Guilty: Historic verdict in Stephen Lawrence case despite police racism

Two men have finally been convicted of the notorious racist murder of Stephen Lawrence

Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, was stabbed to death at a south east London bus stop in April 1993 by a racist gang

Police racism and corruption had helped to shield the killers of Stephen Lawrence from conviction

When Doreen Lawrence asserted that no police officer had tended her dying son because they “did not want to get their hands dirty with a black man’s blood”, the reverberations shook British society

On the night of Stephen Lawrence’s murder, his friend Duwayne Brooks, who had been with him during the attack, was taken to Plumstead police station

Footage of obscene racist rants by David Norris and Gary Dobson was shown to the jury during the trial

New Year cheer is in short supply judging by the latest statements from European leaders

“What a day! 30 November was an incredible success, one of the proudest moments of my career

Workers and some union leaders have spoken out against the government’s latest pensions offer

The Unison and GMB unions have signed up to a “heads of agreement” in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Some 70,000 children in England woke up in temporary accommodation on New Year’s Day, according to the charity Shelter

A report by the charity Crisis reveals that homeless people die about 30 years sooner than average

Up to a thousand people attended a candlelit vigil in Salford on Monday, demonstrating united opposition to the murder of Anuj Bidve

Football fans, players and anti-racist campaigners have condemned Liverpool FC’s defence of its player, Luis Suarez, who has been found guilty of racism

A councillor in Barking, east London, has been expelled from the Labour party—for refusing to vote for cuts

Some 187 complaints were made against police officers over their use of Facebook in the past four years

The courts have set another grim record for the longest sentence yet given in connection with the August 2011 riots

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is to give all contracts for the Compass project to accommodate asylum seekers over the next five years to three multinational detention and deportation companies

The BBC has stooped to a new low

The pensions dispute is about much more than pensions

After nine years of war and occupation US troops have pulled out of Iraq

Socialist Worker's pick of this week's quotes

It was far from the first time that local government officials in China took over poor people’s land and deprived them of their livelihoods

North Korea’s future is shrouded in uncertainty

The British media sneered at public outpourings of grief in North Korea when Kim Jong-il died

Anti-government protests in Syria have grown bigger than ever over the past week—and have spread to the capital Damascus and the country’s largest city Aleppo

Egypt’s ruling military council has launched a fresh wave of attacks on revolutionary activists

A strike by low-paid women mill workers 100 years ago this month shook the US ruling class – Judith Orr looks back at events and the powerful impact they had on other workers

Mohamed Bani, a Tunisian living in London, spoke to Siân Ruddick about the process of revolution

The general union in Tunisia, the UGTT, has been the only counter-power to the regime

The Islamists, who are organised mainly inside the now-ruling party Ennahda, started out close to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood

Help us win justice for Christopher Alder and Grace Kamara | Bhopal link tars the Olympics | Tory hypocrites wage war on sick and poor | Implant company’s deadly profit drive | Care Tory-style | Children can’t be criminals | Why I support juries | Proud to march on N30 | Loadsa money for the queen

A new film on the life of Margaret Thatcher is a confused disappointment, argues Pat Stack

Sir Walter Scott has a lot to answer for

It’s Atlantic City in the era of Prohibition

First came Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of books

Lygia Pape, who died in 2004, was a groundbreaking Brazilian artist

More than 200 workers at the Marks & Spencer distribution centre in Swindon struck on 22 December over plans to introduce worse conditions and lower pay for new starters

Housing workers at Family Mosaic Housing Association have voted for strikes over new contracts in a consultative ballot

Strikes planned over Christmas by workers at TV Licensing contractor Capita have been postponed

System developers and analysts working on a Capita account for IT services company Steria UK struck over pay on Friday 16 December

Teachers, parents, students and campaigners are fighting the forced imposition of academy schools in Haringey, north London

The NUT union will begin strike ballots of its members in sixth form colleges over pay and conditions on 16 January

UCU union members face battles over pensions, pay, jobs and privatisation

Workers have been occupying a foam packaging factory in Cork, Ireland, for three weeks

More than 30 young people marched on North Somerset Council’s town hall on Monday 19 December to save their youth centres

Newham Council has now partially closed the Atherton Leisure Centre in Stratford, east London, as a prelude to shutting it entirely

Train signalling staff at the West of Scotland signalling centre in Glasgow struck for 72 hours over the Christmas break

The Aslef union has suspended plans for further strikes by London Underground train drivers

Bus drivers working at Stagecoach in South Yorkshire were set to strike on Wednesday of this week

The threatened Bombardier train factory in Derby will stay open for a while longer

Workers are preparing for a major confrontation with building bosses this month

Agency post workers walked out unofficially at the Royal Mail sorting office in Birmingham after bosses failed to pay their Christmas wages on time

Agency workers in the Unite union at the Argos Distribution Centre near Burton on Trent protested on 22 December against bosses’ attempts to continue paying them a lower rate

Almost 100 people rallied outside Holloway Women’s Prison in solidarity with jailed protesters on New Year’s Eve

Some 65 workers contracted to the Metropolitan police struck for 24 hours on Friday 23 December in a long-running dispute over pay

Street cleaners in Cheshire were set to walk out for two hours on Thursday of this week in a battle over shifts

Around 60 home care workers protested outside the South Gloucestershire council meeting on 14 December

Baggage handlers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport held regular walkouts over Christmas and the New Year

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