I like Andy Burnham: he clearly has been on a political journey and he has played a good role on the NHS, but in my view his position on rail policy today not only doesn’t go far enough – it indicates the disconnect between voters and Westminster politics that we must repair. In the National […]
Posts under ‘Environment’
A third Heathrow runway is a menu without the prices
Jul 2nd, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Business in this age of market fundamentalism is cock-a-hoop with the Davies report decision to recommend Heathrow. They would be, wouldn’t they, since the report has focused largely on the supposed economic benefits while claiming that all the toxic underside of the decision can be ‘managed’. However the feasibility of the latter needs to be […]
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Tories’ pre-election fantasising comes back to haunt them
Jun 27th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Northern powerhouse deflates into Northern power-cut. It was so hurriedly propagated by Osborne before the election as portraying the government as dynamic innovators of English devolution, but none of the details had been properly worked through, including the required transport infrastructure as we now know. So the election gimmick, if not evaporated, has dimmed at […]
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What the SNP says versus what the SNP does
Apr 30th, 2015 by Manuel Cortes.Last week, when I spoke at the STUC Congress against the SNP putting both Scotrail and the Caledonian Sleeper in the hands of privateers, I said that actions speak far louder than words. Let’s face it, the SNP hardly misses an opportunity to argue that the public sector should play a key role in delivering […]
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Do we want predatory capitalism or an economy geared to the common good?
Mar 29th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Despite the predictable whines of some FTSE-100 bosses reported yesterday about a post-election Labour-SNP pact, Ed M should flesh out more about his vision to replace ‘predatory capitalism’ both because that is what a majority of people want and also to put paid to the ignorant mantra that self-interested executives like to propagate that anyone […]
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Fracking in the UK is out for the foreseeable future
Mar 8th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Listening to Osborne waxing exuberant over Britain’s energy future because of his obsession with a fracking revolution in the UK to match that in the US, you might be excused for thinking that he had a trump electoral card. Any such idea is nonsense, for several reasons. The predicted fracking deposits in this country are […]
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Cameron lets energy privateers write the rules that are supposed to regulate them
Mar 7th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Cameron prophetically described lobbying in 2010 as “the next big scandal waiting to happen”, but by 2015 he has himself made it happen. It was already revealed some months ago that senior representatives from the Big 6 energy companies had been seconded to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to ‘advise’ ministers on […]
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The right to protest is precious – we must defend it
Feb 13th, 2015 by Jeremy Corbyn.The right to protest is a precious and important one. It is fundamental to any democracy. Co-operation with the police has always been a sensitive area and indeed current legislation requires agreement with the police on march and demonstration routes. However, something very fundamental has changed this week. The organisers of the Time to Act […]
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Labour 6:1 in favour of a public railway, stronger unions and an end to austerity
Jan 30th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Earlier this week we reported that, following Syriza‘s remarkable victory in Greece on a platform of ending austerity and greater state intervention in the economy, 15 Labour MPs including Michael Meacher had called for a similar change in direction here. They issued a statement calling for an alternative to austerity, for public ownership of the railways and for a […]
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Nothing stands between Labour and election victory except its own timidity
Jan 25th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.A sad tale of ambivalence and timidity across a range of policies This coming Monday the remaining stages of the Infrastructure Bill will be taken in Parliament, including votes on the launch of fracking in this country. Cameron and Osborne have declared they are both ‘gung-ho’ to develop this technology to the fullest degree as […]
