Residents on the Dovers Farm estate in Rainham have been fighting plans by Havering Council to build homes on the green space in the middle of their estate. Green space that was intentionally planned in as an integral part of the estate when it was built in the 1950s to provide recreational opportunities for the residents. The people fighting this proposal to cover their green with houses are not NIMBYs. They accept that new housing is needed in the area but they rightly do not want to see open space that’s used by the community sacrificed to provide it. Particularly when there’s lots of genuine brownfield land available in the southern part of Havering and over into neighbouring Barking & Dagenham.

The latest phase of the residents’ campaign to save the space is getting it adopted as a Village Green which will give it protected status. A similar campaign was…

Adoption was once voluntary, reserved for unmarried mothers and Church Adoption agencies surviving on charitable donations and the support of religious founders.

Then the Adoption Act 1976 made Local Authorities responsible for all adoptions and allowed adoption to be forced if a parent was acting unreasonably .

A once private, voluntary, and very personal matter was now controlled by the State.

And has grown into a multi million pound Corporate industry with over 90% of adoptions forced to strangers.

As only those in the care system are available, the definition of ‘harm’ has been extended ever wider effectively now allowing the state to decide who can parent.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/18/children-parents-foster-social-care-families-adoption

How could this have happened ?

Tony Blair knew there was a shortage of children to satisfy the ever increasing social need for family units.

And this basic need could be financially and socially exploited.

Within 2 years of his Premiership he…

It’s not clear how many places will be taking part in the day of action against blacklisting in the construction industry, but here’s the details I’ve managed to find:

London: 9am – Skanska offices, Goswell Road, Barbican, EC1A 4JY – direct action
12:15pm – Westminster Rally followed by lobby of parliament

Birmingham: Demo on 6th December at 12.00 at the McAlpine site Exchange Square, Urban Village Site, Gate 4, Dale End, opposite Scruffy Murphy’s Pub. B4 7LN

Leeds: Robert McAlpine Site, City Square, Leeds, 8.00-10.00

Nottingham: “The blacklisting of construction workers is a long running scandal that has blighted the industry for decades. Workers have been denied employment just for raising concerns about health and safety or simply being a member of a union. So how is it possible that the contract to renovate the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre has been awarded to McAlpine, one of the…

Number 38

In this issue:

1. “Chimps” swing into action
2. Defend the living!
3. Fighting the cancer of economic growth
4. D for defiance in struggle against arms trade
5. Protecting the planet is not a crime
6. Sabotaging the subversives
7. Acorninfo

1. “Chimps” swing into action

The primate resistance movement has struck out against those who want to destroy our planet and replace us with robots.

A group of French activists swung into action on Monday November 20, at the start of a conference in the south-western city of Bordeaux which was celebrating the “cyborg future” of humankind.

They made their move under the label of the Bordeaux Chimpanzees of the Future, referring to the infamous comment by UK transhumanist techno-guru Kevin Warwick that, in a tomorrow’s world peopled by AI-enhanced cyborg hybrids, actual living human beings like you and me would be regarded as nothing more than evolutionary remnants. We would…

Since the Amazon distribution facility opened in Tilbury at the start of October, over 600 workers have either quit because the working conditions are so bad or they’ve been sacked for failing to meet onerous productivity targets. See this report in the Thurrock Independent for full details: Sacked worker backs report into poor conditions at Tilbury Amazon – http://www.thurrockindependent.com/2017/11/30/sacked-worker-backs-report-into-poor-conditions-at-tilbury-amazon/

This piece in the Thurrock Independent was based on an interview with an ex Amazon worker, Gary. This is a sample of what he had to say…
“You are constantly timed on how much you do, and if you don’t stow 3,000 items a day they basically kick you out the door. A lot of people walked out on the first day it was so bad.”
“The way management speak to you is so condescending, and as soon as you step away from your station they are asking where you’re going…

Another week, another round of disagreements over how to respond to transphobia. The latest news is that Peace News have weighed in with their take on the bookfair conflict, while over in Canada frat-boy “we’re definitely not fascist, we just really like fighting anti-fascists” group the Proud Boys had a hilariously unsuccessful attempt to stage a “free speech rally” in support of some teaching assistant who got told off after making the weird decision to show a transphobic video in the middle of a grammar and writing skills class.

The Peace News article takes the hardline “free speech absolutist” position, which I’ve always thought is unworkable, relying as it does on the unstated assumption that anyone who wants to say anything should have unimpeded access to whatever resources they want to use to amplify their voices. Of course, no one actually thinks this, which is why, for instance…