The Guardian reveals how decisions are reaally made in Whitehall.

"Chemistry Club networking events lead to fears of lobbying

Invitation-only, £1,800-a-head networking events organised by the Chemistry Club to allow senior corporate figures to meet ministers, MPs and civil servants have been described as "speed dating for executives" by a senior private sector attendee.

The exclusive Chemistry Club networking evenings reignited the "cash-for-access" row after the Guardian revealed that the Cabinet Office had overturned a ban on civil servants attending the events." Read More.

See also this video which exposes the army of Westminster-based private health care lobbying outfits

The Health Industry Lobbying Tour.

Seumas Milne writing in the Guardian urges action to defend the NHS

It's not too late to save the NHS from the barbarians

Unless decisive action is taken in the next few weeks, the National Health Service is heading for disaster. The battle over the coalition's plans to turn England's NHS inside out has been going on so long, the details are so arcane and claims of concessions so regular, it would be easy to imagine that the worst had been averted and common sense prevailed.

Yesterday's public sector strike was the biggest since the 1926 general stroke.

See also this report and this from Right to Work campaign:

N30 – the beginning of the Winter of Resistance

November 30th will be remembered as the day when the sleeping giant, the British working class, rose up.

Almost 3 million workers struck and brought much of the country to a halt. While Cameron might want to call it a damp squib he knows that most schools closed, hospitals were on emergency cover, councils shut down and hundreds of thousands of strikers and their supporters joined demonstrations in towns and cities across Britain.

This was the biggest women’s strike in British history.

Thousands of workplaces were picketed, with many large and militant pickets.

The North West TUC has launched a website dedicated to defending public sector workers and their pensions called Proud to serve the public. It has some very useful information and resources for mobilising for the strike on November 30th. The folllowing is reproduced from the website:

PENSION protests will take place in at least eight places in the North West on the TUC’s Day of Action on November 30th.

The planned day of action will be an unprecedented coming together of the entire workforce in the public sector and the communities they serve in a united demand for pensions justice.

Protests will include major marches and rallies, as well as public meetings, pickets and petitions demanding that the Coalition abandon plans to make public service workers pay more and work longer for less.

So far Bolton, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Warrington and Wirral are all official venues for protest events on November 30th.

But other cities and towns in the North West will also be joining in by holding a wide variety of other activities to highlight the case for pensions justice.

The Occupation movement has reached Manchester. Follow the OccupyMcr Twiitter feed here. The feed has almost 2,500 followers. Also check out its Facebook page.

The occupation began with a protest at the Tory party conference. A camp was set up in Albert Square but an eviction order was served and it moved to the Peace Gardens in St Peter's Square. It has now moved to the bigger space of Piccadilly Gardens. Here is a video of the protest at the Tory conference

OccupyMcr protest at Tory conference