If the newspapers are to be believed, nearly all of the country’s ills can be attributed to migrants – they steal our jobs, yet at the same time they rely on benefits. And they’re making it…Read more…
Tax credit cuts: Lords’ battle
Former chancellor Nigel Lawson is the latest among a growing group of senior Tory statesmen who have come out against the government’s plans to slash tax credits next April, which would decimate…Read more…
Last plea to Tories
The government is sticking to its guns over cuts to tax credits. To persuade the public (and their own MPs) of a plan that the electorate didn’t vote for, they’ve released figures that claim these…Read more…
No, Prime Minister
On Wednesday (October 14), David Cameron told the House of Commons that he and I agreed. No, prime minister, we most certainly do not. For the avoidance of doubt, let me spell it out. The…Read more…
Broken promises and tax credit cuts
They’ve been described as plans based on “political and class dogma, and not economic necessity” by Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey; part of an economic package that will worsen inequality, by…Read more…
Our Tory Housing Future
Please read (and then weep) this examination of the new Tory Housing and Planning Bill on the blog Red Brick. In housing, as with the cuts in child tax credits, I don’t think that people “get” just how right wing and extremist this Government is behavi…Read more…
Behavioural insight as a weapon
I’ve blogged on an off over the years about behavioural economics and what lefties can usefully learn from it. It seems like the surge of interest on the Left in the UK in this area has subsided a bit compared to a few years back. But I’m sure the same…Read more…
Plunged into poverty
In his address to the Tory Party Conference on Wednesday (October 7), prime minister David Cameron insisted that in order “to make Britain greater”, social problems had to be tackled including the…Read more…
TUC Rally and March #4Oct15 – A week on
The picture collage above is from the TUC Rally and March which took place last Sunday in Manchester. I went with UNISON Greater London Regional colleagues and helped carry our Banner.
It was estimated that 85000 trade unionists from all over the…Read more…
What lies beneath?
Prime minister David Cameron has again announced in his Tory Conference speech yesterday (October 7) that his is the party of working people. It’s his latest in a number of attempts to stretch the…Read more…
Dave down the rabbit hole
‘Call me Dave’ has had a dream which he shared with me. It was when we were walking through the sunlit uplands of his unexpected election victory waving the Union Jack. At this…Read more…
‘Hard times are everywhere’
The darkness of austerity gathers all across Britain like the clouds of night while the Tory Party conference in Manchester celebrates its victory in May’s general election behind barbed wire,…Read more…
‘Too clever’ Osborne vs ‘rooted in reality’ McDonnell
The approach could not be starker. Tory Chancellor George Osborne is going to hammer those on lower pay to close the budget deficit by 2020. He’ll then throw a few slogans at the economy, and…Read more…
Achievable as a trip to the moon
David Cameron’s legacy will be felt all too acutely by those workers earning a low wage or in insecure work who will be shut out from his housing promise Unite, said today (Wednesday October 7)….Read more…
A very clear message
More than 60,000 people joined a TUC march on Sunday (October 4) during the Tory Party Conference in Manchester to demonstrate against government austerity and the trade union Bill. The march…Read more…
Hunt’s ‘disgraceful insult’
Multi-millionaire health secretary Jeremy Hunt has ‘kicked millions of working people, struggling to get by in the teeth’ with controversial remarks that axing working tax credits is ‘an important…Read more…
Hammer of working people
George Osborne continues to be ‘the snake oil salesman’ of British politics, presiding over a phoney recovery, giving the rich an inheritance tax gift, yet bringing harsh cuts to millions of workers…Read more…
Safety first
Millions of workers are well aware of the potentially devastating impact of the government’s ideologically-driven trade union Bill which is currently going through Parliament. Their…Read more…
Another Fidelity – Conservative Party link
I’ve blogged a lot previously about the many links that exist between the asset manager Fidelity and the Conservative Party. I’ve just discovered a new one that provides a bit more insight into how significant the relationship is.
The Leader’s Group i…Read more…
Now We Are The Builders! New Centre Left political blog
Check out this new Labour Supporting blog “Now We Are The Builders”. It aims to be “A Centre-Left blog, a space for discussion and comment. Thoughts and reflections from within the Labour movement.- all views are the contributors own”.
It welcomes g…Read more…