Tube strike still on

Any chance of averting 24-hour Tube strikes tomorrow and Monday, seemed to evaporate yesterday as insults flew between the protagonists. Lew Adams, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers' union, accused management of being "sick and incompetent"; London Underground replied that he had been "thumbing through the playground guide to insults".

London Underground was still keen to take the dispute over working time to arbitration, but Aslef wanted to resume less formal talks at conciliation service Acas. Meanwhile attempts continued at Acas to head off Friday's postal stoppage and to avoid a month-long suspension of the Royal Mail's monopoly on delivering letters. Barrie Clement