This interview with Paul Holmes (who is seeking support to stand for Unison General Secretary in the forthcoming election for that position) by Dave Semple is reprinted from the Though Cowards Flinch
Blog, which carries some very interesting material. We are extremely
pleased that Dave has agreed to let us reprint this article, which we
have posted in full.
This interview with Paul Holmes (who is seeking support to stand for Unison General Secretary in the forthcoming election for that position) by Dave Semple is reprinted from the Though Cowards Flinch
Blog, which carries some very interesting material. We are extremely
pleased that Dave has agreed to let us reprint this article, which we
have posted in full.
The death of former Labour leader Michael Foot has brought him many
accolades from his friends in the labour movement, and also, with some
hypocrisy, from some of his political enemies amongst the Tories.
Michael Foot was on the left of the Labour Party. Having come from a
Liberal family, he spent his whole political life in the Party and was
committed to causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Even
in his nineties, he was seen addressing anti-war demonstrations against
the war in Iraq – a war unfortunately pursued by a Labour Prime
Minister.
The death of former Labour leader Michael Foot has brought him many
accolades from his friends in the labour movement, and also, with some
hypocrisy, from some of his political enemies amongst the Tories.
Michael Foot was on the left of the Labour Party. Having come from a
Liberal family, he spent his whole political life in the Party and was
committed to causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Even
in his nineties, he was seen addressing anti-war demonstrations against
the war in Iraq – a war unfortunately pursued by a Labour Prime
Minister.
The crisis of capitalism is creating an unstable social and
political situation in Germany. Tensions are emerging within the
coalition government, elected only last year. Most interestingly, this
is having a radicalising effect inside DIE LINKE, which is being pulled
both left and right, with some of the leaders attracted by coalition
politics while the more radical ranks react against and seek an
alternative to the left.
Why does Britain grind to a halt as soon as we get a few snowflakes? Answer – capitalism. Here are the facts. Road Salt, what the gritting lorries pump out to make our roads safe, is produced for the UK by two private mining companies, the Salt Union in Cheshire, and the Cleveland Potash company.
Last week, Portsmouth FC became the first
top-flight football club in England to go into voluntary administration as a
result of their massive debts, currently estimated at £86 million. Over the
season so far, they have repeatedly failed to pay wages on time, owe the Inland
Revenue millions in unpaid taxes and VAT, have had to sell many of their
players to get quick cash and – as a result – are lying firmly at the bottom of
the Premier league table. According to
the Guardian (3/3/10) they need to find £14 million just to keep going until
the end of April.
An estimated 5,000 people marched through the streets of Islington last Saturday with one intention: To ‘Save Our Whittington’ from plans to close the Accident and Emergency department and maternity ward at the Archway hospital.
The widely quoted figure of 20,000 job cuts in local government over
the next few years is starting to gain a grim credibility as councils
begin to show their hands.
As Birmingham reels after the
discovery of the tenth child – a two year old from Harborne – to die from
neglect in the city in under four years, the Tory/Liberal run City Council has
announced its main target for cutbacks – the council’s Children, Young People
and Families Service. Birmingham, the
largest local authority in the UK, has a £26 million deficit and aims to slash
over 2,000 jobs from Social Services: 1300 jobs from the Children, Young People
and Families Service and 305 jobs from Adult and Community Services.
Six traffic wardens working for the private company running Islington
Council’s parking enforcement service have been summarily dismissed
after being found sheltering from a heavy downpour in a cafe.The company had traced their whereabouts via the workers’ hand-held
electronic devices, which allow the employers to track workers’
movements every minute of the working day.
Ireland: While
many active trade unionists across the country will be pleased to hear
that IMPACT and SIPTU among others are planning to escalate the wave of
partial actions across the public sector, and that they will be pushing
for escalation at the ICTU meeting on March 8th; at the same
time they will be acutely aware of the need to demonstrate to their
members that the action is having an affect on the government.