The Tory recipe to improve cancer services has resulted in lost momentum and their health reforms have created confusion and fragmentation. Waiting times for treatment hit the lowest point…Read more…
Scandal of epic dimensions
If you read the statistic that Britain is the sixth richest country in the world, you’d assume that it’s a nation virtually free of certain social and economic ills, such as poverty and disease,…Read more…
1,084,604: Britain’s shameful new foodbank statistic mapped
Foodbanks were used to feed people more than one million times in the 2014-2015 financial year. This is the highest ever figure since records began. It’s an increase of 19% on the previous year. It’s a shocking figure, made all the more so when you realise that 400,000 of those…Read more…
8m voices sign up to be heard
Millions of missing voters have made their mark by registering to vote. It’s a triumph for democracy and a triumph for Unite’s No Vote No Voice campaign. Back in July Unite launched the No…Read more…
“Whatever its make-up, the new government must reconsider the request by UK Coal for State Aid.”
“Whatever its make-up, the new government must reconsider the request by UK Coal for State Aid.” The NUM and its remaining 2,000 members are obviously aggrieved by the unfairness of the situation that the government has refused to invest in a future for the Deep Coal Mining Industry, even though…Read more…
How Ukip would run NHS
Health spokespersons from four parties – Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem and Ukip – took to the stage yesterday (April 21) to debate the future of the NHS at the British Medical Association. As…Read more…
Fox’s Biscuits strike called off
The strike at Fox’s Biscuits in Batley, west Yorkshire by engineering workers on Tuesday and Thursday has been suspended for a vote on a new pay offer to take place, Unite announced yesterday (April…Read more…
An increasingly macroeconomic perspective on wages: The Resolution Foundation on the earnings crisis
Review of Securing a pay rise: the path back to shared wage growth, Edited by Gavin Kelly and Conor D’Arcy, The Resolution Foundation This collection of essays is a very valuable overview of progressive opinion on the earnings crisis, a must read for those engaged in any aspects of the debate. Some…Read more…
Killed by the air they breathed
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has called for a full public inquiry into the safety of air breathed aboard airliners following the death of a cabin crew member and a pilot. Unite member…Read more…
Transport strikes scheduled
Thousands of public transport users in Bradford and Belfast face travel chaos as First West Yorkshire drivers take 48-hour strike action and Ulsterbus, Metro and NI Rail services confirm a second…Read more…
The great nursing numbers spin
Conservative leader David Cameron boasts of getting rid of 20,000 NHS ‘bureaucrats’ and putting that money into more doctors and nurses. But does his claim that there are now 7,000 more nurses…Read more…
Shocking and cruel
Cameron’s welfare system is already abundant with human tragedies and shocking tales of the cruel treatment that people on benefits have faced. Yet it is common knowledge that the Tories will…Read more…
When workers cannot afford to eat
A new report has revealed that demand for food banks has soared – thanks to low pay and zero-hours contracts. The TUC study says a record number of families are existing on emergency food…Read more…
IMF/World Bank adopt ‘radical new approach’ to policy-making
The international financial institutions (the IMF and World Bank) held their Spring meetings in Washington DC last week – along with G20 Finance Ministers – showing that they have adopted a radical new approach to forming policy for the global economy. Unfortunately, that new approach…Read more…
On the critical list
Who would have ever thought that pathologists would be locked out of their own lab? That ambulance workers would go on strike? That a private equity group would run a hospital? And yet…Read more…
Putting working people first
When Graeme Morrice says he has “pursued an agenda of putting working people first” since being elected to Parliament in 2010 you know he’s not joking. The Livingston MP is an active supporter…Read more…
How can Tories be trusted with NHS?
The coalition government has left a huge hole in NHS finances and services under significant strain with a real risk that patient care will suffer according to a new report published by The…Read more…
Practical policies
The first hurdle facing Mary Galbraith in her quest to win on May 7 is geography, for Argyll and Bute is a vast and beautiful expanse of western Scotland with long stretches of road and water…Read more…
Infrastructure spending: BBC and now FT coming out in favour – the politicians from the 3 main parties next?
The TUC has long championed increases in infrastructure spending, but the government has instead cut severely this vital expenditure. In an editorial in the weekend edition, the Financial Times took a big step in our direction. The shifting view was se…Read more…
Labour: 1m green jobs in climate change plan
At the heart of Labour’ Green Plan for the next parliament is a transformative industrial strategy to create a million high productivity green jobs through investment in renewable energy, home insulation retrofits, zero carbon homes, community energy projects, carbon capture & storage, new…Read more…