04.01.2024

No print edition this week

Bad news. Our printers have suffered a fire. We do not know the cause. To make matters worse, as the fire brigade struggled to extinguish the flames, water from their hoses flooded down onto the computer and other equipment.

That is why there is no print edition of the paper this week. Naturally, efforts were made to find an alternative. However, that is not an easy thing to arrange at this time of year, and at the last minute, too. We hope things will be back to normal next week, but it might take longer, because we need a regular printer who will not only ensure delivery on time, week in and week out. Price is also an important factor. At present we get a healthy discount on the basis of providing a guaranteed income. We pay a month in advance by standing order.

So if any readers know of a reliable, quality printer based in London or the South East who is interested in a good business deal, let us know. Meanwhile, we shall be looking.

It is worth adding that we remain committed to producing a print edition of the paper alongside the online version. The fact of the matter is that our whole organisation is geared around the paper: commissioning, writing, editing, posting and selling. There are those, of course, who think print is oh so old fashioned - that papers, like books, TV and cinema, are ever so 20th century. We can safely leave such comrades sitting by themselves staring at their screens. Politics still consists of meetings, conferences, demonstrations, picket lines … and serious reading is much easier, more pleasurable, if you have the real thing in your hands.

As for our finances, well, they are in good shape. Our fighting fund for December smashed through the £2,250 monthly target to reach a magnificent £2,619. Thanks go to all our contributors, but best of the lot was comrade AC’s magnificent PayPal donation of £200 - not to mention the other three-figure bank transfers/standing orders from GB, KB, PM and SK.

Other donors were LM (£80), MM (£75), JC (£70), plus £50 each from MS, DB, AN and BK. Thanks also to TR (£40), GT (£35), JT (£25), OG (£24), together with GS, GR, DG and GS (£20), as well as comrades MZ, AR, JL, SS, AF, TT, MD and VP for their smaller, but still very much appreciated, contributions.

And despite the gloom about our printers, there is another ray of light. You might remember that comrade BK promised to match any sum that goes above the target, and - true to his word - he transferred £369 to the Weekly Worker account as soon as he was told about the December surplus (in addition to his monthly £20 standing order).

There were also donations from II and MW (£20 each), MD (£18), BG and MT (£15), MM (£11), AN, YM and CP (£10), plus DC and JS (£6 each). So we start the first month of 2024 with £530 already in the kitty.

A final note. Subscribers to the print edition - you will, of course, have your accounts adjusted.