The Communication Workers Union (CWU) representing postal workers, has announced it will ballot for a national postal strike this month, if current ongoing talks with Royal Mail do not bring agreement. CWU is planning for ballot papers to go out on 20 September to 125,000 Royal Mail workers in what would be the first national […]
Posts under ‘Infrastructure’
Britain can increase investment by slashing military spending
Sep 2nd, 2013 by Michael Burke.The momentous decision by parliament on 29 August not to participate in a military attack on Syria raises important points both for the trends in British politics and for economic policy. The Socialist Economic Bulletin has repeatedly argued that there is no prospect of a Tory election victory in 2015. After the failure of Cameron’s military agenda the […]
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Osborne’s recovery: some recovery!
Jul 26th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.It would certainly be right to welcome a recovery if only it were true. But is it? The central forecast of a 0.6% upturn in the second quarter of this year, on top of 0.3% in the first quarter, will certainly be milked by Cameron-Osborne for all it’s worth. But is it worth that much? […]
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And another thing… time to take back water into public ownership
Jul 21st, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Did you know that two-thirds of our water companies are owned by foreigners? Does it matter? Well, yes it does. They can major on water supplies in their own home country and neglect the UK arm of their business, they can fail to deal quickly or adequately with leaks in the UK even when it […]
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It’s even worse than was thought
Jul 1st, 2013 by Michael Burke.The latest GDP release from the Office for National Statistics was accompanied by a set of revisions to previous data. These now show that the downturn was more severe than had previously been estimated and that the British economy is even further away from recovery. Previously, ONS data had shown that six years into economic […]
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Unite declares war on Blacklisting
Apr 22nd, 2013 by Newsdesk.Excellent documentary video about Unite’s campaign against blacklisting on the Crosssrail construction where it is pursuing the claim that workers have been victimised for raising safety issues.
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Four economic boosts when all we’re offered is “responsible capitalism”
Mar 30th, 2013 by Michael Hanratty.On Thursday, I wrote about how in the wake of Osborne’s latest budget, Labour continues to buy into the incompetent neoliberal myths that the government uses to justify their programme of austerity. If only the problems stopped there! Sometimes, when it looks like the left is offering an alternative, it can still fall into the […]
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The false logic of the privatisation of the East Coast mainline
Mar 29th, 2013 by Michael Burke.The Coalition government has announced its intention to privatise the East Coast mainline rail network. The network was nationalised 3 years ago when the previous private operators discontinued their franchise because they could not make a profit. The re-privatisation of the East Coast mainline highlights a key fallacy of the current government’s failed economic policy. […]
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Ed Miliband is right, Britain lacks local banks – RBS could fill that void
Mar 26th, 2013 by Tony Greenham.Why not convert a large, publicly owned bank into a network of local banks like those that operate successfully in Germany? Ed Miliband’s speech to the British Chambers of Commerce marked an important step towards filling a vital gap in our banking system – the place where you live. The UK banking system, dominated by […]
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Revitalise the north – don’t make it quicker to escape
Jan 31st, 2013 by Megan Davies.Public investment: jobs created, facilities improved, recession tackled- surely it’s no bad thing. It’s the antidote to austerity we’ve all pleaded for. As Keynes once said, “the government should pay people to dig holes in the ground and then fill them up”. So, whether its high speed rail or hole digging, public investment in any […]
