EGYPT: STRIKES SHAKE US ALLY

Tens of thousands of workers challenge dictator

Barclays bank tried to claim that it was being hit by the global economic credit crunch when it announced this week that its annual profits had fallen

The cost of the US and British involvement in Iraq

George Bush visited five African countries last week to promote the alleged benefits of US aid

The government was forced this week to release an initial draft of the infamous “dodgy dossier” that was used to justify the 2003 attack on Iraq

There are just three weeks to go until the international day of action against the “war on terror”

Leeds | Blackburn | Argyll and Bute | Northumberland

The battle for equal and fair pay in local government is coming to a head in Birmingham council

New Labour has again turned to the courts to defend its public sector pay curbs

Gordon Brown responds to economic gloom and the housing crisis with even more worship of the market

As recession looms and Gordon Brown continues to put his faith in the “free market”, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing their homes

The government is set to announce the development of ten new “eco-towns”, which it says will help fight the danger of climate chaos

A report by the Competition Commission last week helped highlight the power of the major supermarkets, but offered little to challenge their domination

Supporters of former Guantanamo prisoners Omar Deghayes and Jamil el-Banna protested outside their hearing on Thursday of last week

Results of council by-elections in Leyton and Preston | Anger at councillor's defection

“It’s like going back to the 1970s,” says a BBC commentator discussing the Northern Rock nationalisation, to a backdrop of pictures of militant shop stewards, rubbish piling up in the streets and people wearing flared trousers

Even as Northern Rock is rescued by the state, we are repeatedly told that nationalised companies are the epitome of failure

This government is capable of sending tanks to Heathrow to avert a supposed terrorist threat, but when an international criminal turns up, don’t expect the police to arrest him

In a blow to US-backed dictators the world over, voters in Pakistan have decisively rejected the country’s president Pervez Musharraf and his crackdown on the county’s democratic institutions

A wave of strikes and occupations is sweeping the Gulf state of Bahrain

The US, Britain, France, Germany and Italy have rushed to recognise last Sunday’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia made by the parliament in Kosovo

Talk of a “new Cold War” between Russia and the West seems to be getting more strident by the week, writes Alex Callinicos

The 15 February 2003 demonstration reminds us of the strength of the anti-war movement and shows the importance of the upcoming 15 March protest, writes Andrew Burgin

Film director Steven Spielberg has won wide praise for his decision to withdraw as artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympics in protest at China’s role in the Darfur conflict

Civil rights campaigners have welcomed last week’s decision by the appeal court to overturn the convictions of five young Muslims who were jailed under anti-terrorism laws simply for downloading material from the internet

Esme Choonara spoke to novelist Alex Wheatle about the racism and intimidation young black people faced in the 1980s, and the problems they face today

Novelist Alex Wheatle talks about his new book

Art can portray inspiring ideas that challenge society, but it cannot be removed from its political and economic context, writes Anindya Bhattacharyya

In the last part of our series on Rosa Luxemburg, Beatrice Leal looks at how the end of the First World War brought revolution, but also betrayal by some on the left

Rise in Islamophobia underpins sharia row | Italians defend the right to choose | Contaminated blood scandal | Reverse this appalling tax on disabled people | Vulnerable hit by health visitor cuts | Stop press – fees hit poor | What if Northern Rock was south? | A shipping shocker | War wrecks lives of young | Sinister plans for education | Privatisation by back door

A new collection of the films of black singer and actor Paul Robeson are a reminder of the racism in the industry in the 1930s, writes Simon Basketter

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this book from psychologist and media personality Oliver James is the title

Following the success of the new film There Will Be Blood, Penguin have released the classic novel which inspired it

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of photographer George Rodger on the centenary of his birth

Control is about the life of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, as the band shot to fame in the late 1970s

The Premier League’s plan for “Game 39” is the latest stage of football club owners’ search for profits and dominance, writes Kris Stewart

The PCS civil service workers’ union has called a two day strike of over 80,000 members in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in a long-running battle over pay

Victimised union rep Eddie Fleming was officially sacked last week

There were two lively protests against Tory MP Ann Widdecombe’s anti-abortion tour last week

Over 200 delegates met in London to hear peace campaigners from five continents discuss strategies for a nuclear weapon-free world last Saturday

Bosses will be lobbying MPs furiously this week in a bid to scupper a private member’s bill enforcing the rights of temporary workers

NUT prepare strike ballot | Anti-academies victory in Sheppey | Sertuc anti-academies conference | Hereford march against school closures

Anti-fascist activists are mobilising for the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) national conference, which is to take place on Saturday 1 March at the TUC Congress House in central London

Management at one of the biggest health service organisations in Britain, the Newcastle North Tyneside and Northumberland mental health NHS trust, is going to extraordinary measures to sack respected union activist and psychiatric nurse Yunus Bakhsh

Two days of wildcat strike action by refuse workers in Brighton has won concessions

Campaigners and health workers in Manchester are continuing to fight for the reinstatement of leading trade unionist and psychiatric nurse Karen Reissmann

Disabled workers in York and Merseyside struck on Wednesday and Thursday of last week in the fight to save threatened Remploy factories

Thousands of offshore workers in the oil industry have voted for a new amalgamated trade union

Postal workers in Oakham, Leicestershire, walked out in defence of a sacked colleague on Wednesday of last week and are now set to ballot for official strike action

Over 140 workers at leisure centres in Wigan are set to strike over changes to pay

Lecturers at Keele University have voted for a one day strike on Thursday of this week over job cuts and restructuring

UCU union members are currently being balloted over new national negotiating structures in the higher education sector

Further education lecturers in the UCU union have launched a new campaign – Our Schools, Our Colleges, Our Communities, Our Unions

London Midland pensions fight | Lincoln signals the way forward | Guardian printers win better deal | Battle on ferries over start times

Respect | Stop the War Coalition | World Against War rallies | Why you should be a socialist | Women's liberation in the 21st century | SWP meetings | Bookmarks events | movement events | demonstrations and lobbies | concerts