Next Brighton and Sussex Branch Meeting at the Craft Beer Co upstairs
Thursday 15 January, from 8pm
22-23 Upper North Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1…Read more…
Deutsche Bank U-turn on deflation
At 0.5%, CPI inflation in December fell below the consensus forecast (0.7%) and way below the Bank of England’s November Inflation Report forecast for 1.0%. This is approaching deflationary territory, and I set out my own views yesterday. Understandably the government is desperately trying to…Read more…
Libraries:
A tear-jerking tract William Sieghart’s report on the sad state of England’s public libraries dismays TONY SIMPSON THE REVIEW of England’s public libraries produced by William Sieghart, released as…Read more…
Amazon reportedly on way to taxpayer funded £66m+ development to bring bad jobs to Kent
Amazon.co.uk is looking to double its operations in the UK and is reportedly eyeing 12 new sites for their huge distribution centres. The next planned is Sevington, a tiny village just outside…Read more…
Time for energy democracy
How much more coal, oil and gas including shale gas can we continue to burn and still have a 50:50 chance of keeping the rise in global average temperatures below 2 degrees C? The Coalition’s Infrastructure Bill would make it legally binding on government to “Maximise the economic…Read more…
Teachers want for themselves what they give their pupils – frequent opportunities to learn
Dr Mary Bousted is general secretary of ATL and AMiE. Michael Barber recently opined that teachers are ‘semi-professional’. He argued that the profession remains heavily unionised (obviously a bad…Read more…
The damage Tory cuts are having on the NHS
The time has come for the Tories to finally begin sorting out the underlying issues in the NHS, which include the major dispute over payRead more…
Letter in the Guardian: Workers must retain the right to strike
Workers must retain the right to strike On the same day the government pledged to curb public-sector unions’ right to strike by introducing a 40% minimum vote threshold (Report, 10 January), it also…Read more…
TUC Aid Appeal for Gaza
Before last years conflict, TUC Aid had supported a project in Gaza at the Beit Lahia Plant Nursery. The idea behind the initiative was to grow fresh food both to enhance the diet of people in…Read more…
The view from the Clapham omnibus (not)
http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/passengers-back-londons-bus-drivers-on-eve-of-london-wide-bus-strike/As a worker in Lambeth I am often – literally – the man on the Clapham omnibus (whose views are an established benchmark of reasonableness!)
However….Read more…
Cuts to cancer treatments announced:
By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News Twenty-five different cancer treatments will no longer be funded by the NHS in England, health chiefs have announced. NHS England announced the step…Read more…
Fraud: investor priorities and attitudes
Luigi Zingales has been involved in some interesting work on fraud. In this paper he and co-authors look at who detects and exposes fraud, and they find some perhaps surprising results. Employees are the whistle-blowers most often (and, as such, the su…Read more…
Protecting Public Services
UNISON, Scotland’s public service union tells MSPs that Scotland’s public services are living through a lost decade as a consequence of austerity economics and we can do more to protect public services.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 13 January 2015) the Scottish Parliament will debate protecting public services. UNISON Scotland’s briefing to MSP’s draws from our recent report ‘Austerity EconomicsRead more…
19 days pay a year lost through missed lunch breaks
Long live the lunch break – its under pressure and its worth defending. Work would be a more stressful and boring place without it and less productive too. Yet a new study* commissioned by a well-known cheese manufacturer published today suggested that UK workers skipping their lunch break…Read more…
Nous sommes Charlie: Journalists show solidarity in Paris
Visiting the site close to the Charlie Hebdo offices along with NUJ assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley, it was impossible not to be instantly moved by the mounting tributes and memorials to…Read more…
Protecting Public Services
Scotland’s public services are living through a lost decade as a consequence of austerity economics and we can do more to protect public services.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 13 January 2015) the Scottish…Read more…
Mark Carney’s letter to George Osborne: What might it say?
When the British economy misses the inflation targets set by the Chancellor, the Governor of the Bank of England has to write him a letter explaining the reasons. It looks like we’re on course to miss tomorrow – for the first time below rather than above target. Here’s what I’ve imagined Mark…Read more…
Tory plans will put public service unions in a legal straitjacket
Tory manifesto proposals to impose a minimum turnout (50%) and a minimum threshold of support (40% of all those balloted) will make it impossible for unions to conduct ‘lawful’ industrial action in…Read more…
There is Power in a Union
Fantastic song. Let no one ever forget the power of the union. Moral, political and industrial.Read more…
First Ilford North canvass 2015
On Saturday my Council surgery went over by 30 minutes due to a queue of constituents wanting help about serious housing matters. It was very grim. We just desperately need to build more homes.
In the afternoon I went on a #labourdoorstep…Read more…