Glasgow Evening Times: Scabs brought in to break Strike
"The union supplied workers for emergency operations, maternity and movement of blood.
But Carolyn Leckie, Unison branch secretary, said they felt the North Glasgow NHS Trust had gone against their good faith by allowing Sodexho to bring in outside labour.
Ms Leckie said: “We have seen outside workers being brought in through the back door. I cannot imagine our staff will want to work alongside the scabs.
“We believe Sodexho will be trying to bring in more and we are prepared to block the entrances to stop anyone getting in.”"
The 48 hr strike against private contractor Sodexho is over pay. Carolyn Leckie is the co-chair of the SSP.
:: | 1:38 pm |Save This Page | |
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The pistols homage that is the new SSP poster has attracted some interest. Thanks to Magnus and Slaksrad for the links.
:: | 1:37 pm |
:: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 ::
BBC NEWS | Wales | Call for Welsh anti-poverty plan
A new report calls on the Welsh assembly to introduce free school meals to combat growing child poverty. Good luck.
:: | 11:14 am |
Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Socialist looking for revolution
"There is no doubt the socialists will do well next year," said Malcolm Dickson, lecturer in politics at Strathclyde University. "Tommy is a strong force on his own, Tommy plus maybe four others would be a pretty potent force. They would be a vociferous presence. They would be able to turn up the heat more than Tommy alone can do at the moment."
An incisive report from the Guardian, from Saturday.
:: | 10:40 am |
:: Monday, July 29, 2002 ::
Never Mind the Blairites, Here's the Scottish Socialist Party
In the top left of your screen you should now be seeing our groovy new poster.
:: | 4:03 pm |
:: Saturday, July 27, 2002 ::
Edinburgh Evening News: SSP set to light up for drugs stunt
SSP activists were to dress up as cigarettes, beer and a giant spliff, and form an identity parade while party drugs spokesman Kevin Williamson, dressed as a policeman, will ask passers-by to spot the odd one out.
Mr Williamson, who has announced plans to open Edinburgh’s first cannabis café, said: "I would like to see the supply of cannabis taken out of the hands of the criminal black market and available instead via licensed premises like alcohol and tobacco.
"David Blunkett’s plans to reduce cannabis to a category C drug is itself a cop-out, but doing so and maintaining the supply in the hands of the criminal black market may lead to the worst of all worlds."
:: | 6:40 pm |
:: Friday, July 26, 2002 ::
The Scotsman - S2 Weekend - No smoke without ire
Excellent article from last weeks Scotsman.
:: | 11:19 am |
:: Thursday, July 25, 2002 ::
Edinburgh Evening News - McRizla hits festival
Tartan skins hit Edinburgh just in time for the SSP legalise cannabis day of action.
:: | 3:07 pm |
:: Friday, July 19, 2002 ::
New kids force a turn to the left
Unions may agree on much with Labour, yet on key policy issues they are miles apart especially in Scotland where union and STUC policy is much closer to the Scottish Socialist Party and the SNP over private finance, public services and housing stock transfers to name just a few examples.
:: | 10:53 am |
Declaration of the Conference of the European Anti-Capitalist Left, Madrid, June 18-19, 2002
The SSP international committee web pages have been updated with the statement and list of participants of the 4th conference of the Anti-Capitalist Left.
:: | 10:36 am |
:: Thursday, July 18, 2002 ::
BBC: Blair ally loses union battle.
The engineering section of my union Amicus votes for a left candidate. This adds to the ferment in the unions as the PCS and RMT move left and UNISON takes national strike action.
:: | 3:19 pm |
:: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 ::
BBC: State ready to spy on net users
From August net service providers in The UK will be legally obliged to carry out automatic surveillance of their customers' web habits. ...The information gathered about the websites that people visit, who they exchange e-mail with and who they call on the phone will be passed to the police or a government monitoring station.
Big Brother is watching you, has been watching you for some time, and will continue to watch you.
:: | 11:17 am |
:: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 ::
Mobilise for the European Social Forum!
The SSP website international pages have been updated. See the above link for our mobilisation for the European Social Forum in Florence in November.
:: | 10:09 am |
:: Monday, July 15, 2002 ::
Dogtown and Z Boys
Saw this film at the weekend and highly recommend it. The story of how a bunch of delinquent teens from a run-down multiracial working class neighbourhood of Los Angeles invented skateboarding. Any film that features Tony Hawk, Ian McKaye and Henry Rollins has to be good.
:: | 2:48 pm |
Where did all the protesters go?
A flawed piece on the anti-capitalist/anti-globalisation/global justice etc movement from the Observer. The fact that 250 000 turned out in Barcelona, there was a further demo of 600 000 in Barcelona on the day of the Spanish General Strike, mass demos against the war in Italy of 3 million...this doesn't count because they were "ignored by the media". Otherwise some interesting stuff in this article.
:: | 12:36 pm |
:: Friday, July 12, 2002 ::
I have redesigned, in a bid to use a more accessible CSS layout. The source code is courtesy of this fine site. Obviously there are a few bugs remaining in my implementation, particularly with the blogger ad banner. I will try to fix all these in time.
:: | 5:20 pm |
Cannabis reclassification
A RESPONSE TO YESTERDAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT ON UK DRUGS POLICY
From Kevin Williamson, drug laws campaigner and SSP spokesperson on drugs issues.
In Scotland the Justice Minister admitted last month that all eight police forces here were no longer treating cannabis as an arrestable offence. I.e. in both London and all of Scotland WE NOW HAVE DE FACTO DECRIMINALISATION OF CANNABIS USE.
Cannabis cafe bid still on the menu
A DETERMINED Edinburgh publisher today pledged to carry on with plans to open a cannabis cafe in the city - despite a government ruling that the move will remain illegal.
Kevin Williamson has vowed to get his controversial venture off the ground "as soon as possible" in the wake of the long-awaited announcement of a change in drugs policy by the Home Secretary yesterday.
SNP dirty tricks in fight against Margo
This is the treatment that socialists in the SNP can now expect. Time to join a real socialist party that stands for an independent socialist Scotland.
MSP hits out at the forces of darkness
MacDonald claims enemies in SNP leaked story of her illness
THE SNP leadership was accused yesterday of trying to end the political career of Margo MacDonald by leaking the fact that she suffers from Parkinson's disease.
SNP keeps its distance in illness smear
IN Margo MacDonald’s Scottish parliament office, the telephone seldom stopped ringing yesterday morning.
Lord James Douglas Hamilton, the senior Tory, was one of the first to call to wish the Nationalist MSP well after hearing that she had a mild form of Parkinson’s Disease. Immediately afterwards, an official with Tommy Sheridan’s Scottish Socialist Party voiced similar concerns.
:: | 11:03 am |
:: Thursday, July 11, 2002 ::
Drug Laws - Cannabis Reclassified to Class C
from The Herald
Kevin Williamson, founder of Rebel Inc publishing and the Scottish Socialist party's spokesman on drugs policy, has already announced that he plans to open an Amsterdam-style cafe in Edinburgh.
He said yesterday that the plan still stood. "I'm hoping to open a cafe where cannabis would be openly smoked on the premises and the ultimate goal would be to have it on sale, with menus behind the counter similar to those they have in Holland.
"It could be a members-only club so that we could regulate the age and make sure there were no under-18s."
Visit the Rebel Inc. Coffee Shop website
:: | 10:50 am |
:: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 ::
More Margo coverage.
The Herald:
"She made it clear she had turned down an invitation from Tommy Sheridan to join the Scottish Socialist party, but praised its members for their 'drive and sheer dynamism'."
"Margo can be wilful and she knows how to make enemies. But she has also made friends among fellow travellers on the road to independence. Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialists begged her to fight for them in the South of Scotland (which must have alarmed Michael Russell, parlously stuck in fourth place on the SNP list) and the Greens would love to have her, presumably anywhere except in Robin Harper's Lothians."
Margo resigns - The Scotsman
"Mrs MacDonald intends to make up her mind over the summer about whether she will stand as an independent or on another party ticket."
Party maverick begins new political journey
:: | 10:20 am |
:: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 ::
Margo will not stand for SNP - BBC Scotland online.
The SNP leftie is not to stand for the Edinburgh South constituency seat. But she is not saying whether she will stand as an independent and has said she will not resign from the SNP.
My prediction: she will stand as an independent on the list and be expelled.
:: | 3:29 pm |
"Tension within the SNP was further raised yesterday when Margo MacDonald said she would not decide on her political future until after the summer." - The Herald.
Will she run for the SNP in Edinburgh South and try to win it or stand as an independent on her own list?
The results of the last Scottish Parliament election for the fptp seat of Edinburgh South were:
- Labour Angus MacKay 14,869 37.05 % - 9.77 %
- Scottish National Party Margo MacDonald 9,445 23.53 % + 10.61 %
- Liberal Democrat Cllr Mike Pringle 8,961 22.33 % + 4.69 %
- Conservative Iain Whyte 6,378 15.89 % - 5.39 %
- Socialist Workers Party William Black 482 1.20 % + 1.20 %
- Lab win Lab majority 5,424 13.52 % - 12.02 %
So a tough call, but not impossible if the Labour and Lib Dem votes go down like they promise to. As you can see the SSP did not contest this seat the last time, rather we had a pact with the SWP, who are now part of the party. Our candidate is Shirley Gibb.
:: | 11:13 am |
:: Monday, July 08, 2002 ::
Tommy on revolution
You say you want a revolution? Here, have 10
"10 of the best ... revolutions, by SSP leader Tommy Sheridan, on holiday in Cuba"
Sun, sand and socialism ... Tommy Sheridan's Cuban diary
Margo - Will She/Won't She?
Margo MacDonald interviewed in the Sunday Herald
"Enough of an oddball that she thinks the SNP simply doesn't want her any more. 'I keep thinking Groucho Marx had it right: would I want to be in a party that would have me as a member?'"
"Then she pauses. 'Aye, and Karl Marx got some things right as well."
Margo continues the will she/won't she speculation about whether she will stand as an independent. Possibly on a list including her husband ex-socialist firebrand and Govan SNP MP Jim Sillars.
Margo to end speculation on her future this week - The Scotsman.
:: | 10:32 am |
:: Friday, July 05, 2002 ::
Mass demonstrations in Argentina against police killings.
Police in Argentina were caught on film murdering in cold blood two 'piqueteros' or pickets. This has provoked a storm of protest and a return to the streets. Despite torrential rain the streets of Buenos Aires were once again filled with demonstrators. The above link is to pictures of the demos on the argentina.indymedia site.
:: | 2:19 pm |
:: Thursday, July 04, 2002 ::
Red Blogs
The blogging meme expands amongst the left. (That last sentence sounds like fridge magnet poetry.)
:: | 1:38 pm |
Thatcher statue loses its head in attack
"Yesterday, an 8ft marble statue of Baroness Thatcher was decapitated at an art gallery in London, according to a statement issued by the Corporation of London...."
:: | 10:43 am |
:: Wednesday, July 03, 2002 ::
Polemics between the USFI and IST
Questions of regroupment, the left and anti-capitalism in this series of documents which form part of a debate between the Fourth International (known as the USFI) and the SWP of England. Includes an article on building a new party in France by my comrade Murray Smith.
:: | 4:05 pm |
Aznar questioned on Spanish border incident
The freedom to peacefully and democratically politically protest in Europe is under attack. Our leaders can get together behind closed doors to make policy that will affect our lives, but we can't come along to complain. The Portugese Left Bloc protested in the European Parliament about the ban on protesters travelling to demos in Seville. The protestors included MEP's
:: | 3:09 pm |
:: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 ::
Fox chosen as top SSP Holyrood candidate
"THE Scottish Socialists have chosen their Lothians convener Colin Fox as number one on the region’s top-up list for next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.
And his hopes of getting elected have been boosted by yesterday’s opinion poll showing the party could win seven seats.
Mr Fox was selected by the 300 SSP members in Lothians in a one member one vote ballot.
The party will present a gender- balanced list, with Edinburgh Central candidate and SSP national co-chair Catriona Grant in second slot."
Catriona Grant is also the first-past-the-post candidate for Edinburgh Central
:: | 2:59 pm |
http://www.afghanworkers.org/
The Afghan Workers Solidarity Campaign was initiated by the SSP, Labour Party Pakistan and several Afghan Left groups. It now has a website running which outlines the plans for the campaign.
:: | 1:37 pm |
School Meals (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
The above link is the official Scottish Parliament report on the SSP's Free School Meals Bill. It is worth reading, as are many of the reports of the parliament. I don't think most voters realise just how cynical, spineless and ideologically bankrupt their New Labour (and lib-dem) MSP's are. A quick look at the speeches from the govt benches illustrates just how enthusiastically they have embraced neo-liberal ideology to the extent that they have actual contempt for the concept of universality, one of the foundations of the welfare state.
The debate wasn't really about money, a week later the parliament reported a massive underspend on their budget! It was about ideology. Universality and equality are no longer principles of New Labour or the Neo-Liberal Democrats
It is no wonder that New Labour and Lib Dem support dropped in yesterdays historic Herald poll. Let's even up the score. Elect a team of socialists to the parliament, vote SSP, get active for an independent socialist Scotland.
:: | 12:00 pm |
:: Monday, July 01, 2002 ::
SSP ‘set to win 7 seats’ - Edinburgh Evening News
More on this story. This poll clearly shows the impact of the SSP's strategy. The Free School Meals bill may not have won in parliament, but it made a big impact in public consciousness. Now New Labour are paying the price for sabotaging the bill and our childrens health.
:: | 3:29 pm |
Socialists on course for seven seats
The Herald
TOMMY Sheridan's Scottish Socialist party is on course to win seven seats at next May's Holyrood election, according to the latest poll for The Herald.
The NFO System Three survey found the SSP at an all-time high of 8% in the regional list standings, with growing support in almost every part of the country.
An analysis by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) suggests this would translate into seven MSPs, an increase of six on Mr Sheridan's current single seat, and establishing the SSP as significantly more than a one-man band.
Based on the figures, the SSP would get two list seats in the West of Scotland, and one each in the Highlands and Islands, Lothians, Central, Glasgow, and South.
One of the victims of any growth of the SSP could be Robin Harper, the current Green MSP in the Lothians, although his party could gain three list seats in the Highlands and Islands, North-east, and South, making for the strong prospect of a substantial rainbow block of red-green MSPs in the new Holyrood.
This could even approach the scale of the Tory group - estimated on today's figures at 12 - although such a projection should be treated with caution, as the Conservatives have historically performed better in real elections than in opinion polls.
The SSP scores highest on the list vote in the West of Scotland (13%), followed by Highlands and Islands (11%), Glasgow (10%), Lothians and South (both 8%), Central (7%), Mid and Fife (4%), and North-east (3%)....
July 1st 2002
:: | 10:36 am |