Equal before the law

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ACCORDING to Sir Richard Marsh - he's chairman of the Newspaper Proprietors Association these days - the court's judgement on Sean Geraghty was fair.

'The important thing," he says, "was to establish that you cannot have a situation where the law does not apply to any particular group whether they are trade union officials, army officers, or members of the CBI."

Very fair! Certainly CBI members should be fined for encouraging solidarity strikes and army officers should be arrested for supporting the hospital workers. As Anatole France put it: "The law in Mon 5 12 1926 Tue wed Thu 815 22 29 -Fri Sal Sun its majestic er luality forbids the rich as we Il as the poor to steal bread, to sleep under bridges, and to beg for food."

But Bob Jones, health service officer of NUPE, was so cock-a-hoop at the small fine imposed on Sean Geraghty • that he now thought "perhaps it indicates that behind the scenes the judges support the health workers' claim."

Perhaps soon the judges will stage a solidarity strike and then, in the interests of the fairness that Lord Marsh values so highly, turn up to work the next day to fine themselves a couple of weeks' wages.

MIDLANDS People's March for Jobs. September 15 to 18: a five-pronged march from Stoke, Derby, Rugby, Hereford, and Shrewsbury, converging on Birmingham. Coordinator: Sid Platt, NALGO, 7th Floor, Tower Block, Centre City, 7 Hill St, Birmingham B5 4JD (021 643 6084).

SHEFFIELD Socialist Organiser.

Regular (open) meetings. August 11; Trade unions in the crisis.

August 25: Palestine September 8. The Alternative Economic Strategy. September 22. The Labour Party witch-hunt.

All at the Red Cow, Wicker, starting 7.30.

LAMBETH/SOUTHWARK Socialist Organiser Group Open Forums. 8.30pm at 41 Camberwell Grove, London SE5.

September 2: Zionism and the Jewish Question.

September 16: The Fight Against Black Oppression, September 30: Fighting Women's Oppression.

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