Skip to content or view screen version

UK Newswire Archive

Full article

100 people at #Sheffield @ukuncut #Starbucks Action

08-12-2012 22:41

Make the dodgers pay
Thanks to everyone who joined our Refuge for The Cuts. At one point, including those people who joined to talk and listen from the amazing parade of humanity that is Fargate, we had between 80 and 100 people. What struck us as most significant about this action was the amazing interaction with our fellow public in Sheffield; people seem genuinely interested to find out what they can do fight companies like Starbucks in their tax dodging. We had well over 1000 leaflets and flyers that all went to eager eyes. Thanks to all you amazing musicians that entertained and the people who made the coffee stall what may possibly have been the busiest coffee joint in town. And the only free one... There's no way we would have expected such an action to happen even a year ago; our message is making more and minds yield to and understand the anti-austerity message.

Full article

Workfare’s Christmas Bonus For The Bosses

08-12-2012 21:55

Poundland
Saturday 8th December marks the start of a week of action against workfare [1] and shops that profit from the free labour supplied by the taxpayer. The national day of action is focusing on charities, however as there aren't many charity shops in the city centre and since a protest last month outside British Heart Foundation who announced they were stepping back from workfare[2] it was decided to take action over companies that profit from free Christmas temps at our expense. In Birmingham anti-workfare protesters gathered outside Poundland, a local company using workfare. As the protest began to grow with people joining after coming from the nearby Starbucks tax dodging action the group decided to move off in search of other shops using workfare. They didn't have to walk far when round the corner they arrived at Argos, a particularly unpopular shop amongst Birmingham Workfare activists. In Birmingham last year, Boycott Workfare was told by someone who applied for a temp job at Argos, but didn’t get it and then subsequently got sent there on workfare that they had more people on workfare than paid temps. In light of this the group made the decision to occupy the shop. The occupation was more successful than expected, security - the same people who a week earlier had assaulted a protester by punching them in the face at the occupation of the Adidas shop[3] – had obviously been told to back off and not go round punching people, let the occupation carry on as long as the occupiers wanted. After the queues at Argos had become visibly shorter the group decided that there were other shops who needed to be targeted and so ended the occupation. The next stop on the Workfare tour was Superdrug where flyers were handed out before moving on to the last stop on the tour McDonald’s. Here the protesters were joined by Birmingham Food not Bombs activists who set up a stall outside McDonald’s and began handing out free vegan burgers.

Full article

People and Parliament Revisited

08-12-2012 20:55

By Alastair McIntosh In the run-up to Devolution in 1997 I was concerned that the level of political debate was not going deep enough. There was much talk about politics [...]

Full article

Scotland in Europe

08-12-2012 20:55

By Alyn Smith Scotland and the EU is the Brigadoon issue of Scottish politics: it appears, disappears, reappears, goes quiet, explodes onto the front pages again only to then recede [...]

Full article

Leith stuck at bottom of Edinburgh litter league despite improvements

08-12-2012 20:55

In July we noted that Leith and Leith Walk wards were languishing at the bottom of the Edinburgh litter league table, according to an independent assessment undertaken by Keep Scotland Beautiful in June. 

read more

Full article | 1 comment

Police places pressure on relatives and friends of jailed Russian antifascists

08-12-2012 19:59

Antifascists Alexey Sutuga and Alexey Olesinov have already been in the"Butyrka" prison in Moscow for more than half a year. Investigator Y. Egorov, who is conducting the investigation, is expected to modify the criminal case into a more serious one.

Full article | 3 comments

Thoughts On The EDL’s South West Regional Meeting

08-12-2012 19:10

Last weekend the EDL held a south west regional organising meeting. here's a bit of info and thoughts.

Full article | 5 comments

The rich remain rich

08-12-2012 15:47

An open letter to the government

Full article

Bradley Manning Hearing: Notes from the courtroom 7 December

08-12-2012 10:25

Courtroom sketch by Clark Stoeckley - CWO Denise Barnes

CWO2 Denise Barnes, who made the decision to remove Manning's underwear at Quantico Brig, took the witness stand in Bradley Manning's unlawful pretrial punishment hearing on Friday 7 December (see Tweets below and reports from Kevin Gosztola [ 1 | 2 ]. This is the last day of the second week of the hearing, unlike the first week when the court sat on Saturday and Sunday. The hearing is scheduled to continue Monday 10 to Wednesday 12 December. Defence has not yet finished cross examining Barnes.

For other court reports from this hearing, see notes from the courtroom: 6 Dec | 5 Dec | 1-2 Dec | 30 Nov | 27-29 Nov | Bradley Manning's Testimony.

Full article | 1 comment

UG#595 - An Antidote To Forgetfulness (The Great New Zealand Fire Sale)

07-12-2012 23:40

Audio
This week we review the wholesale privatization of New Zealand carried out in the 1980s and 90s. We hear a radio adaptation of Alister Barry's 1996 documentary, Someone Else's Country and conclude with a few words from Chapter 7 of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years.

Full article | 1 comment

UG#596 - Lifting The Lid on The NSA (Secret Rooms, Infiltration, Menwith Hill)

07-12-2012 23:38

Audio
This week we learn more about NSA, which no longer limits its activities to mere intelligence gathering. Whistle-blower Mark Klein tells how he broke the NSA's unwarranted wiretapping scandal, Kevin Zeese speaks on a century of political infiltration of US political movements, and infiltration of Occupy movements and we conclude with researcher Steve Schofield on the NSA's largest base in Europe.

Full article

UG#597 - The Psychology of Transition (Undoing Millennia of Social Control)

07-12-2012 23:36

Audio
This week three speakers on the ongoing transition. Bruce Schneier begins by speaking about threats to the internet and social change, Robert Jensen speaks on the naturalization of violence against women, Rob Hopkins speaks on transition culture. We conclude by returning to Debt, The First 5000 Years.

Full article

UG#598 - Incredible Edible (Local Food, Environmental NGOs, GM Labels)

07-12-2012 23:33

Audio
This episode we compare the output of the agribusiness industry with locally grown food. In our first hour Pam Warhurst, a founder of the "Incredible Edible" movement, focuses on growing local food as a way to grow community. After pieces on why US doesn't label GM foods and on how large environmental NGOs work with big business, we conclude with news of a 7 acre food forest in Seattle.

Full article

UG#599 - What Economics Can't Tell You About Money (Alienation, Black Magic...)

07-12-2012 23:31

Audio
This week, a set of sideways looks at money. We begin with an interview of David Hawkes on a range of ideas about the 'magic' of money, its ability to promote materialism and alienate humans from their work. Next an audio version of Robin Upton's 2011 presentation, "What Economics Can't Tell You About Money", followed by a radio adaptation of the film On Modern Servitude.

Full article

Culture is a not an industry. Creative Scotland n’est pas une pipe.

07-12-2012 20:55

by Kevin Williamson “One-dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information.

read more

Full article

BPCAC Conference 2012: An alternative to cuts

07-12-2012 16:55

"Alternative strategies at a local level" A conference hosted by the Bradford Peoples Coalition Against the Cuts at the Bradford Resources Centre. April 21st.

This audio has been recorded as a 1in12 Library Production.

http://bpcac.org/

 

Sorry for the delay in getting this published, but it's here now and choc-full of useful information on local alternatives to the cuts.

 

Further information on the People's Coalition and Conference can be found at bpcac.org

The audio files recorded at the event can be found at http://archive.org/details/BpcacConference2012

 

Many thanks to 1in12 Library Collective and Bradford Resource Centre for the time and effort they put in to assist with the event.

Full article

Bradley Manning Hearing: Notes from the courtroom 6 December

07-12-2012 11:14

Courtroom sketch by Clark Stoeckley - CWO James Averhart

Thursday 6 December: Bradley Manning's unlawful pretrial punishment hearing continued (day 8 of this hearing) with testimony from Chief Warrant Officer (CWO4)James Averhart, the Officer in Charge at Quantico Brig from August 2010 to January 2011 (see Tweets below and reports from Nathan Fuller and Kevin Gosztola).

For other court reports from this 'unlawful pretrial punishment' hearing, see: Bradley Manning's Testimony and these articles: 5 Dec, 1-2 Dec, 30 Nov and 27-29 Nov.

Full article

A network of squatters formed in Cardiff

06-12-2012 22:55