There has been good news for the campaigners against UK Coal. The Pont Valley Network and Durham County Council have successfully prevented UK Coal mining half a million tonnes of coal from Bradley when UK Coal appealed the decision made against them last year. 

For articles about the original planning application last year see [1] and [2] for background and [3] for the councils decision. UK Coal have been unsuccessful with attempts to overturn the councils decision see [4], [5]

West Yorkshire Police have been granted new powers including a dispersal order which discriminates against the young and threatens summary eviction for council tenants.

There has been another successful series of events surrounding May day, the traditional workers' holiday. The day has also been used by anti-capitalist protesters to come together and try to stop the violent form of capitalism in which we live [1]. In the North of England it was more relaxed this year, with marches in Newcastle [2], Leeds [3] on Saturday and Manchester [4]  on Sunday and a festival in Bradford [4] on the Sunday.

Background and related stories: Haymarket History | OurMayDay.org | Mayday Meltdown | MayDay 2004 Cancelled | 1909 MayDay Massacre, Argentina

In Bradford May Day also marks the Birthday of the 1in12 club, a locally run self-organised space, which has been active for 30 years. The Mayday celebrations were arranged, in an organisational sprint lasting only a few weeks, by volunteers from the 1in12 club, Raise The Roof (a staging and facilities enterprise which grew out of Bradford Festival), Bradford Playhouse, Bradford People’s Coalition Against The Cuts, and a range of interested individuals. 

More coverage: photos [1] and coverage last years May Day in Bradford [2].

On 1st May 2011 Indymedia UK will give birth to two new projects. The Indymedia UK website will be archived, it will stay where it is now, but you won’t be able to publish news. In its place there will be two distinct projects: Mayday will provide a non-regional site with open publishing and Be The Media will present the best of radical news across the regions, including Bristol, Northern, Nottingham and London.

BeTheMedia | Find out more about the history of Indymedia: article | video | pics | i - the film

During the TUC march on Saturday a 600 strong black block marched through London with militant efficiency.  The took out banks, multi-nationals and other symbols of capitalism.  They all wanted different things but were united in their desire to make the capitalists pay.  See the London Indymedia article on the events.  See videos [1] [2] [3] [roundup]

On 21st March 2011, Leeds’ radical, autonomous social centre The Common Place announced that it would be closing after a final party weekend on 22nd-24th April. This will be felt by many as a great loss.

The reasons given in this statement from The Common Place are familiar to many social centres; the work to keep the place running ended up falling on too few people, working on a rented building was hard work, and it was not making enough money to pay the bills.  There are also less familiar reasons; the local police had a vendetta against the Common Place and one of the orginal members was an undercover police officer (more on this).

Here we tell the story behind the closure, which resulted from events some three years ago.

Between 31st January and 6th February Cuts Cafe in Leeds held a series of events, including talks on a number of subjects

The attached files were derived from a workshop linking the crisis in relation to housing, the cuts and reforms of the Condems.

A large group of protestors gathered outside the Alhambra theatre in Bradford to protest against the murder of hundreds of anti-government activists in Libya and to call for the removal from power of the countrys dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. At the time of writing, around 50 Bradford residents had already gathered and their numbers were continuing to grow.

The protest in Bradford has assembled as Gaddafi's security forces continue their brutal crackdown on the people of Libya, who are calling for freedom from a dictatorship that has perservered in the country since 1969. The uprising began on the 13th January 2011 and is continuing.

Around 20 people took over the foyer of Barclays Bank in Bradford city centre this morning and turned it into an impromptu library as part of the UK Uncut day of action. The action was taken in protest at the huge bonuses being paid to top bankers, as well as huge tax avoidance by Barclays bank, whilst cuts are being made to libraries and other public services.

A group of Leeds residents have reclaimed a disused city building for a week of community-led events.

Today, in the early hours of the morning, a group of Leeds residents occupied 10 Templar Street, part of the Eastgate and Harewood Quarter development, which they hope to hold for a week1. The group have announced a timetable of events and activities orientated around protest over planned welfare cuts and city-centre gentrification.

Secret Location Revealed | Cuts Cafe Blog

This Saturday the 29th January, 2011, students and supporters will be out in force in two UK cities to demonstrate against the cuts to Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the trebling of student tuition fees.

Whilst many will be taking to the streets of London, a large mass mobilisation has been called for Manchester by a mix of radical and mainstream groups including the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts, the NUS and TUC and the Coalition of Resistance.

On Friday 17th December 2010 a group of sex workers from various locations around West Yorkshire and the UK were joined by local campaign supporters to hold a vigil as part of a global event to mark the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

The group, carrying red umbrellas to mark their support for the campaign, handed out leaflets and chatted to late night shoppers, early revellers and passers by in the area around Ivegate, Bradford.

Here is the file that wikileaks were providing before they got shut down, containing the leaked US Embasy cables. It can be downloaded from

https://northern-indymedia.org/cablegate-201012031501.7z (7Zip format)

or by clicking the link below for the file in ZIP format.

(If you don't have the CACERT certificate installed on your computer, you will get a security warning saying the certificate is invalid as it is not from a recognised authority. Don't panic, this is normal)

A march of around 300 students starting out from Leeds University to the town hall, convened in protest at proposed increases in tuition fees and cuts to the education budget, was kettled by police shortly after departure at 11.00am this morning.