National News
Remembering Marx
by New Worker correspondent
London comrades joined hundreds of other communists and friends to commemorate the life of Karl Marx at his tomb in north London last weekend. Karl Marx died in his study at half-past two on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th March 1883. He was buried three days later at Highgate Cemetery. The annual event was organised by the Marx Memorial Library and conducted by Library chair Alex Gordon. This year’s graveside oration was given by Lord John Hendy, the President of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights and a vice president of the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.
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Shenzhen orchestra wows London
by New Worker correspondent
One of Asia’s leading orchestras came to town last week when the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra arrived in Chelsea for the London leg of a debut tour of Britain that includes London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Over 100 musicians performed an impressive programme of film scores and orchestral pieces at the Cadogan Hall on 13th March that included excerpts from the award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that was composed by the orchestra’s principal honorary conductor, Tan Dun.
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Driver Only Operations
by New Worker correspondent
RMT are also involved in another dispute with Scotrail over the introduction of Driver Only Operation (DOO) trains. ScotRail say that new trains on some suburban routes will only need a driver.
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Unfair Fares
by New Worker correspondent
The rail unions have at least united to denounce the latest rise in train fares. Fares rose by 4.9 per cent in England and Wales at the start of this month. Maryam Eslamdoust deplored this saying “we remain in a cost of living crisis and this outrageous rise in rail fares will add hundreds of pounds to annual travel costs for many commuters,” adding that “it’s as though the government is unable to see further than the demands of the profiteering rail companies who will again be the only winners”.
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On the Buses
by New Worker correspondent
About 300 bus drivers and engineers employed by Arriva Northumberland at the Blythe and Ashington bus depots are being balloted by their union, Unite, after rejecting a miserable four per cent pay offer. In contrast other nearby bus workers such as those at Go North East, have have won better deals after action by Unite. In accordance with long standing custom even Arriva’s best-paid drivers earn less than those employed by Go North East and Stagecoach.
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All at Sea
by New Worker correspondent
Two years have passed since P&O ferries sacked nearly all its UK based workforce. This was marked by a demonstration outside Parliament on Wednesday afternoon organised by the officers’ union Nautilus International and RMT.
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And finally
by New Worker correspondent
Pilots belonging to the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) working for Bristow Helicopters the American owned, but Aberdeen based, company which serves the North Sea oil and gas industry are on the march. After months of unsuccessful negotiations they voted 96.31 per cent on a 92.74 per cent turnout for action this month which involves strikes on Wednesdays.
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Stand with Diane!
by Theo Russell
Diane Abbott received a rapturous welcome from around 900 people at a rally outside Hackney Town Hall in east London last week to protest against the vile attack on the MP by multi-millionaire Tory donor Frank Hester. The chant repeated again and again was “We stand with Diane!”
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
At the start of this month our police made an announcement that will delight petty criminals throughout the country. Police Scotland will no longer investigate every low-level crime committed in Scotland, particularly when there is no CCTV or witnesses
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International News
Gaza: Stop the Genocide!
Global Times
The UK government is considering limiting the number of Chinese nationals who can enter the UK on official business. According to Bloomberg News this is because the Sunak government fears that this is being “abused to bring spies into Britain”. The UK’s approach to the socalled national security threat posed by China once again reinforces people’s impression of its endless paranoid and spurious interpretation of national security.
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Putin landslide leaves the West frustrated
by Hu Xijin, Global Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin has won the latest presidential election, which means he will remain in power until at least 2030. Many Western media outlets claimed that this is a “nightmare” for the West.
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Russia foils Ukrainian sabotage raids
by Ilya Tsukanov , Sputnik
The Ukrainian military launched large-scale offensive operations across the northern Russian border last week. The attacks came amid dwindling NATO arms aid for Kiev and successful Russian efforts to gradually push through heavily fortified Ukrainian defences in the Donbas in recent months. And they all failed.
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The tragedy of Gaza
by Guillermo Alvarado, Radio Havana Cuba
The Gaza Strip is already experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe of great proportions due to the massive and indiscriminate bombings that the Zionist State of Israel is carrying out against the civilian and unarmed Palestinian population, which is overcrowded in that territory.
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CIA stokes Cuban inflation
Granma
Distorting Cuban finances is part of the ongoing strategy of the U S intelligence community. Recently leaked information reveals the manoeuvres carried out to stoke inflation within the Cuban market, based on shortages, induced inflation, supply boycott and financial blockade. International demands, with the use of vulture funds, are also part of this offensive.
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Features
Houthis Go Hypersonic?
by Ilya Tsukanov, Sputnik
How Ansar Allah’s Advance in Missile Tech Could Trigger US Defeat in the Middle East. A military source close to Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement has informed the Sputnik news agency that the militia has carried out a successful test flight of a hypersonic missile and is preparing to add it into its arsenal. So Sputnik asked a leading Russian military observer about the development’s strategic implications
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Gaza: Starvation is a War Crime
by Vijay Prashad , People’s Democracy (India)
Speaking in Rome the head of the United Nations World Food Programme Cindy McCain said: “If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas” of Gaza, ‘famine is imminent. It’s imminent’. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the genocidal Israeli war, and the Palestinians in Gaza are on the verge of famine. Palestine’s Permanent Observer at the United Nations Riyad Mansour said that over half a million people are ‘one step away from famine’. ‘What it means for mothers and fathers to hear their babies and children cry of hunger day and night, no milk, no bread, nothing’, he added. Indeed, babies and children already have begun to die due to the famine-like conditions in Gaza. With Ramadan already begun, the situation is not only physically acute, but also mentally torturous.
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Kim Jong Suk: fighter for the liberation of Korea
by Princess Harmony , Workers World (USA)
“My mother passed away too early. Her life, though short, was truly worthwhile.” – Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
While love might motivate any child to say this about their parent, never were truer words spoken about any mother. Kim Jong Suk, the first wife of Kim Il Sung and the mother of Kim Jong Il, served the people of Korea — all Korea, including the currently occupied south — in their liberation fight, first against the Japanese Empire and, after the Second World War, against American imperialism.
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No ordinary tale
Review - by Ben Soton
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman; Penguin, London 2024 Pbk £9.99 432 pp.
The Last Devil to Die is the fourth instalment in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series based around a group of elderly crime-solving amateur sleuths. Once again Ron, Joyce, Ibrahim and Elizabeth are brought together to solve the murder of an antique dealer. Meanwhile a hundred, thousand pounds worth of heroin goes missing; naturally the two events are closely connected.The plot of the novel revolves around various and often fatal attempts to locate the box.
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