Posts under ‘Employment’

Even the high priests of capitalism have come out against against inequality

by Michael Meacher.

The IMF is the last place that one would expect to hear the argument being made that inequality has gone far too far. So the recent detailed research from the citadel of capitalism has to be taken seriously. What they found was that raising the income share of the poorest fifth of the population increases […]

Osborne’s £12bn cuts mainly hit those in work and will backfire badly

by Michael Meacher.

Contrary to incessant Tory propaganda about a pervasive culture of welfare dependency, the evidence actually shows jobless benefits claims are now at a 35 year low, but will be put at risk if Osborne pursues his £12bn welfare cuts at the expense mainly of people in work. Of the three out-of-work benefits – unemployment benefit […]

Immigration and benefits: the political economy of scapegoating

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

Immigration and benefits. Immigration and benefits. Immigration and benefits. I can barely remember a time when these weren’t commanding headlines or the imaginations of politicians. One might say that this is no surprise, seeing as they are both hot button issues for the public – though it might be said these issues are fabricated and […]

Greek myths retold: confronting the ideologues of austerity

by Michael Burke.

The world economy is not strong and the President of the United States is sufficiently concerned about new shocks to it that he recently met the Greek Finance Minister to urge ‘flexibility on all sides’ in the negotiations between the Syriza-led government and its creditors. US concern is fully justified. In any attempt to reach agreement it […]

Why doesn’t Labour lambast the Tories on their weakest point – the economy?

by Michael Meacher.

It is strange that Labour hasn’t launched a full frontal attack on the Tory handling of the economy over the last 5 years, because it’s been deplorable. The only points the Tories make in defence of their own management are growth and jobs. But look at the record. Osborne’s bizarre idea that contracting the economy […]

Who do these presumptuous Telegraph letter-writing businessmen think they are?

by Michael Meacher.

What does it matter what these 103 businessmen say who’ve signed the Telegraph letter? None of them wrote the letter – it was a party political stunt concocted by the Tory party to to get some cheap publicity in praise of themselves. But why does the Tory party think these names matter? It’s not as […]

Zero hours contracts are a weapon of workplace control

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

I’m glad Labour is making some good noises about zero hour contracts. It’s even better that they’ve met the stupid and entirely predictable letter from Tory supporting business chums that, shock horror, support the Tories with a signed letter of their own featuring people on zero hour contracts. For all their money advantage, so far […]

Poverty is the real difference between school attainment levels

by Dave Watson.

The Scottish Government’s Parentzone website has published data on the performance of school leavers. The Daily Record highlighted how these figures show a shocking class divide between the wealthiest and least well off areas of Scotland. This is Dave Watson’s opinion piece in the Daily Record that ran alongside the article. In it he argues that the difference […]

NHS staff in England are being treated even worse than other public sector workers

by Michael Meacher.

It was Nigel Lawson, I think, who once opined that the NHS was the nearest thing the British had to a religion. If so the government has treated its priestly acolytes uniquely badly. The average real pay of NHS workers has fallen by over 10% since 2009. No less than 40,000 are paid below the […]

Why we should say NO to welfare cuts in the next Parliament

by Michael Meacher.

There is an auction taking place on the size of the welfare cuts to be imposed in the next 5 years. The Tories are arguing for £30bn cuts in the first 2 years to 2017-8 via no tax rises, £12bn in welfare cuts, £5bn in extra corporate tax evasion revenues, and bigger departmental cuts (up […]

© 2024 Left Futures | Powered by WordPress | theme originated from PrimePress by Ravi Varma