Osborne really has got it in for young people – unless of course they are poised to inherit their grandparents’ £1 million home or will benefit from a higher inheritance tax threshold. It will be young people who cop it from changes to universal credit that will deduct benefits faster as they earn more. That […]
Posts under ‘Public services’
Cameron-Osborne’s vendetta against the young could prove their downfall
Aug 16th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.
Tory privatisation economics: try the London sewer, the mother of all scandals
Aug 15th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.As an illustration of what the Thatcherite privatisations of the 1980s now mean, you could not have a better example than the London super sewer. It costs £4.2bn, and you might expect that Thames Water, the privatised company that controls the whole of its length, should obviously be expected to pay for it. Not a […]
Share:
Andy Burnham’s policy on railway ownership is too weak
Aug 5th, 2015 by Ken Livingstone.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 […]
Share:
Wages, profits & investment In Greece
Jun 28th, 2015 by Michael Burke.The IMF has placed a road-block in the way of a deal with the Greek government and it remains unclear whether any agreement can be reached. The prior agreement which the IMF rejected was itself already very onerous. But the IMF wants to shift the burden of paying for the crisis away from taxes on […]
Share:
Privatising RBS: a triple whammy against taxpayers, economy and reform
Jun 21st, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Why sell off the 80% stake in RBS when the Brown government bailed it out in 2008 at a cost to taxpayers of £45bn, yet today’s share price would fetch only some £32bn? That’s a £13bn loss for taxpayers which, as it happens, is almost exactly the sum that Osborne is pledged to raise by […]
Share:
The NHS may yet sink the Tories
Jun 10th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.The NHS is deteriorating fast, faster and more seriously than many of the public yet realise. Nearly half a million patients waited more than 4 hours in A&E for treatment, referral or discharge in the last quarter of 2014, half as many again as in the previous quarter and the worst performance for over a […]
Share:
How Labour & Social Democrat MEPs are fighting for the millions who oppose ISDS
Jun 9th, 2015 by Jude Kirton-Darling.Jude Kirton-Darling, Labour MEP for the North East of England and European Labour Party spokesperson on TTIP writes in response to Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC In an article published last Friday by the Morning Star and Institute of Employment Rights, Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC accused Labour and Social Democrat MEPs […]
Share:
What can we expect from renewed austerity?
Jun 1st, 2015 by Michael Burke.The new Tory government will renew its austerity offensive shortly with the publication of an ‘emergency Budget’ on July 8. It is simple to demonstrate that the previous austerity programme caused the economy to grind to a halt (and with it the improvement in government finances). Supporters of austerity like to claim that austerity led […]
Share:
Housing is now financialised, like the rest of market capitalism
Jun 1st, 2015 by Michael Meacher.The enforced sell-off of housing association homes, at the same enormous discounts as under Right to Buy (£70,000+ for a flat and up to £102,000 for a house) is driven by the two Tory goals, not only to act as bribes for voters at election time, but also to bring homes as an asset into […]
Share:
The coming tabloid assault on charities
Jun 1st, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.A couple of straws in the wind, perhaps, but I have a feeling something’s a-brewing. Exhibit one: Olive Cooke, a 92-year-old poppy seller and giver to charitable causes took her own life after, apparently, being repeatedly pestered by cold callers asking for more cash (she already gave to 27 charities every month) and receiving dozens […]
