GDP figures today disappointed expectations, with growth slowing for the second quarter in row, and increasingly departing already from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecast. In numbers: growth slowed to 0.5% in the last quarter of 2014, from 0.7% in the third quarter. This defied city…Read more…
The Nazi Holocaust – never forget, never repeat
#HMD2015 Today, International Holocaust Memorial Day, is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Angela Rayner, UNISON’s North West…Read more…
Debts that cannot be repaid
THE Greek people have elected the left-wing Syriza party into office, signalling they’ve had enough of imposed austerity and unemployment, and though the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn remains menacing in…Read more…
70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army
Russia Excluded from Commemoration Ceremonies Prisoners at the Nazis’ Auschwitz concentration camp are liberated by the Red Army, January 27, 1945. The attempts to rewrite history are…Read more…
Committee on Workers Capital – Global Proxy Review 2014
Check out this report published last week by the Committee on Workers Capital (CWC).
The CWC has “over 200 members from 25 different countries, the CWC connects labour union organizations around the world to advance the responsible investment …Read more…
Syriza’s impact on Europe: forget what the ‘serious people’ say
Paul Krugman is apparently bemused by the comparative performances of the US and European economies. The US, allegedly the home of responsible and prudent public finances, has outperformed the EU (and especially the eurozone) by deploying spendthrift, …Read more…
CDC pensions are better for the economy
At the TUC’s ABC of CDC conference, my good friend Bernard Casey of Warwick University asked Gregg McClymont, the Shadow Pensions Minister, the sources of the superior projected performance of CDC compared to individual DC. “Different speakers have emphasised the “main” advantage of…Read more…
An alternative to austerity
http://labourlist.org/2015/01/16-labour-mps-release-statement-calling-for-change-in-party-policy-direction/
Greece may have just elected an anti-austerity Government, but in the UK we have rather fewer Parliamentarians prepared to commit to oppose the …Read more…
The lesson from Greece – austerity must end
Yesterday, the Observer presaged the outcome of the Greek general election – a victory for the anti-austerity Syriza coalition – with an emphatic statement that ‘the lesson of the Greek national…Read more…
Making up lost ground on pay
What is happening to workers’ pay is becoming one of the central arguments in the run up to the general election with the Government making much of the latest statistics on earnings and inflation. The collapse in the world price of oil has forced inflation on the CPI measure down to 0.5% while…Read more…
Countryside bids on the Isle of Wight should be blocked:
This is not a good move and the notice for bids should be withdrawn. The move is part and parcel of the privatisation and land grab orientation of Government. Access and Public ownership and…Read more…
The Greek elections and UK trade unions
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2015/01/could-the-greeks-bring-us-gifts-this-sunday/
The General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (no less) posted the blog post to which I link above early last week in anticipation of what has now come to pass, Syri…Read more…
Unison AGM 25 February 2015 5.00 pm
The Unison City of Stoke-On-Trent Local Government Branch AGM will take place on Wednesday 25 February 2015 at 5.00 pm in the Windsor Room, Civic Centre, Stoke. This will be preceded by a buffet at 4.20 pm which must be … Continue reading →Read more…
2014-2016 Pay Scales
Pay scales for 2014- March 2016 are available here to download (NB the figures do not take into account those local authorities who pay the living wage) 2014-2016 Read more…
London Loop Walk: Section 1 – Erith to Bexley
Off message but today Ms Grayee and I started on a long distance walk around London. The “London Outer Orbital Path” (better known as London Loop) is a 240 Km (150 mile) mostly sign posted route around outer London. It is divided into 24 linear section…Read more…
“My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose”
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I still think this is the best version of this classic love poem. Happy Burns Night Comrades!
Check out some other more traditional versions here. Read more…
Ventnor Town Council Open Salisbury Gardens:
A great Community resource for the Community and local small business start-ups. Progressive local Councillors go their own way in making their own decisions these days. At a time of uncertainty and…Read more…
Meet Nigel Farage
Check out the new website Meet Nigel Farage and find out Nigel’s plans to privatise the NHS, cut the NHS and charge for the NHS.
All his plans are sourced.
It is about time that Farage and UKIP got held to account for their Ultra Tory Right wing nons…Read more…
Festival making much of their Connections
This is by way of a compilation of my reviews of Celtic Connections concerts so far published in the Morning Star.
The festival is well on course to be a classic year. In particular the…Read more…
Does Davos do any good?
As the super-rich decant from Davos – some, seriously, by private jet – it’s time to reflect on another year of the elite World Economic Forum. Does it do any good? Davos is mostly…Read more…