
hosted 50 people to the first meeting of the
Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance, welcoming regional
officials from the N.U.T., G.M.B., B.&N.E.S.'s
Unison branch, and from the U.C.U. at City of
Bath College, where A-Level courses are to be
closed, shutting off the only chance mature
students have to take this course in Bath, and
making it harder for them to consider going to
university. In a lively discussion, veterans
of the anti-poll tax movement explained that
we can win, and how, while young people in
their first big struggle talked about the
lessons they have learned from other
campaigns. More than one speaker emphasized
the need for solidarity between public sector
workers and the people who use public services
– all of us – and the need for unity between
workers in the private and public sectors. If
we fight the lies that divide us, we can take
on the people really responsible for the mess
we are in. A collection was made and tickets
sold for a coach to the Tory Conference in
Birmingham.
The Alliance has been kicked off by the Trades
Council and is open to anyone who wants to
take part, whether from a union, political
party, community organization, or no group at
all. It can be contacted at:
bathagainstcuts[at]yahoo.co.uk. And don't
forget the mass demo in Bristol on the 23rd
October, following the Con-Dem budget
announcement! To be joined by activists from
Bath and the surrounding area, the demo will
start at Castle Park at 11a.m..
70 anti-cuts protesters also held a demo
outside the council building in Swindon on
Thursday the 7th October, to coincide with the
full council meeting. Rather than face their
constituents, LibDems and Tory Councillors
slunk in through the back!
*
The Kids Aren't Alright
Monday the 20th of September saw a protest
outside the Guildhall in Bath, timed to
coincide with the B.&N.E.S. Public Overview
Scrutiny Meeting and decrying the potential
closure of four local youth centres.
Approximately 80 young people attended,
alongside 20 UNISON workers, Trades Council
members, B.A.N. affiliates and other adults
involved in the local anti-cuts campaign.
After half an hour or so of chanting, blowing
whistles and making a happy, passionate noise,
the meeting was moved to a larger room and the
full group was invited in to attend.
Several children were on the agenda to speak
and gave moving accounts, one in spoken word
poetry, of what the youth centres had done for
them. All but one cited broken homes, some
with domestic abuse, and emphasised how youth
centres gave them a refuge with safe adults to
talk to about their problems. The centres also
gave them a chance to flex their creativity
and explore the skills they wanted to develop
into adulthood.
Clutching the knot of his tie throughout,
Ashley Ayre, the Director of Children's
Services, defended their decision to look at
withdrawing funding from the county's youth
centres. Within his government-allocated
budget of around £24.5 million, his department
had had to come to the conclusion that other
services were a higher priority. He
emphasised that preventative services were
still in place and that, balanced against the
funding to protect children both in care and
leaving care, the youth centres simply could
not reach a similar level of priority.
Crucially, he also explained that the
department were losing a great deal of funding
due to the new academy scheme in schools.
Previously, the services a school would have
used would have been funded, procured and
exercised by Children's Services. Under the
new scheme, academies get the money direct and
can choose to 'buy back' whatever services
from his department they cared to. Many of the
children who formally spoke to the panel
emphasised that they got a respectful pastoral
care at the centres that they were unable to
get at school (the word “patronising” in
reference to teachers' attitudes was
repeatedly used) and it seems poignantly
ironic that the funding should be shifted in a
way that one presumes and hopes is at least
ostentatiously to 'improve' children's lives.
Councillor John Bull, of the Labour party,
argued for another public consultation to take
place, arguing that the previous one had been
insufficient. Indeed, as one of the young
speakers cited, despite a supposedly
sufficient consultation, no councillors or
workers had visited centres to talk to the
users themselves. Mr Ayre said that an issue
with carrying out another consultation was
that it may prevent the department from
reaching their April deadline for this
financial year's cuts, forcing them to add
these onto next year's. As it stands, the
department must make cuts of approximately £1
million a year for five years.
A worker from the previously closed Odd Down
centre argued that to close the youth centres
was a false economy: in her experience, the
year after their centre was shut, there was a
rise in use of police services and A.S.B.O.s
given out, meaning that the ostentatious
cost-saving in fact played out as cost in
another department. Another issue is that
youth centres work in a very much preventative
fashion, rather than 'picking up the pieces'
after crisis. Without this proactive
approach, services that do pick up the pieces
will see their workload increase.
It was somewhat galling to sit and listen to
these measures and counter-measures debating
the immediate and future experience of local
children whilst in the opulence of chandeliers
and an abundance of enormous oil paintings.
Pomp and circumstance is necessary to an
extent as public service is a serious matter
and needs the trappings to formally emphasise
so in some way. But I couldn't help wondering
if perhaps we could flog a couple of oil
paintings, have slightly smaller chandeliers
and perhaps cut back on the buildings and
maintenance budget a little instead?
Stop the Press: likely as a result of the
demo, Children's Services met with youth
workers on Tuesday the 5th this month,
admitting they fund another £50,000, and now
only the Batheaston centre will be closing,
though they're trying to find funding
elsewhere for their worker, and two others are
limited to part-time.
*
Ooooh Betty, The Council's Done A Whoopsy On
The Workers
John Betty, a director at B.&N.E.S. Council,
has had his £160,000 pay packet increased by
£22,000, as well as being awarded an annual
bonus of £34,000, and expenses of £4,200. The
pay increase and bonuses alone are enough to
pay for the annual employment of three
frontline public servants - people whose jobs
are being slashed by the very same council who
has awarded Betty his extra cash. 2010 has
also seen the numbers of B.&N.E.S. managers
with a salary above £50,000 shoot up from 106
to 120. The Taxpayers Alliance has also
released figures showing that the top seven at
B.&N.E.S. enjoy pay packets ranging between
£167,000 and £108,000, all but two of whom
received a pay increase this year. We have
heard much rhetoric from the council about
cuts to services being inevitable. In light
of these recent pay increases and decadent
salaries, it is apparent that what they mean
is “cuts are inevitable, if we at the top are
to continue living in luxury”. If the 120
highest earners in B.&N.E.S., who rack up an
annual salary of £8,000,000 between them (not
including expenses or bonuses) took a
voluntary 10% pay deduction – a small price to
pay, compared to the misery ordinary people
are being put through – enough money would be
saved to retain at least forty of the staff
who are being kicked out of their jobs in the
coming year. It's good to see where the local
high and mighties' priorities lie.
*
GOT A STORY? WANT TO RECEIVE THE BATH BOMB BY
EMAIL? HOPING TO SUE? Contact us by e-mailing
bathbombpress[at]yahoo.co.uk. Large print
e-versions available on request. And for more
info on any of our stories, check out
http://www.thebathbomb.blogspot.com
*
Molotov For Beginners
You go months and months without a terror plot
to give you a good larf, then two turn up in
quick succession. First was the
Muslim-inspired plot to kill the Poop, and the
latest is a planned Mumbai-style series of
commando attacks against Britain, France and
Germany. Allegedly. If you believe all you
read that's spewed out by Murdoch/Harmsworth
Muckrakers Inc., that is. Both 'plots', of
course, are pure bollocks, as you might
already have guessed, designed to keep you
gibbering as the U.K. Stasi rip away any
shreds of civil liberties you have left, in
the name of combating the bullshit threat of
'terror'.
What they didn't credit is that we're already
on to their squalid scam, and have been since
at least 2003, when U.K. mainland security
donkers cooked up a 'ricin plot', which had no
ricin nor plot, to give Tony B. Liar an excuse
for invading Iraq. A bunch of Kurds were
fingered by the plod in 2004 for supposedly
plotting to blow up Old Trafford football
ground. This turned out to be as unlikely as
the claim that they were all members of Al
Quaeda. Then there was the 'airline' plot in
2006, involving apparent plans to blow up
passenger planes in mid-air using liquid
explosives. This collapsed when it came to
trial in 2008, as the jury failed to convict
on conspiracy to murder by blowing up
aircraft.
Whitehall spooks have played the 'terror plot'
card once too often. It's not 'terrorists' we
need protecting from; it's government fakers
desperately in need of new clichés.
*
Cute, Without The 'E'
Oh, how our hearts bled for embattled director
of local children's services Ashley Ayre (with
his £125,000 salary) when he poured his heart
out to the Chron about the tough decisions in
front of him. “I don't want to make any cuts!”
sobbed a teary-eyed Ayre, speaking of his plan
to slash 40% of Bath's youth centres.
Defending his brutal cuts, which will see
young and vulnerable people turfed out onto
the streets, Ayre stated “I'd prefer to take
money out of youth services rather than our
children in care service budget.”
Well bully for you old chum, except in
reality, we don't need to cut either! Here at
Bath Bomb Towers, we'd rather he took money
out of the pockets of the rich, tax-dodging
scum and financial speculators that got us
into this mess in the first place, and left
our kids alone. It's funny how the government
have told us to brace for cuts immediately,
but minor reforms to the banking system to
reduce (reduce, not stop) corruption and
bonuses don't have to be implemented until
2019! The Tories are resolutely defending
their class interests – maybe it's about time
we started defending ours! The idea that we
need to gang together to pay for these cuts
(spirit of the 40's and all that) is rubbish.
Cracking down on the top corporate tax
avoiders would bring in £123 billion, pulling
out of Afghanistan and Iraq a further £136.5
billion, restoring the corporate taxation
level to pre-1997 levels £18 billion, taxing
the rich 60% £27.5 billion per year, scrapping
Trident billions more, and so on. A tax
collector was in some paper the other day (yes
folks, there are other papers out there)
saying that staff cuts in his department meant
that massive amounts of tax (mainly from the
super rich and big companies) remained
uncollected!
There is the money out there to pay for this
deficit, but lets not forget that these cuts
are also just the Tories doing what they do
best – finding any pretext to slash our public
services and hand it all over to shady private
investors (and why not, since privatization
has worked so well in the past?). I heard a
really great quote the other day, which is
quite pertinent for our times: “how come they
only call it class war when the poor fight
back?” Make no mistake, the Con-Dems are
launching an aggressive class war, we have no
option but to fight back.
*
Bath Activist Network are a local umbrella
group campaigning on issues as diverse as
development, environmentalism, anti-war,
animal rights, workers' rights and more.
Helping to produce the Bath Bomb, we are open
to anyone, and our members range from trade
unionists to anarchists, liberals and greens,
and people who just want to change Bath for
the better. For details on meetings, demos, or
just to get in touch, e-mail
bathactivistnet[at]yahoo.co.uk, or see our
website:
http://www.bathactivistnetwork.blogspot.com
*
UPCOMING EVENTS
drawing classes: 'Remembering the Present',
Mondays & Tuesdays, Stokes Croft Museum, 81-83
Stokes Croft, Bristol
London Road Food Co-op, Wednesdays, 5-7p.m.,
Riverside Community Centre, London Road
exhibition: 'Remembering the Present',
Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, 11a.m.-3p.m.,
Stokes Croft Museum, 81-83 Stokes Croft,
Bristol
Bathampton Community Growers workday,
Thursdays, 10a.m.-dusk, Mill Lane, Bathampton,
e-mail thelostplot[at]googlemail.com/ tel
Chris 07792 444628
Bathampton Community Supported Agriculture
project: fruit picking, Thursdays and Sundays,
10a.m.-2p.m., FFI e-mail
csa@transitionbath.org
Bath Stop The War Coalition vigil, Saturdays,
11.30a.m.-12.30, Bath Abbey Courtyard
Bradford-On-Avon peace vigil, Saturdays,
11.30a.m.-12.30, by the peace statue opposite
Westbury Gardens by the Town Bridge,
Bradford-On-Avon
exhibition: 'Remembering the Present',
Saturdays, 12-4p.m., Stokes Croft Museum,
81-83 Stokes Croft, Bristol
Recycle Your Sundays, Sundays, 10.30a.m.,
starts Abbey Churchyard, the regular series of
sociable, easy-paced cycle rides, tel Hazel 01225
469199
Bath Green Drinks, Wednesday 13th October,
8p.m., the Rising Sun, Grove Street
Bath Activist Network meeting, Thursday 14th
October, 7.30-9p.m., downstairs at the
Hobgoblin, St James Parade
talk: 'Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba -
holding on in a changing future?', Friday 15th
October, 7p.m., The Council House, College
Green, Bristol
demo: 'The Crude Awakening', Saturday 16th
October, 10a.m., London, FFI and to sign up
for text alerts at
http://www.crudeawakening.org.uk
anti-Noah's Ark Zoo Farm/Wurzels (!) demo,
Saturday 16th October, 5p.m.
No Borders South Wales punk benefit gig,
Saturday 16th October, 7p.m., Six Feet Under,
Newport, feat. The Oppressed, No Choice,
Kilnaboy, Tighten Up & The D Teez; £5 entry
Broadlands Community Orchard Apple Day, Sunday
17th October, 12-4.30p.m., Broadlands Orchard,
Box Road, Bathford, feat. live music from Pink
Froot & Padleigh Hillbillies, and apple juice
pressing, apple bobbing, childrens activities,
orchard guided walk, & campfire cooking! £3
suggested donation
film: 'Paths of Pain', Tuesday 19th October,
7.30p.m., Colston Hall, Bristol; as part of
the 'Unchosen' Bristol Film Festival
Bristol S.W.P. Public Rally 'Can Marxism Make
Sense of a World in Turmoil?', Tuesday 19th
October, 7.30p.m., Malcolm X Centre, City
Road, Bristol
Anti-cuts demo, Wednesday 20th October, meet
5p.m., outside the Abbey
talk: 'Europe's Carfree Neighbourhoods - Could
we Do it in Bristol', Wednesday 20th October,
7.30p.m., Cornubia pub, Bristol
Hunt Sabs punk benefit gig, Thursday 21st
October, 7p.m., Winchester Arms pub, Taunton,
feat. Sickwax, King Tuts Revenge, Room 4 1
More & Hacksaw, £3 entry
talk: 'What’s the Blogging Story?', Friday
22nd October, 7p.m., the Watershed, Bristol,
£7/£5 entry
March and rally against the Tory cuts,
Saturday 23rd October, meet 11a.m., Castle
Park, Bristol
Transition Talks: 'Food Co-ops and Organic
Buying Groups', Tuesday 23rd November, FFI
e-mail alison@sustainweb.org
Stop Nuclear Power Network national gathering,
Saturday 23rd October-Sunday 24th October,
venue T.B.C. Bristol
London Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 23rd
October, 10a.m.-7p.m., Queen Mary's,
University of London, Mile End Road, London
anti-foie gras demo, Sunday 24th October, 2-3p.m., location T.B.C.; e-mail bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk
Transition Bath Social, Monday 25th October, 7.15p.m., the Love Lounge/ back room of the
Bell, Walcot Street; bring food to share
Bath Cycling Campaign meeting, Monday 25th
October, 7.30p.m., the Rising Sun, Grove
Street
Bath Hunt Saboteurs meeting, Monday 25th
October, 8-9p.m, The Bell, tel Justin 07854
062336
Bath Socialist Forum meeting, Monday 25th
October, 8p.m., upstairs St James Wine Vaults
Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance meeting, Tuesday 26th October, 8p.m., the Bell, Walcot Street
photography exhibition: 'Against the wall',
Tuesday 26th-Saturday 30th October, 1p.m., the
Emporium, 37 Stokes Croft, Bristol
short films, 'Unchosen' Bristol Film Festival,
Tuesday 26th October, 7.30p.m., Hall 2,
Colston Hall, Bristol, £2 entry; feat.
'Bristol Bike Project', 'Echoes', 'Brazil's
Child Prostitutes'
FreeBus Public Meeting, Wednesday 27th
October, 7.30p.m., Hamilton House, Bristol,
http://www.freebus.org.uk
Critical Mass Bike Ride, Saturday 30th
October, meet 1p.m., Kingsmead Square
Bristol Free Vegan Food Fair, Saturday 30th
October, 12-5p.m., Broadmead Baptist Church,
Union Street, Bristol, BS1 3HY
photography exhibition: 'The Art of Resistance
in Palestine', Saturday 30th October, 6p.m.,
the Emporium, 37 Stokes Croft, Bristol
Bath Animal Action info stall, Sunday 31st
October, 2-4p.m., Stall Street, e-mail
bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk
The Freeze Peach Halloween Festival, Sunday
31st October, 2p.m.-12, Metropolis, Stokes
Croft, Bristol; feat. Capac, The Scribes, Aye
Aye, Inspector Dread, Danny Kelly & DJ's
Bath Anti-Cuts Alliance demo, Wednesday 3rd November, time T.B.C., outside Guildhall, Bath
Bath Activist Network meeting, Thursday 4th
November, 7.30-9p.m., downstairs at the
Hobgoblin, St James Parade
Wiltshire Trades Council History Day, Saturday 6th November, 10-2.30p.m., St. Margaret's Hall, Bradford-on-Avon
Bath Animal Action & Bath Hunt Saboteurs
meeting, Monday 8th November, 8-9p.m., The
Bell, Walcot Street, e-mail
bathanimalaction[at]yahoo.co.uk
Gaia Cabaret, Tuesday 9th November, 7.30p.m.
top floor United Reformed Church Building, 7
Grove Street, £5/£3 entry
Bath Green Drinks, Wednesday 10th November,
8p.m., the Rising Sun, Grove Street
Bath FreeShop, Saturday 13th November, 12-3p.m., outside the Pump Rooms, Stall Street
National Anti Fur March, Saturday 13th
November, meet 12 midday, Belgrave Square,
London
Coalition of the Resistance Conference,
Saturday 27th November, London, more details
tbc
Camp for Climate Action Australia, Wednesday
1st to Sunday 5th December, Bayswater Power
Station
Climate Camp Aotearoa, Thursday 16th to
Tuesday 21st December, Wellington New Zealand
*
Bullet(s) In The Head(Lines)
* Anti-nuclear campaigners from the Stop Nuclear
Power Network blockaded the road into Hinkley
Point on the Somerset coast, the site of two
planned nuclear reactors, at 7a.m. on the
morning of Monday October 4th, using a cunning
combo of chains and badger costumes. Other
campaigners painted graffiti anti-nuclear
messages at a street art competition in
Williton, West Somerset. If E.D.F. Energy's
reactor goes ahead, not only will there be up
to 17 million years of radioactive waste and
leak risks to contest with, but local wildlife
will also be up shit creek – the company hopes
to bulldoze and dynamite 435 acres of green
fields, before even securing planning
permission. In the company's flawed community
'consultation', they refused to even ask
whether a new power station should even be
built or not, and to keep local councils
informed
* After kicking out 1,200 workers since the end
of 2008, Bath-based boom-and-bust
opportunists Helphire, and their verbose boss
Martin Ward, was bragging in the local press
recently about the company's £13.9 million
profits this year, 'thanking' his former
staff. For the over-worked, un-unionised ones
that remain, bonuses are next to impossible to
achieve, and conditions barely scratch legal;
but, still, at least the directors are still
winning new bonuses
* Friends of Culverhay have recently begun a
campaign to stop the closure of Culverhay
secondary school at Rush Hill, which serves
deprived areas of the city like Twerton,
Whiteway and Southdown. The school has an
Ofsted rating of 'good' and is one of the best
improving schools for student results in the
UK. A decision is expected in late November,
after a consultation running between October
14th and 29th – rumour has it that Bath Spa
Uni are after the site, and have seeded one of
their own governors, Chris Watt, on the board
* Bristol Airport has had its £150m expansion
plans green-lighted by North Somerset Council,
subject to various conditions, despite the
site's infringement on protected green belt.
Campaigners are calling for a public inquiry,
and are hoping to mount a legal challenge,
after the government's failure to intervene –
surprise, surprise. Building work may begin as
early as next year
* At its annual conference, the T.U.C. (Trades
Union Congress) has called for coordinated
protest and industrial action to combat the
cuts. Various union leaders, including Bob
Crow of the R.M.T., have called for general
strikes and civil disobedience
* Over 4,000 protested outside the Lib-Dem Party
Conference in Liverpool, demanding an end to
their complicity in the savage Con-Dem program
of job and service cuts. The protest sets the
stage for a season of anger at the coalition
government
* Cracks in the Con-Dem coalition are widening,
with a recent survey revealing that almost 90%
of Conservative M.P.s felt that the balance of
employment law had shifted too far towards the
employee, but 70% of Liberal Democrats
disagreed. Almost two thirds of Tories were in
favour of appointing a full-time Trade
Minister to "bang the drum" for British
companies overseas, but half of LibDems
disagreed. 70% of Nick Clegg's party wanted
spending on infrastructure to increase,
compared with less than a third of
Conservatives
* A new joint T.U.C./C.N.D. report recently
revealed the extent of defence industry jobs
that will be lost to make way for the £76
billion Trident nuclear missile system
replacement, if it goes ahead: the cuts to
surface ships, aircraft, armoured vehicles and
R.A.F. bases will destroy far more jobs than
the Cold War program would ever bring in.
Instead the marine engineers could be
re-trained towards developing wave and tidal
energy systems, for stronger job security
* Back of the N.E.T.(C.U.): the police too are
under the knife, with a 25% funding cut and
new officers being asked to volunteer their
first 18 months training, rather than get
paid. But we're not sorry to hear about the
departure of N.E.T.C.U. - the 'National
Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit' which
victimised environmentalists and sent down
several animal rights activists, for such
dangerous crimes as setting up websites. Faced
with this, did the Police Federation take up
the unions' motto of “Solidarity Forever”? Did
they fuck. Instead they tried to ban the march
on the Tory Conference. Maybe they're just
sore cos they threw away their right to strike
back in '19? Scabs
* French workers launched their second General
Strike in a month, with more planned for the
coming weeks. The days of action saw many
services brought to a standstill and nearly
three million workers taking to the streets.
The actions (which opinion polls show have the
backing of the majority in France) are a
response to austerity measures and Sarkozy's
policy of raising the retirement age from 60
to 62
* Israeli naval commandoes violently seized
another activist aid ship on September 28th,
with the vessel 'Irene' being stopped 20 miles
from Gaza. The crew was made up of Israeli
Jews involved in 'Bereaved Families Circle of
Israelis' and former I.D.F. pilots. Although
Israel described their seizure as peaceful, at
least one passenger was tasered in this latest
act of piracy. Oh, how we at the Bath Bomb
long for the days of Blackbeard and 'Black
Sam' Bellamy!
*
Out Of Arms Reach
October marks the end of Sick Season, the six
months of U.K. arms fairs dressed up as
'airshows', 'air days', or 'military tattoos'
, comprising some 80 or so country-wide
open-air forces' propaganda stunts which are
sold to the gullible as public family
entertainment. At each one there are killing
machines of all kinds for adults and kids to
drool over, whether cockpit-open on the ground
or screaming overhead.
Red Arrows, anyone? This lot have long been a
glossy slab of R.A.F. P.R. to normalise and
glorify weapons of death, as they innocuously
loop the loop in their standard Hawk combat
jets, the like of which are a bombing-run
must-have in warzones worldwide.
The Southwest is disfigured by the s(l)ick
stunts at Kemble in June, and Yeovilton and
Fairford in July. Worst of the lot is probably
the Farnborough boys' toys outing, when they
tack on a throwaway weekend of aerial
frivolity after five euphemistically-monikered
'trade days', when tinpot dictatorships from
all over the globe send their minions in to
openly buy and sell the latest air-attack
hardware.
As a sop to public morality, Fairford majors
on its involvement with the R.A.F. Charitable
Trust, which you might be forgiven for
believing has as its primary objective the
rehab of injured, shell-shocked or otherwise
traumatised ex-servicemen. Minor digging on
its website, however, reveals its intention to
be to “....promote recruitment to....the
R.A.F.”, a theme expanded on elsewhere in
nauseating drivel like this: “At the heart of
the Trust is its commitment to young people,
to initiate and develop within them an
enthusiasm for aviation and consequently
generate a desire within them to join...” Nowt
to do wi' me – they said it in their own
words.
*
Put The Benefit Thieves To Work!
“Why not,” simpered a smug David Cameron from
billboards across the country “cut benefits
for those who refuse to work?” Well, for the
first and only time here at B.B. H.Q., we
agree with you Davey: lets punish the
parasites that leech from society without
putting anything back in. Me and David are of
course talking about that arch parasite, the
Queen, and her family of wastrels. Showing how
in touch she is with the average person, the
Queen (well, more likely, one of her skivvies)
has applied for a couple of extra million from
the Community Energy Fund to top up the
existing millions that the taxpayer already
pays for her to keep toasty warm. 'Er majesty
has had her request declined by the
government, and was informed via a toady,
apologetic letter informing her that her money
(originally earmarked for unimportant things
like schools, hospitals and care homes for the
elderly) would not be forthcoming for the sole
reason that awarding it might attract
“probable adverse press coverage” (didn't stop
us: Hah!). The mere fact that the palace felt
that, during this difficult period in which
hundreds of the country's poorest pensioners
freeze to death over winter, the Queen
deserved yet more of our taxes, shows the
sheer contempt and arrogance with which the
ruling class still view us plebs. You want
some of our fuel allowance, you pampered parasite, you can come down here and work for it like the rest of us! But no, as the biggest
dole scrounger in the country, Queenie sees it
has her divine right to sit on her
skivvy-wiped arse, demanding that the rest of
us pay for her lavish lifestyle. Still, as we
wouldn't want to see anyone shivering through
the frosty season, us kind souls in cosy Bath
Bomb Towers have come up with a practical idea
for keeping the queen, her repulsive hubby and
all of her degenerate ilk, snugly warm this
winter. Well, it's not quite our idea. We
borrowed it from the Russians. And it involves
petrol.
*
It's Just Not Sport, Old Bean
Saturday 2nd October saw the Bath Hunt
Saboteurs out with their shiny new Landie,
teaming up with Bristol, South Wales and Ross
groups, to pay the Ledbury Fox Hounds hunt a
visit. Obviously, since the ban has been in
place, nobody hunts with hounds any more, so
the jolly gentry must have been out in the
ungodly a.m., training this season's young
foxhounds to get a taste for... I don't know,
country air? Stiff tipples? Certainly not fox
cub. The sabs ran rings around the hunt,
calling away and playing with the hounds all
day long, prompting the huntsman's age-old
greeting of “You blow that fucking horn again
and I'll shove it up your arse!” Bad show,
what? Once Ledbury packed up, the sabs
disturbed and shut down some other shooters
for a couple hours until the plod arrived –
even though they don't have the resources to
police hunt crime, apparently. The next week, sabs successfully stopped the Monmouthshire hunt from making kills, too! If you have a
taste to get involved with more of the same
over the coming months, ring Bath Hunt
Saboteurs on 07854 062336, or come along to
their meetings at the Bell, the second and
fourth Monday of the month, at 8pm.
*
SO DESPERATE, WE SAY IT TWICE: yes, the Bath
Bomb is now officially skint. It's a miracle
you're even holding this issue in your hands,
if you are. If you can find it in your pockets
to make a donation, please contact us as
bathbombpress[at]yahoo.co.uk. Or
alternatively, for armchair activists, £15
gets you a year of Bath Bombs posted to your
door – so you don't even have to leave the
house – plus other possible goodies.*
*Terms and Conditions: offer subjected to
social change. Your statutory, inalienable
human rights are not effective
*
And now, to the disclaimer: as anyone is free
to contribute, the opinions expressed in each
article are not necessarily reflective of all
contributors. Naturally, any right-wing or
corporate bullshit will be binned and spat
upon. Needless to say, the opinions of the
author of this disclaimer do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of any other contributor.
The Gay Liberation Front’s social revolution
13-10-2010 10:44
Forty years ago, the Gay Liberation Front challenged society's gender systemGLF’s radical critique of orthodox masculinity and femininity
The Unimaginable: My Night of Violence at the Hands of the Belgian Police.
13-10-2010 10:37
Democracy in Europe is under threat of a police force that feels entitled to police thoughts and use violence, while being fully confident that it can act with impunity. Marianne Maeckelbergh, assistant professor at Leiden University went through a horrowing first hand experience.Women's Festival Fundraiser 30 October
13-10-2010 10:23
Kiptik 10 year benefit at the Plough
13-10-2010 09:22
Come and help celebrate 10 years of Kiptik.Easton Cowfolk solidarity with the Zapatistas!
We're having a Day of the Dead/ Halloween Fancy Dress benefit at The Plough from 8pm, Sat 30th October.
Some great bands will be playing:
-The Dead Beats
- Clayton Blizzard
- Jota Ramos
With DJ PrettyBoy, El Borracho & Jaz, Lockjaw.
We suggest a donation of £4 with all money going directly to build water systems in Chiapas, Mexico.
Full article | 1 addition | 5 comments
Smash EDO's ITT Hammertime Time Line
13-10-2010 09:07
17.00 - Police claim "more than 20" were arrested to prevent a breach of the peace. A photographer who was held in a kettle for 20 minutes, claims that he saw at least 35 arrested from the kettle.
14.10 - People kettled on Lewes Road. A number of arrests have taken place. Police claim arrests are to "prevent a breach of the peace in a Residential Area". Argus claims that those who refuse to identify themselves are being arrested.
12.40 - A protestor says police horses were used to force marchers off the Lewes Road. A group of about 30 protestors has been kettled near Moulescombe Station and is being marched away, possibly towards the 'designated' area. Another group of around 35 is said to be marching towards the City Centre.
Singled Out And Suppressed At Birmigham Anti-Tory March
13-10-2010 08:39
French resistance nearing crunch point
13-10-2010 06:37
FRENCH resistance to the neoliberal 'austerity' measures being imposed on the people of Europe is nearing crunch point.UG #520 - Education and Its Discontents (HowSchooling has Undermined Learning)
13-10-2010 01:04
Bath Bomb #34 Out Now!
12-10-2010 23:09
The latest offering from the Bath-based radical freesheet, mostly obsessing about cuts nowadaysNotts County Council's "Big Budget Conversation"
12-10-2010 22:30
Notts County Council are currently holding a "Big Budget Conversation". It all seems a bit like Turkeys voting for Christmas but it would be good if people could increase the amount of anti-cuts messages on
this. The council will also be revealing further cut plans this week.
The “conversation” website includes:
Budget simulator – you have to find at least 12.5% cuts!
http://www.budgetsimulator.com/nottinghamshire
Comments form
http://www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/thecouncil/finance-and-the-budget/conversation/conversationcommentform/
Discussion forums (registration required)
http://www3.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/thecouncil/finance-and-the-budget/conversation/conversation-forums/
Protest At Soil Association HQ (Bristol) [1]
12-10-2010 22:29
SA licensing Israeli goods from illegal settlementsOn Friday 15th October from 11 am onwards and until 2.00pm, campaigners will demonstrate, and present a box of bloodied fruit and vegetables to the Soil Association's head office in Bristol, to express their concern about the Soil Association's licensing of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley.
Demonstrators will picket and leaflet outside the SA building, but will also request dialogue with Soil Association officials in their offices.
Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign has found evidence that the highly respected Soil Association, whose national offices are located at the bottom of Stokes Croft in Bristol, is licensing produce grown on illegal Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley. This is a practice well documented by both Corporate Watch and the Brighton-Jordan Valley Solidarity group.
The Soil Association stamps as 'organic' produce exported to the UK by Israel, after receiving assurances from its Israeli counterpart, an organisation called Agrior, that the fruit and vegetables meet the SA's own high standards.
However this is often far from being the case. Apart from licensing fruit and vegetables from illegal settlements, Agrior appears to have approved goods produced with child labour, or harvested in hazardous safety conditions. Soil Association representatives appear to accept the word of Agrior without question.
Last week members of Bristol PSC, including one who is also a Soil Association member, attended the SA's AGM in London to call on the SA to distance itself from Agrior. Soil Association representatives insist that Agrior is 100 % ethical, but has so far not been willing to suspend its relations with Agrior while the allegations made by Corporate Watch and others are investigated.
A spokesperson for Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign says, "The Soil Association is one of the most respected national organisations healthy food and ethical farming practices are concerned. By involving themselves with an organisation like Agrior which fails to meet their own high standards, they stand to lose a lot of credibility."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
In April 2010 boxes for cherry tomatoes exported by Red Sea Organics were found by Corporate Watch at a packing plant in the settlement of Tomer. They carried the logo of Agrior, and were labelled,’Produce of Israel,’ even though grown in the occupied Jordan Valley. Organic herbs with the logo of Fresh Direct and labelled ‘Produce of Israel’ were found inside the Halpert Moshe packing house – in an organic farm on an illegal West Bank settlement. In other words, it is probable that goods the Soil Assocation has approved actually came from illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land - in breach of the SA's own ethical guidelines.
Some companies exporting organic produce to the UK from illegal settlements: Carmel-Agrexco Hadiklaim, Jordan River, Edom UK, Amit Agro-Fresh, Arava..TBP Export. Waitrose in the UK stock Agrior and Soil Association certified products, including organic herbs and vegetables from settlements. (Corporate watch report, February 27 2009)
GI’s Brains Fried by Military Dispensed Nose Candy
12-10-2010 22:12
Radical and active? You’re in need of police re-education!
12-10-2010 22:05
Imagine a knock on your door late one night by two non-uniformed police offers. They explain that someone, somewhere has mentioned your “extremist opinions” and they are worried you might “act on them,” whatever that means. They won’t tell you who informed them, but they appear to know an awful lot about what you think. They advise you to come with them for some kind of re-education programme and imply there may be dire consequences if you don’t. Is this some kind of Orwellian nightmare? No. Welcome to 21st century Britain and the Channel Project, part of the government's counter-terrorism Prevent strategy.Full article | 1 addition | 2 comments
Images from Sheffield Free School
12-10-2010 21:50
Newport March For Jobs
12-10-2010 20:13
300 workers at Newport Passport Office facing losing their jobs.MASS DEMONSTRATION
Assemble 10.30 AM at the Westgate Hotel to start marching at 11
March ends in a rally in John Frost Square
"In the beginning is the web"- Global Interactive Discussion Live Webcast
12-10-2010 19:59
"Around The Table TV"
(formally The Kitchen Table TV)
A merging of theatre, discussion & the internet