Our Health Heroes awards launched during One Team for Patient Care week of action
The article Do you know a health hero? first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Education reform – empowerment or centralisation?
The Scottish Government has signalled education as its first priority, most notably by giving the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney the lead role. Possibly shades of Tony Blair’s, education,…Read more…
Education reform – empowerment or centralisation?
The Scottish Government has signalled education as its first priority, most notably by giving the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney the lead role. Possibly shades of Tony Blair’s, education,…Read more…
How are cuts affecting LGBT people and services?
UNISON commissions research on implications of public spending cuts
The article How are cuts affecting LGBT people and services? first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
USi at the GLI International Summer School 4th July – 8th July 2016
All this week, USi will be reporting from the Global Labour Institute (GLI) International Summer School at Northern College, Barnsley. The Summer School, now in its fifth year, is described as…Read more…
Tiger, Tiger burning bright in West Ham
What a terrific street art painting in my West Ham ward at Holbrook Road junction with Plaistow Road, West Ham. E15.
I am not sure if there is a William Blake connection but it does remind me of his famous poem (see below – one of my favourties). I un…Read more…
Democracy is on the line. Time to do all we can to Keep Corbyn.
It is not as simple as “Jeremy Corbyn ought not to resign.” Nor is it as straightforward as he is an admirable and brave man (though he is) and that those who stand by him in Parliament are the best of the political representatives of our class (though…Read more…
Labour leadership woes are ‘midsummer madness’
BBC news. “Labour’s former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has waded into the row over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership saying: “He’s only been in the job nine months – do you know anyone who gets sacked within nine months?”
He says he doesn’t agre…Read more…
Defending Corbyn and Freedom of Movement
Unite’s National Industrial Sector Committee (NISC) for my sector (GPM&IT) met this week and agreed to submit the following as emergency motions to the Unite Policy Conference this month.
It is likely that the “leadership” will try to avoid either…Read more…
Give EU migrants already here an assurance they can stay
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady has co-signed a letter in the Sunday Telegraph today building on the joint statement that she made with CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn last week, calling on the government to guarantee that EU migrants already in the UK can stay no matter what…Read more…
Support Corbyn – Join Labour
The evidence that Angela Eagle’s (as yet still unannounced) leadership bid was planned in advance tells us more than we want to know about the flinching and sneering ones who are trying to bring Jeremy Corbyn down.
Because these career politicians (for whom their own position within Blair’s Labour…Read more…
Those who campaigned for Brexit are no comrades of mine
The narrow vote to leave the European Union (EU) was, primarily, an expression of reactionary (and often xenophobic) nationalism, but it was close enough that the misguided campaigning of those seeking the mythical “left exit” (or Lexit) could have made a difference.
All those who campaigned to…Read more…
Will devolution really benefit rural areas?
As part of plans to rebalance the economy, Government is keen to devolve powers to regions. With regional devolution gathering pace – and deals signed in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds – is this…Read more…
We need transparency on charges
This is my latest opinion article for Professional Pensions magazine.
“John Gray asks why UK pension schemes do not have access to important information on charges.
Earlier this month I went to the CWC annual conference in Amsterdam. This was f…Read more…
An attempted coup against the members
At the time of writing Angela Eagle has very generously paused her leadership campaign to give Jeremy Corbyn more time to resign. The real reason, however, is that Corbyn’s opponents are so well organised that they can’t yet agree on a single candidate to stand against him. It appears…Read more…
Solid support
There was solid support on the final day of a 48-hour strike at Chester glass manufacturers Encirc Glass today (July 1), as messages of support flooded in from workers at some of the firm’s…Read more…
Power station must be built
The UK faces the very real threat of power shortages in the coming years – and that’s why following through with plans to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is critical if Britain is to…Read more…
Will Brexit affect workers’ rights?
Most UK employment rights are guaranteed and therefore protected by EU law, which means the Government cannot remove or reduce those rights whilst we are part of the EU. Holiday pay and…Read more…
The surplus and the parishes
Some while ago I suggested to Swindon’s Cabinet that they should be pressing the government to abandon their target for a £10 billion surplus by 2020. As I pointed out to them if the target was break-even then the £6 billion of cuts to local government would not be necessary. They…Read more…
From Palestine to London: meet Bethlehem’s Lajee Community Centre
I had the good fortune to accompany the General Council’s delegation to Palestine and Israel at the beginning of the year. You can read the delegation’s report here. In little over three…Read more…