Support EDM 1334 - Support the Morning Star

Please find below a letter sent to a local MP urging her to sign EDM 1334 calling on the Director General of the BBC to ensure that the Morning Star is covered by the BBC. You can find your MP using Write to Them, which you can easily do yourself here: http://www.writetothem.com/

Please feel free to adapt the letter. Let's make sure every MP, especially Labour MPs, gets one of these.

Dear ____

I am writing to ask you to add your name to EDM 1334, The Morning Star, put down by Ian Lavery MP and supported by a range of Labour MPs.

The Morning Star is the only socialist daily paper in the English language. Uniquely, for a national daily paper it is a cooperative, owned by its readers, and covers issues concerning working people that are ignored by the mainstream media. As you are probably aware, it has strong links with the trade union movement. These features give it a different character from the mainstream print media. Yet it is almost never referred to by the BBC. I believe that the BBC as a public service broadcaster, has a duty to reflect the full spectrum of opinion in the print media. By ignoring the Morning Star, seemingly because it is not a large circulation paper owned by a large media corporation, the BBC is failing in that task. Consequently, the BBC is betraying, unwittingly perhaps, a political bias against the stories and angles expressed in the Morning Star.
EDM 1334 calls on the Director General to ensure that the Morning Star is featured regularly on an equal footing with other papers.

I think at a time when working people, and indeed public service broadcasting are under sustained attack, the trade union and progressive movements need as many public avenues for our views as possible. Ending the tacit censorship of the daily voice of the left and the trade union movement would be a big contribution to that fight.
I hope you will sign EDM 1334 and I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Next branch meeting -The crisis in higher education

Our next branch meeting will be held on Monday 7th February at our usual venue the INCA-CGIL, 124 Canonbury Road N1 2UT (nearest tube: Highbury and Islington).

The meeting will begin at 7.30pm.

Our speaker will be Simon Renton, who will be discussing the current situation in the Higher Education sector. Simon is active nationally in the University and College Union.  Given the current crisis and the waves of resistance from students and education workers, this is not to be missed.

District Aggregate - Fight the Cuts - 12 February

District Aggregate - Fight the Cuts:

All comrades in London should be trying to attend the forthcoming London District aggregate meeting on Saturday 12th February which will also be held at the INCA-CGIL.

The meeting is 10.30-4pm and will be discussing organising to resist the Con-Dem cuts in London.

The morning session is to be an internal discussion for CP members. The afternoon session is being opened up to invited fellow travellers. Our sister parties AKEL, the CP Bangladesh and the Indian Workers' Association will also be participating.

Attendance is on a first come, first served basis so please let the District Secretary Steve Johnson or Jim Gledhill know if you wish to attend.  Email Jim at northlondoncp@hotmail.com  

Cuts campaigning survey:

Please also fill in the survey that has been circulated. This is intended to help the Aggregate and the District to plan and coordinate campaigning around the cuts and it's vitally important that all comrades active in London campaigns fill it in. It only takes a minute. Click here to complete the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JFLKVPJ

Camden United Against Cuts Public Meeting, Monday 10 January, 7pm, Camden Town Hall.

Following on from a series of anti-cuts activities in 2010, Camden Trades Council in conjunction with other local organisations has set up Camden United Against the Cuts  to co-ordinate work agains the cuts, with a launch meeting on 10 January at which Frank Dobson MP will be speaking (see flyer). Comrades are urged to encourage organisations to affiliate to the campaign (contact camdenunitedagainstcuts@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and use the petition.
For more details click here: http://camdentradescouncil.org.uk/

Comrades living in Camden are strongly urged to attend this meeting if at all possible. It is vital that Communists living in Camden contribute to this growing local campaign to the maximum possible extent.

North London Morning Star Burns supper – 29 January 2011

North London Morning Star Burns supper is on Saturday 29th January (the same day as the Islington Hands Off Our Public Services campaign demonstration) 6.30 for a 7 start.

It's at the lovely Italian trade union centre at 124 Canonbury Road N1 2UT opposite Highbury and Islington tube station across the roundabout.
We have a piper and some Chilean music plus guest speakers
And the usual traditional food, drink, poetry and singing
Tickets will need to be booked and paid for in advance.
Watch the Morning Star for adverts with more details
We'll be looking for helpers (and Andy will follow up to confirm all):

·         cooking

·         bringing drinks and food

·         preparing room

·         serving

·         reading a poem or singing

For more info and to book a place email andy.bain@blueyonder.co.uk or 07771 612 592

IHOOPS takes cold cuts fight to Pickles

Islington Hands Of Our Public services (I-HOOPS) is fighting the good fight here in what is, despite the surrounding wealth, one of the poorest boroughs in Britain.  On Tuesday, 14 December, 20 campaigners held a freezing cold alternative carol singing outside St James Church Clerkenwell, with the local tories inside.  They had invited Eric Pickles MP as their guest but we are pleased to report, as stated by the non-kettling bobbies who kept us out of the ticket only do, that Pickles was unable to attend 'due to parliamentary duties'. One up for us.

Then on Wednesday we supported a Unison march to the local town hall in protest at 300 job losses, many in essential caring services.  Around 500 braved the cold and rain walking down Upper Street to the toots of many motorists.  Jeremy Corbyn spoke of the lead shown by the students and the need to build for the 26th March TUC sponsored demonstration.  The council leader Catherine West had the more difficult job of calling for unity against the Government while her council was starting with the cuts.  She was cheered, however, when she supported a call for a national conference of councillors plus trade unions and foreign anti-cuts campaigners.  Gary Heather, chair of the Islington Trades Council called for support for the I-HOOPS demonstration against the cuts on 29th January.  Many other trade union and community activists spoke in a rally that showed great unity and potential for growth.

Camden Trades Council Lobby of Council - 1 December

Camden Trades Council is holding a rally against the Council's cuts tomorrow (1t December) at 6pm outside Camden Town Hall. Comrades and friends are urged to attend if possible. You can find full details of the rally at the Camden Trades Council website: http://camdentradescouncil.org.uk/

Download a flyer here: http://camdentradescouncil.org.uk/images/stories/photos/demo01_12_10.pdf
 Camden Trades Council, Camden NUT, Camden Unison,

The Con-Dem Coalition is intent on forcing local councils to implement the most severe spending cuts in living memory. The cuts will slash nearly £90 million from the Council’s funds over the next three years.

Housing benefit caps could result in the eviction of hundreds of households from the borough, while other policy changes will push rents to 80 percent of market rates in Housing Association properties.

The cuts and other Con-Dem measures will hit the poorest hard, changing Camden’s make-up and tearing the heart out of the borough.

The lobby of the Council has been called by

and Holborn & St Pancras Constituency Labour Party.