British rail unions branded Transport for London (TfL) 鈥渂arefaced liars" after its management attempted to claim minimum disruption during a 24-hour strike on November 3.
London Underground services were crippled by strike action called by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) over safety-critical job cuts.
All 11 of the London鈥檚 Tube lines were hit by the walkout. The action was the latest in a series of strikes over plans to axe up to 2000 jobs, including 800 station staff.
Britain
BBC services were severely disrupted after a 48-hour walkout on November 5 and 6 by thousands of media workers. MorningStarOnline.co.uk said on November 5 the workers were fighting the corporation鈥檚 鈥減ensions robbery鈥, which would result in payouts being dramatically reduced.
The corporation鈥檚 director general Mark Thompson claimed the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) strike had no impact, but viewers and listeners tuned into BBC radio and TV channels to find the flagship program off air.
Thousands of pensioners descended on British parliament to reject the government鈥檚 pension cuts on October 27.
Angry pensioners pledged to escalate the fight against the cuts by joining spirited protests up and down the land against the government鈥檚 public spending cuts.
Nearly 1000 activists from the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) converged on Westminster to protest against vicious cuts in vital services and to demand a basic state pension of at least 拢171 a week.
Out-of-favour Manchester United star Wayne Rooney must look in the papers every morning and think: 鈥淗ow does [Liberal Democrat MP and business secretary in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition] Vince Cable get away with it?
鈥淛ust like me, a year ago he was a national hero, the embodiment of hope, and now he鈥檚 a bumbling fool and revealed as a cheat. But he's allowed to carry on as he pleases and isn鈥檛 even substituted.
鈥淚 want a transfer to the Liberal Democrats.鈥
On October 20, thousands of students and workers marched on Downing Street in London to protest against the savage cuts in social spending announced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, Counterfire.org reported that day.
The protest was organised by the Coalition of Resistance, Camden Trades Council and the People鈥檚 Charter.
The cuts in public spending announced by British chancellor George Osborne that day amount to 81 billion pounds.
The marvellous part about a transport strike, such as the one on the London Underground on October 4, is the reports on the news afterwards.
This is where we鈥檙e told: 鈥淥ne plucky commuter beat the strike by breaking into the Imperial War Museum and stealing a Spitfire, which he used to ferry grateful passengers who鈥檇 been left stranded by the union in a swamp with little hope of ever seeing their children again.
Secret documents disclosed in Britain鈥檚 High Court revealed former British prime minister Tony Blair was warned in the weeks after US forces began rounding up terrorism suspects that British nationals held by the US in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay were being tortured, the Guardian said on September 30.
A January 22, 2002 note from Blair in which he expressed concern about the treatment of British citizens being held by the US appeared, among heavily censored MI5 and foreign office documents, in court hearings in which British citizens are suing the government, MI5 and MI6.
Britain is said to be approaching its Berlusconi Moment. That is to say, if Rupert Murdoch wins control of Sky, he will command half Britain鈥檚 television and newspaper market and threaten what is known as public service broadcasting.
Although the alarm is ringing, it is unlikely that any government will stop him while his court is packed with politicians of all parties.
The problem with this and other Murdoch scares is that, while one cannot doubt their gravity, they deflect from an unrecognised and more insidious threat to honest information.
Eventually, the Conservative-Liberal Coalition will sell itself off, and the country will be run by low-cost airline Ryanair.
You realise this if you listen to one of their favourite thinkers, Mark Littlewood of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which describes itself as a 鈥渇ree-market think-tank鈥.
On September 14, he suggested stopping libraries from receiving public funding, because he doesn鈥檛 use them. So, he asks, 鈥淲hy should I pay?鈥
Edward Bernays, the US nephew of Sigmund Freud, is said to have invented modern propaganda. During the World War I, he was one of a group of influential liberals who mounted a secret government campaign to persuade reluctant Americans to send an army to the bloodbath in Europe.
In his 1928 book Propaganda, Bernays said the 鈥渋ntelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses was an important element in democratic society鈥 and that the manipulators 鈥渃onstitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country鈥.
Tony Blair must be prosecuted, not indulged like his mentor Peter Mandelson. Both have produced self-serving memoirs for which they have been paid fortunes. Blair鈥檚 will appear next month and earn him 拢4.6 million.
On August 13, nine leading British medical experts wrote an open letter to the Times calling for an inquiry into the alleged suicide of whistleblower Dr David Kelly in July 2003.
The 59-year-old scientist, the world鈥檚 leading expert in biological and chemical weapons, died shortly after being exposed as the source of a leak to the BBC suggesting that the British government had deliberately 鈥渟exed up鈥 military intelligence about Iraq鈥檚 alleged weapons of mass destruction.
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