Leeds Trades Union Council encourages all trade unionists to attend the Leeds People’s March for Climate Justice, Jobs and Hope on Saturday 28 November 2015 at Leeds Minster, Kirkgate…Read more…
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here
The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally this year has the theme ‘No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.’ The rally will take place on Sat 28th Nov, Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green. Below is a…Read more…
Russian and Turkish unions call for workers’ solidarity against war
DİSK in Turkey and KTR in Russia launch joint statement calling for solidarity and condemning war.Read more…
Unions condemn murder of Palestinian taxi driver
A Palestinian taxi driver was shot dead after a minor traffic incident with an Israeli settler.Read more…
Osborne’s new (very modest) ‘Keynesian’ clothes
Paul Johnson of the IFS has rightly put a stop to the idea that the Spending Review (SR) signalled the end of austerity. But in a very modest way this event continued a ‘Keynesian’* turn. Yesterday I set out the accounting logic (here); the underlying macroeconomic logic could easily be regarded as…Read more…
Next step towards low-carbon UK requires 57% emissions reduction by 2030
As the Prime Minister heads off to Paris for the UN talks on climate change, the government’s independent advisers say that “new energy policies” are required to meet the UK’s carbon emissions targets. By the government’s own admission, the UK is 10% over its fourth carbon budget (4CB on our…Read more…
Osborne blinks first
Osborne – with his ‘Caesar’ haircut – stood at the Commons despatch box yesterday with his Labour political opponents in front of him and his Tory political enemies behind him. We all…Read more…
Hunt To Axe Bursaries for Student Nurses
Under the Tories a newly qualified nurse will have £50,000 of debt.
As they axe bursaries and introduce University fees.
This while the NHS is critically short of nurses.
UNISON has long argued that Project 2000 ran the risk of student nurses being treated like other students.
We have always…Read more…
Are young people really just scroungers?
There is a growing rhetoric that young people are lazy, work-shy and have an astonishing sense of entitlement. Such smears have been stated by employers, have saturated the media and are echoed by eminent politicians. For example in 2014 David Cameron said: “I want us to end the idea that aged 18…Read more…
Defending the European Social Model in the Netherlands
Today, British Minister for Europe David Lidington MP is in the Netherlands to meet Foreign Minister Bert Koenders. The Dutch take over the Presidency of the EU on 1 January, so they will play a crucial role in orchestrating the EU’s response to David Cameron’s pre-referendum…Read more…
TUC: Spending Review
Despite ‘spectacular’ tax credit u-turn, working people need more on industry, jobs and public services, says TUC Responding to today’s (Wednesday) Comprehensive Spending Review statement from…Read more…
#SpendingReview 2015 – the Touchstone blog round up
George Osborne’s first Spending Review of the new parliament has hit the headlines for his spectacular U-turn over drastic cuts to tax credits. It avoids the hardship it would have inflicted on millions of low-paid families, though as Richard Exell points out, the cuts to Universal Credit are…Read more…
Become a film mogul & let everyone know how bravery took on apartheid
I’ve just left the launch of an exciting project to inform a new generation about a little-known element of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Grassroots film-makers Barefoot…Read more…
Just two cheers for the #spendingreview tax credit U-turn
The headline news in today’s Spending Review and Autumn Statement is the decision not to go ahead with the cuts to tax credits that were due to take place next April. So let’s remember the cuts that were due to come into effect next April, with no protection for the tax credit claimants who…Read more…
The spending review’s £3bn hit on local government
Cuts to local government grant and extra spending commitments for local authorities add up to a £3bn hit on councils, says UNISON today (Wednesday). UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said: “Today…Read more…
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here
The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally this year has the theme ‘No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.’ The rally will take place on Sat 28th Nov, Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green. Below is a…Read more…
Has the #SpendingReview fully funded the NHS?
There are two competing but related health service ‘narratives’ being promoted in the immediate aftermath of the spending review. The first is that George Osborne has listened and delivered the “biggest ever commitment to the NHS since its creation”. The second is that Simon Stevens, head of NHS…Read more…
Adult skills and apprenticeships in the #SpendingReview
In one respect the Chancellor’s announcements on skills and apprenticeships in the Spending Review has been viewed as another u-turn with the welcome news that there will not be the degree of cuts to FE colleges and the adult skills budget that was widely anticipated. In addition the Apprenticeship…Read more…
Local government funding slashed by half in #SpendingReview
George Osborne made the announcements that business rates will be localised and local councils will be able to add 2 per cent to council tax to fund social care with some fanfare. Both of those are questionable decisions to say the least – more of which later. But in a matter of a couple…Read more…
The #SpendingReview arithmetic made simple
The Chancellor’s rabbits from the hat were mainly permitted by changes to the economic forecast. In general these were more eye-catching than material, excepting his U-turn on welfare. The OBR continue to stress the severity of the cuts. It is worth looking at how the arithmetic works out –…Read more…