21.02.2013

Appeal from the editor

Peter Manson asks our readers for their support

As we stated in last week’s paper, this publication never knowingly publishes falsehoods, and in the event of inaccuracies our open letters pages are available - in particular to activists involved in the working class movement - for immediate rebuttal and/or retraction.

As the reader will doubtless be aware, on February 7 we carried a carefully worded apology for an article we published back in January 2012. Though negotiations are ongoing, we will certainly have to pay substantial costs. Besides that we have agreed to pay £1,000 in damages. Legal costs in such cases, even when they do not go to court, are exceptionally high and will almost certainly be around £10,000 (though the final figure has not yet been determined).

So we are urgently appealing to readers to help us out of this huge crisis for us. I am pleased to say that this has already met with a very generous response - no less than £970 has already been received, thanks to just six comrades: YM (£500), TB (£200), EO and PM (£100 each), MM (£50) and CH (£20).

We are not expecting everybody to come up with large sums, but, as they say, every little helps. Please send your contributions, marked ‘Legal appeal’, to Weekly Worker, BCM Box 928, London WC1N 3XX. Alternatively, transfer your donation directly to our account (sort code: 30-99-64; account: 00744310) or via our website using PayPal. Please ensure you inform us of the purpose of the transfer.