Weekly Links 08/03/2009

British Politics
Mandelson "slimed"!
Interesting background information to the reasons this action was taken against Britain's least popular unelected Minister from Airportwatch site here.
Guardian report and more video here.

Meanwhile the Bank of England and the government went for "Quantative Easing" in response to the crisis, Larry Elliott's take on it here.

It was announced this week that prescription charges are to rise, prompting a welcome intervention from the BMA -

Our submission seeks to highlight the many problems within the current system, which consequently are inherent in the proposal to extend the exemption list to include those with LTCs. The BMA's position and the conclusion of this evidence is that the Department of Health should abolish prescription charges in England altogether, as has already happened in Wales and will happen shortly in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas this week had an article on the Gaza situation on the Guardian website.

A snapshot of the anger now prevalent in British politics can be gained from the comments underneath a Guardian article by normally cynical/apolitical cultural commentator Charlie Brooker where he expresses his frustration at the uselessness of the British political system.

Blogging
Joseph Healy reported this week on the lobby held against the Government's Welfare Reform Bill.

Derek commented on the "Quantative Easing" strategy.

Dave Osler reflected on the anniversary of the start of the Miners' Strike of 1984-5.

Jim has been to see the film of the "classic graphic novel", Watchmen, and reviewed it on his blog.


Unions and Work
The Iraqi government has this week tried to sieze control of the Iraqi teachers' union. TUC statement here.

Former Miners' leader Arthur Scargill gave an article to the Guardian summarising his current views on the momentous strike of 25 years ago.

Television
This week saw the first airing of the first part of the dramatisation of man of the moment David Peace's Red Riding novels on Channel 4. Not only is the dramatisation on TV, but Peace's book on the short spell of management of Leeds United FC by Derby and Nottingham local hero Brian Clough in the 1970s is coming out as a film, (The Damned United) and his book on the Miners' Strike GB84 is surely topical with the current anniversary in the news.
Red Riding, centred on Police corruption in West Yorkshire, was brutal and stylish, and the TV adaptation did well to capture Peace's disconcerting style.

Save Victoria Baths!

No apologies for the local East Midlands flavour of the blog this week - there are a lot of things going on around here!

Nottingham City Council is currently coming under pressure from workers and service users in a variety of areas. One is the issue of uniforms for library staff that I mentioned in my 17th February blog entry - the issue is covered in this Indymedia post.

A campaign is also being fought to oppose the City Council's plan to close Victoria Baths. The City Council Executive Board meet on Tuesday 18th March and if they vote to close the Victoria Leisure Centre it could be shut down by the end of Easter.

The campaign website is http://www.savevictoriabaths.org.uk/

Please support the campaign by signing the petition, writing to your councillors, joining the mailing list and attending the public demonstration on Tuesday 18 March 2008 at 1.30pm in Market Square.

Nottingham City Council announced their proposal to close Victoria Leisure Centre on Friday 8 February. On Tuesday 19 February the Council's Executive board voted for the closure of the Leisure Centre in principle. They have now allowed for a month long period of consultation with local residents and Leisure Centre users before they meet again to make a final decision on about its fate on Tuesday 18 March 2008.

Jon Collins, Leader of the Council assured us that this consultation period is not a ‘façade’, as some people have speculated, and that they are a 'listening council' who will take our views into consideration when making their final decision. The land has not already been sold and it is not a foregone conclusion that the Leisure Centre will close!

We cannot stress enough the importance of making your views known to the Council between now and Tuesday 18 March 2008, to help us save our much loved Leisure Centre!

Remember that Nottingham City Council tried to close Victoria Leisure Centre once before in 2000 and that a campaign run by local residents and Leisure Centre users successfully managed to convince the Council to keep it open. We’ve done it once before and we can do it again, but only with your help!

Weekly Links - 09/03/08

Firstly, away from politics for a while, and as a Yorkshire born lad myself, may I say Glory, Glory Barnsley FC! who yesterday repeated their FA Cup "giant killing" of Liverpool by defeating the "mighty" (ho-ho)Chelsea. Barnsley's success and the promotion chasing efforts of Doncaster Rovers in League One give some much needed excitement to football in South Yorkshire, away from the trials of the two Sheffield Teams. Come on Barnsley and Donny!

Onto the blogs, and a football link there to start too - Anton at Enemies of Reason Blog has a piece on the latest despicable behaviour of the Express newspaper - this time in relation to Paul Gascoigne and his troubles.

Elsewhere, Phil from A Very Public Sociologist blog reports the death of holocaust survivor and veteran anti-fascist Leon Greenman.

Over at the Cedar Lounge Revolution there are some interesting thoughts on the return to print of the anti-postmodernist hoaxer Sokal.

Louise reports on the International Women's Day events in London this weekend over at the Socialist Unity Blog.

Septic Isle reviews the latest George Romero film, Diary of the Dead at Obsolete.

Liam MacUaid this week publishes an account of the situation with the Green Party in the USA as regards the upcoming elections, written by New York State Green Party Member Steffie Brooks.

Jack Ray has interesting reflections this week on the meaning of democracy and self determination in a world of globalised capitalism.

The GPTU blog has Derek Wall's Green Party statement on the Shelter dispute.

Green From Below this week has Guy Debord's Situationist Theses on Traffic.

Jim at Daily (Maybe) reports on the call from Green MEP Caroline Lucas for progressive opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. He also has a piece on the Bush regime and torture, and some thoughts on death. A cheery note to end on this week!