Posted by John Millington

The general election unspun: the view of a media guerrilla

JMJohn Millington says he feels like a media guerrilla, with limited resources and guile, trying to amplify a small yet vital voice within the mainstream media.

Alarm blaring out, birds singing cheerily and the soft tones of John Humphries of R4 fame will soon be filling the room with the news of the day.

This is where my working day begins.And today the NHS is top of the agenda once again.

Campaigning PR like other forms of journalism is not for clock watchers and not for those seeking fame and fortune. But once I awake and switch on, I know I am in the right profession. Continue reading →

Stop TTIP – to save our NHS

No TTIPActivists from across Europe will descend on major cities at the weekend to protest against the imposition of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or TTIP) – a “free trade agreement” between the US and the EU.

Rarely does one issue help galvanise continental wide disapproval but in the case of TTIP, people from across the political spectrum in every EU member state are worried about what TTIP will mean for public services and democracy.

And worried they should be. Continue reading →

TUC: Chuka Umunna’s pro-worker, pro-business agenda means business as usual

chukaHave you heard the news?

Workers and bosses have the same interests. That’s right. The biggest and most significant social divide in capitalist Britain today, the key battleground between those who produce the wealth and those who own it is apparently no longer an issue.

According Labour leading light Chuka Umunna, Labour’s shadow business secretary, you can be pro-worker and pro-business. Continue reading →

Qatar: Concern grows for missing human rights investigators

bn7hjebicaehanmTwo British human rights campaigners, investigating the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar have gone missing. Ghimire Gundev and Krishna Upadhyaya were last seen on Sunday when they sent panicked texts to colleagues saying they were being followed by police.

Speaking to ITV News, the Norwegian charity employing the men said it had yet to receive any information from the Qatari authorities despite numerous requests. A spokesperson said: Continue reading →

Austerity: trade unions agree coordinated strike action on 14 Oct against pay freeze

public sector payThree of Britain’s biggest unions  have agreed to escalate their dispute over pay with a coordinated strike in October, days before a massive demonstration against cuts. The three unions –  GMB, UNISON and Unite, have agreed that their members will run a coordinated strike of their local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Tuesday 14 October.

Local government workers have suffered three years of a pay freeze, followed by a below inflation pay deal and have now been offered just 1%. They have seen their pay reduced in value by 20% since 2010. Workers took part in a one day stoppage on 10 July. No further talks have taken place since that date, despite the unions offering to go to the Government’s arbitration and conciliation service. Continue reading →