Congratulations to everyone who has spent the last two days seeking to convince Archant publishers not to publish an advert from the racist BNP .

We have just received an official statement from Mike Ferris the editor which includes the following:

'We have concluded that it is not in the best interests of the community to publish the advertisement in the Hackney Gazette. Nor is it right to give the BNP further publicity through a prolonged public debate about the merits of the organisation and its advertising campaign. The balance of arguments in this debate has been extremely difficult but we believe that we have come to the right conclusion.'

Help us step up the pressure on the Hackney Gazette's publisheres not to force our local newspaper to publish an advert from the fascists BNP. Please print off the attached two documents and take them to your local newsagent. One is a letter to the newsagent from Hackney TUC alerting them to the possibility of a BNP advert and asking them to protest to the Gazette. The second is a model memo for them to fax to the Gazette cancelling their order of this week's paper should the BNP ad be included.

Click on the file names below to download and/or print the two documents (Microsoft Word).

You may have heard the outrage caused by a number of London local papers (including the prestigious Ham & High) carrying election adverts from the BNP.

The papers are all owned by the Archant newspaper group, who also own the Hackney Gazette.

According to sources, the editor of the Hackney Gazette (who has previously voiced his contempt for the BNP) refused to run the advert in this week’s paper but has been instructed by the parent group to run the advert this week.

The Communication Workers Union has announced a further day of strike action commencing the evening of Thursday 12th July and continuing through Friday 13th July.

Some 35 NUT members at Haggerston School, East London, face the prospect of disciplinary action (up to dismisssal for gross misconduct) for respecting a picket line mounted by striking members of the T&G/Unite who work for the multinational privateer, Sodexho, in the school's PFI-built canteen.

NHS problems continue. Homerton Hospital managers want to privatise patient transport, and drive through further cuts in maternity services, with midwives facing redundancy. At the Primary Care Trust, staff were made redundant on 30th June. The Primary Care Trust has also decided to go ahead with the privatisation of Stoke Newington Church Street GP Practice.

Stop press news: City and Hackney Primary Care Trust issued seven compulsory redundancies yesterday, with more expected over the next couple of weeks.