Peter Mandelson is acting as 'Visitor' to Leeds Uni to check it's playing by the rules after UCU (trade union for well paid University staff) claimed the Uni bypassed the Senate (part of it's descision making body) when "implementing restructuring plans" (i.e. getting rid of) the Biological Sciences Department.

Leeds Student Newspaper has an article on it.

I remember cataloguing over 100 editions of Anarchy magazine (scanning the covers, detailing the many authors of the various articles) over a few days in early 2009, following their donation to the 1in12 Library after the death of their owner, Harry Sculthorpe.

The editor of Anarchy from 1961-1970 was Colin Ward, who died on February 11th.

As I worked my way through the huge pile of magazines I …

While we wait for the Northern contingent to get back home and write up their adventures, can we direct you to this account of the recent Aldermaston Blockade from Bristol Indymedia...

You could easily have missed the passing of Howard Zinn in the mainstream news, behind the blizzard of celebrity non-news and political tweedledummery. Helpfully the folks at howardzinn.org have done a link-a-rama so you can find the coverage.

Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty report on this case of an agency worker shafted by a Leeds based firm and (quelle surprise) finding no remedy with the justice system

Kiilu Nyasha reports for Philly IMC on the media response to the Haiti earthquake disaster, provides post-colonial context, and makes comparisons with hurricane Katrina.

TomM writes in favour of software piracy and insightful comments follow.

Issue 3 of Movement, the newsletter of the UK No Borders network, is online now, with articles on No Borders at the Cop15 in Copenhagen, an update from Calais, attempted self-immolation by asylum seekers, a No Border Camp in Brussels, Paddington Bear condemns child detention, End Child Detention? End immigration controls, solidarity with detainees accused to burning down a detention centre, Brook …

A precis by the legendary Chris Williams of a report on how a software fraudster caused huge disruption by feeding fake 'intelligence' to spooks. Sadly Mr Williams doesn't question why the story got broken by pornographers - what's the back-story Chris?

This piece on The Register describes the release of DECAF, a tool that provides counter-measures against COFEE. COFEE is a tool that was developed by Microsoft and given to police to enable easier extraction of forensic information from computers.

As you may have heard, there has been no electricity or heating at Oblong's Beulah Hall centre for the last couple of weeks. This has been through no fault of Oblong's and is something we are unable to do anything about. We have tried to negotiate with our landlord to resolve the situation, but have been unsuccessful and the power is still off. Therefore, Oblong is moving out of Beulah Hall.

We w…

Durham County Council planners today nodded through UK Coal's plans to create artificial ponds. This is the start of the attempted open cast coal mining of the Pont Valley. UK Coal say they intend to start work on the ponds in early January. This work is strongly opposed by the local community.

MOVEMENT is the new free monthly newsletter covering updates from the No Borders Network and beyond.

With the editorial collective keen to encourage other groups, organisations and individuals opposing the border regime to contribute, MOVEMENT looks set to be the one stop source for news on radical migration activism.

Issue one has short articles on the situation in Calais, resistance to dep…

This piece on the media lens forum discusses the present-day propaganda of national 'remembrance' ceremonies and how the mainstream media manufacture the domestic consent necessary for the continuing imperialistic adventure in Afghanistan.

How the US Government Secretly Demanded the IP Address of Every Visitor to Political News Site Indymedia.us - and were seen off by the Electronic Frontier Foundation

While all of the media attention was focused on the ongoing postal dispute, another group of workers were taking on their bosses in Greater Manchester this Monday. Over 800 Drivers for the First Bus Group based at depots in Bury, Bolton and Wigan joined thousands across the country who took strike action over an imposed pay freeze.

Workers have expressed their dismay at the fact that the zero per…

Interesting interview from the mule with the wife of a soldier about to be tried for desertion for refusing to fight in Afghanistan

Article and video from Leeds Student Paper about the protests outside BBC Television Centre in London and Leeds Headquarters against the platform given by the broadcaster to Nick Griffin, leader of the British Nationsl Party (BNP).

Protestors from Leeds Uni and Leeds Met Uni were amongst those who broke through police lines into Television Centre on the day of the Question Time appearance for Gri…

Tough and urgent action is needed in response to violence, intimidation and death threats targeting journalists covering far right demonstrations.

After a recent article, (seemingly now either hidden or deleted from the Newswire), which quite rightly provoked a debate about racism, fascism and other forms of arbitrary discrimination in the Animal Rights movement.



However, the original article appeared to have been pubished by a troll attempting to discredit the AR movement, (hence why it is no longer on the Newswire), so I thought it appropr…

The English Defence League (EDL) is due to protest in City Square from 1pm on Saturday against what it claims is the spread of "radical Islam" in the UK.



Similar demos by the EDL in Birmingham and Manchester sparked clashes with anti-fascist activists.



A group called Leeds Unite Against Fascism is urging people to attend a rally outside the city art gallery at noon on the same day as the EDL's prote…

Looking at the way the mainstream media dealt with direct action over the last few days clearly illustrates why we need activist media. Here's some thoughts on why, and how to get it right.

"Regressive changes to the welfare system coming into effect on Monday will force 68,000 single parents with children aged 10 or over to look for work or risk losing benefits...."

"Reports coming in from picket lines suggest a solid response from postal workers, with near 100% turnout in Bromley By Bow and Nine Elms, London, few in at Bristol and similarly tiny numbers crossing lines at Middlesborough."

Report of the pickets from LibCom

How many anarchists did it take to organize the recent Southern California Anarchist Conference? No one is really sure. Not even the organizers. Yes, the idea of a conference for anarchists sounds like a punch line waiting to happen. Anarchists find that troubling. “The mainstream recognition of anarchism is chaos and breaking stuff,” says Sara Galindo, sounding exasperated. “We have to redef…

Interesting article on why we don't need the polcie from an anarchist perspective.

From Last Hours Zine

A good article including an interview with Chella Quint from Adventures in Menstruating and how she became a menstrual activist! Also some stuff about a new book called 'New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation' and Rachel Kauder Nalebuff's 'My Little Red Book'.

In this article, Paul Marx discusses a paper by Wang and Rong in which cascading failure modes of a power distribution network are explored mathematically. As some of the hardware used in power grids is vulnerable to remote exploits, this opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities for direct action tactics against these technologies of environmental destruction.

Yorkshire Evening Post reports that a man has been charged with "conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass" at a power station following a raid on a school in Notinghamshire. Given that trespass only becomes aggravated after one refuses to leave, it should be hilarious to see how plod will try to make this stick.

The Telegraph reports that the Sky News website was defaced by hackers. The motivation was an attack on NewsCorp's right-wing agenda, shallow reporting and emphasis on presentation over substance.