Prime Minister David Cameron has revamped his Business Advisory Group, and their first task will be to advise him on his EU renegotiation strategy ahead of the referendum on Britain’s…Read more…
Chutzpah on global migration from the Foreign Secretary
There were many things that made people’s blood boil about Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond’s statement that Europe’s social infrastructure was under threat from migrants fleeing war-torn or poverty-stricken countries in Africa and the Middle East, like the scaremongering…Read more…
Public Services are trapped in an EU market straitjacket
A much neglected aspect of the ‘European debate’ is the extent to which the EU is a driving force for the liberalisation and privatisation of public services. Judith Clifton writing for the LSE’s…Read more…
TTIP: We’re winning the debate
Last week, the European Parliament’s international trade committee adopted a report on controversial trade deal TTIP, which will now go to the whole Parliament next week.Read more…
EU: why Labour has to say yes
With a majority Conservative government that is slim and therefore vulnerable, and a government programme that a Guardian editorial this week described as ‘rag bag’, members in both Houses will be…Read more…
#QueensSpeech 2015: Referendum Bill raises yet more questions
The Queen’s Speech today was silent on the hugely important issue of the negotiating strategy the government intends to pursue ahead of the EU referendum, and few other questions were answered by the references to the Bill we expect to see published tomorrow. Speak softly and run like hell…Read more…
Taking away workers’ rights will make Brexit more likely says TUC poll
As Nigel Stanley reported on Touchstone last week, we had an opinion poll in the field immediately after the election, to find out more about why people voted the way we did. We held a few of the…Read more…
EU referendum: workers’ rights and the right to vote are at stake
Tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech will announce an EU referendum bill which will be published on Thursday (although the issue of who gets to vote was trailed over the weekend.) Last Friday, the Prime Minister began his campaign to ‘renegotiate’ Britain’s membership with other…Read more…
Save migrants’ lives in the Med
The TUC has joined the international chorus calling for the European Union to restore the funding needed for initiatives like ‘Mare Nostrum’ to protect the lives of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing. Ahead of the emergency leaders’ summit today,…Read more…
What polling on working time shows about attitudes to Europe
The High Pay Centre launched the findings of some interesting polling yesterday, showing that social measures like the Working Time Directive and restrictions on bankers’ bonuses introduced by the European Union were popular with British people, but not well-understood to originate in Europe….Read more…
CoE launches new online platform to record violations of journalists’ rights
The Council of Europe has launched a new online platform to record violations of journalists’ rights. Hosted on the Council’s website, the platform will help compile information on…Read more…
‘Stand up for Free Expression’ conference – Paris, 31st March 2015
‘Stand Up for Free Expression!’, a conference organised by the IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) and the SNJ (French Syndicat National des Journalistes), takes place in Paris…Read more…
Author’s rights fees for Belgian freelances
10/03/2015. 100% of publishers’ fees to freelances in Belgium can be treated as payment for “author’s rights”, Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt has confirmed. This can…Read more…
STUDY EXPLODES EU MYTH
A study by two academics has shown that the idea that most of our legislation comes from the EU is a complete myth and, far from producing too much legislation, the EU is only producing a small…Read more…
Stop TTIP – the Trojan Treaty
#noTTIP Many hundreds of campaigners, including a contingent of UNISON activists, protested in Brussels over the past two days. The demonstration coincided with the latest round of talks on 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…
T-TIP of the deregulation iceberg
‘It is not just TTIP, across the board the EU is bowing to business pressure to do away with ‘burdensome’ regulation – regulation that tends to save lives, protect consumers and ensure standards’…Read more…
Charlie Hebdo – the view from NUJ Paris
Two days after the murderous attack at the offices of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, (on Wednesday January 7,) a dignified ceremony took place involving representatives of international journalist…Read more…
RIPA – amendments are not enough, UK government needs to change the law
The NUJ rejects the new draft code of practice for the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which allows the police and other authorities to access journalists’ communications without…Read more…
EU investment plan – accelerating with the brakes on
One thing the ETUC has been repeating ad nauseam since the crisis is the need for a European investment plan to drive growth and jobs. Almost everyone seems to have come round to agreeing with us recently including the new President of the European Com…Read more…