• Two Liverpool peace activists are among 14 people charged with conspiring to seduce soldiers from their allegiance to the Queen. The charges relate to leaflets describing the options for troops who don't want to serve in Northern Ireland (page 3). One of the accused, Frank Keeley, writes about it on page 6. The other man, Rick Walker, had previously written about the military "entertainment" at Liverpool Show in issue 16 of the Free Press.

• A front page story raises questions about police brutality. Twenty-seven-year-old Kenny Williams had stolen a car to get home after a night out, was caught and arrested. According to William's account, after his arrest he was made to lie on the floor of a police van where six officers kicked and punched him. He claimed he had been beaten again on arrival at the police station. He never recovered from his injuries, and four weeks later he was dead (pages 1 and 4.

• A 63-year-old clerk of works in the City Architect's Department appears to have been made a scapegoat for 400 faults in a new housing scheme (page 4).

• Two companies with links to Excalibur Finance Brokers (issues 15 and 16) are using various ruses to interest people in taking out loans. One of them is to place "car for sale" ads in the Echo – for cars they don't actually own. People phoning to enquire about the car are then given a spiel about the companies' loans (page 5).

• Kirkby's new ski slope (issue 16) turns out to be a heap of rubbish. It has emerged that George Leatherbarrow's construction firm had been advertising the ski slope site in the Echo as a "free tip for all suitable material" (page 5)

• Liverpool council's relations with city planner Graeme Shankland have taken another turn for the worse. His consulting firm is being blamed for construction faults and overspending on the new Belle Vale estate (page 7).

• After a two-and-a-half-year strike, 150 women at Wingrove and Rogers, an electronic components firm, have won a pay rise. The Free Press takes stock of their struggle and what it achieved (pages 6 and 7).

• Traders at Birkenhead market complain about having to pay backhanders to get a stall (page 8).

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