Millions of us are trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs and failing to benefit from the so-called economic recoveryRead more…
You heard it here first: Labour-Conservative pact after 2015 election
I predict that a Labour-Conservative pact will be the outcome of the May election.They agree on a raft of key issues which would rule out coalitions with smaller parties:
keeping the unionstaying in…Read more…
Tom Petty – I Won’t Back Down
Today I was driving solo back to London from a difficult but I think constructive hearing in Cambridge and I heard this record for the first time in years on “Absolute Radio 1980s”. Turn volume up to maximum and sing-a-long time. This is a fantastic so…Read more…
Time to pick ourselves up
The advent of, well, advent doesn’t spell a reduced workload in local government – on the contrary, next year’s budget proposals are emerging in local authorities up and down the country and – particularly in the deprived areas which this Government targets for the greatest reductions – things look…Read more…
Breaking the link between funding and social needs – local government finance
The funding of local government has been notoriously complicated, subject as it has been to constant changes by governments in the methods of funding. However, since 1929 “it has been used to some degree to promote equalisation – that is, to ensure that the funding available to local authorities…Read more…
Police Chief disregards compelling evidence
Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, writes in today’s Guardian and calls for ‘radical structural reform’ to deal with the impact of Government funding cuts. His solution…Read more…
UNION BUSTING BY UK PUBLIC SERVICES PROVIDERS
The motion below on Union Busting has been sent to by UNISON Housing Association branch to next year’s Greater London Regional Council AGM in February 2014. If it is passed it will also be considered as a regional motion for the National Delegate Confe…Read more…
Class Action and stopping the endless drip, drip of corporate fraud
A very good article by lawyer Katherine Dandy on Class Actions in Pension Insight. I have added this comment to the on-line site.
“You make a lot of sense Katherine. There is also a wider governance point that Trustees should consider.
It is n…Read more…
Newsletters and Christmas Cards for Ilford North
This afternoon West Hammers went to Ilford North to help deliver a Labour newsletter and Christmas cards from local candidate Wes Streeting.
In the newsletter there is a picture of Wes from 2010 when he was President of the National Union of Stu…Read more…
the poorest pay 47% of their income in tax (the richest pay 34%)
Check out post at TUC Touchstone: “Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: the poorest pay 47% of their income in tax (the richest pay 34%).
Why should the poorest pay the most and don’t let the Daily Mail continue to confuse income tax with all taxes…Read more…
Italian unions stage General Strike in defence of workplace rights
Yesterday Italian unions staged a General Strike in protest at the Jobs Act which seeks to deregulate employment rights by weakening national bargaining and removing protections against unfair…Read more…
An Account of Despair by Volker Braun
When she entered
And set down her empty bags on my tabletops
I felt caught out in my
Missed deeds.
The evening news dripped bloodily from the screen
And the bed stood encircled
Aside in the…Read more…
UNISON LGPS Seminar 2014 – Time to govern YOUR money!
This was my welcome speech to the 120 UNISON reperesentatives who attended our National Local Government Pension Scheme seminar.
I chaired the meeting but stole most of this intro from the speech that our President, Lucia McKeever, was due to deliver….Read more…
Time to take action on pensions
There are some big changes to our pensions next year. The Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme changes next April and the UK government is allowing transfers out as a lump sum. In addition, new…Read more…
A cooperative approach to public services
Hat tip Co-operative Councillors newsletter. “This short animation outlines a vision for a new approach to engaging with communities and delivering services to meet their needs and aspirations. It calls attention to the limitations of top-down, Whit…Read more…
A welfare state for corporations not the people
An extensive article and research by Kevin Farnsworth on the Renewal website examines the extent to which UK public policy is skewed in favour of private companies – placing business tax cuts,…Read more…
Why 40,000 lost council jobs may only be the tip of the iceberg
More than 40,000 jobs in Scottish local government are at risk over the next five years if austerity economics continue.
Today’s ‘The National’ newspaper carries a story quoting my estimate of the…Read more…
Cops on the Corporate Campus
STUDENTS occupying a building at Warwick University vowed on Monday that they would not leave quietly without a change of attitude from the authorities. They want apologies from the university and…Read more…
International Human Rights Day
“The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.
This year’s slogan, Human Rights 365,…Read more…
Not missing Amazon this Christmas
Like tens of thousands of others, I’m avoiding Amazon for Christmas with Amazon Anonymous. I got an email from them today, asking me to write to Amazon Customer services with my reasons. Here they…Read more…