Ed Miliband has a significant opportunity to decidedly shift the terms of the debate on the economy, but to do so he will have to turn Labour policy on its head. The austerity agenda which has dominated the UK’s economic debate since 2010 is increasingly seen as inseparable from a stagnant economy and growing poverty [...]
Posts under ‘Economy’
Investment not cuts – Labour needs to deliver a decisive break from austerity
May 20th, 2013 by Ben Folley.
Why is Labour so reticent about spelling out the true position on debt?
May 20th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.debtIf there’s one thing that haunts Labour, however much the Tories are determined to commit hara kiri, it is the accusation that ‘Labour was responsible for all this mess in the first place’ by gross over-spending. Since this is not true, why doesn’t Labour refute it at every opportunity? Just before the crash in 2007-8, [...]
How does Cameron get away with his lying pretences?
May 17th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Banging his fist with the smack of firm government, Cameron warned the energy companies yesterday that those who engaged in oil price-fixing will face the “full force of the law”. Oh yeah? They must be quaking in their boots. Just 4 months ago when there was a huge public outcry at the surge in petrol [...]
Chris Tymkow: “Blacklist”
May 17th, 2013 by Andy Newman.Very moving folk song by Chris Tymkow about the illegal blacklisting of union members in the construction industry. Video shows the campaign led by the Blacklist Support Group, UNITE, GMB and UCATT against the human rights conspiracy organised by the 44 largest multi-national construction firms in the UK. The blacklisting scandal has been exposed in [...]
How wage cuts damage the economy
May 17th, 2013 by Dave Watson.Pay cuts may drive short term profits and help governments balance the books — but they do nothing for social justice and also damage the economy. Here’s why: Yesterday, at Unison Scotland, we launched a report on the impact of real wage cuts on workers and the economy. It contrasts the increasing wealth of the richest [...]
UKIP and masculinity
May 16th, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.This morning, Diane Abbott gave a heavily trailed speech on the crisis of masculinity. Simplifying her argument somewhat, cultural change and the restructuring of the jobs market has thrown young men into a state of anomie. In one direction they’re being flattered as gendered consumers into clothes, gadgets, cars, booze and footy. From another comes [...]
The recession is a really good time to increase profits?
May 16th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Lord Young, one of Thatcher’s Business ministers, got himself sacked 10 years ago when he made a deeply callous and insensitive remark. He has obviously not lost the knack because he’s just been reported making comments again of similar ilk. Reminiscent of Jo Moore sending round an email on the day of 9/11 which said [...]
Len McCluskey & Lutfur Rahman uniting the community of East End battleground
May 14th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.There are two stories here. The first is that Unite the Union’s strategy of taking trade unions into the community was launched yesterday in a particularly tangible way with the opening of the first Unite Community Centre. The second is that it represents a collaborative enterprise between Len McCluskey and Lutfur Rahman, independent Mayor of [...]
On “tough decisions” (aka “austerity”)
May 13th, 2013 by Bryan Gould.Last week’s YouGov poll, commissioned and published by Progress, showed that, while Labour was accepted as the “nice” party, the Tories were seen as more ready to take the “tough” decisions. The result was interpreted as an endorsement of the need for such “tough” decisions and therefore as bad news for Ed Miliband and an [...]
The ‘socialism’ of Vince Cable: what’s changed?
May 12th, 2013 by David Osler.Such is the magnitude of the event that the definitive account of the financial collapse of September 2008 and its consequences has surely yet to be written. I do not mean by stating that to deride numerous worthwhile attempts at a first draft of history. Journalistic efforts such as Paul Mason’s Meltdown, Elliott and Atkinson’s The Gods [...]
