1. Rod Aldridge, Chair of Capita, has resigned in embarrassment over lending money to the Labour Party. His company holds several government contracts, including the administration of the Congestion Charge, and the Criminal Records Bureau's IT systems (a Public-Private Partnership, so I hear).
That...
The hot topic of TUC Women's Conference was the gender pay gap – the fact that, three decades on from legislation supposedly guaranteeing ‘equal pay for work of equal value’, women still earn significantly less than men. Just a few days previously, the government’s ‘Women And Work Commission’ had...
Nazanin T. Ali, Head of Women in the Kurdistan Workers’ Union, was a conference guest speaker.
She brought solidarity greetings, and talked of the struggle to improve workers’ conditions and women’s rights. She described the women’s contribution to the Kurdish national liberation movement, giving...
On the first evening of TUC Women's Conference, I spoke at a fringe meeting called to promote the Trade Union Freedom Bill. Here's what I said ...
Three examples from workplace struggles of my own union, RMT, which illustrate that the anti-union laws are unfair, and also rather wacky.
Example 1...
Each year’s TUC Women’s conference has an hour-long informal session, and this year women delegates were asked to talk about the (under-)representation of women in union structures, and to give our views and those of our union (in my case, these are not necessarily the same thing).
I’m more than...
Last thing Thursday afternoon, and it was our union’s big moment – the RMT resolution. Here’s what I said in proposing it …
One of the phrases I have heard most often at this conference goes like this: ‘We’ve been coming here for years, and we just keep repeating ourselves’. And it’s true. Every...
These last few days, I’ve been at TUC Women’s Conference in Eastbourne. There was no internet access, so no session-by-session blogging by yours truly – unlike at last year’s TUC Congress.
Now I’m back, you’ll be getting some chunks of reporting, in random order. First off, education …
The...
A letter from me to Queensbridge & Dalston SureStart ...
Withdrawal of funding to Hackney Playbus
I was shocked and disappointed to discover recently that Queensbridge & Dalston SureStart has ceased its funding to the Hackney Playbus.
The Playbus is now no longer able to attend its sessions on...
I'm standing as a Socialist Unity candidate for Hackney Central ward in the elections on May 4th. Click here to visit my election page.
It seems that about a third of parents entitled to set up Child Trust Funds have not done so. While the banks and the government tear their hair out wondering why, they might consider the fact that parents of babies are just a bit busy and just a bit tired.
I finally got mine (or Harrison's, rather...
Back in the 1980s, I supplemented my student grant by writing for News On Sunday, the "left-wing" tabloid which is now usually referred to as "the ill-fated News On Sunday".
And ill-fated it was, as documented by tonight's BBC4 programme. It was born and died in the same year, 1987.
It would be...
I'm posting this a bit late, but I must mention going out to celebrate Diana Udall's 60th birthday a couple of Saturdays ago.
When I first started work on London Underground, nearly ten years ago, Di was the person who gave me the most support and encouragement to get involved in the union. Yes...
I received an amusing email the other day. I don't usually copy emails onto my blog (it's an unreasonable thing to do, and it tends to stop people communicating with you!). But, as you can see, this one specifically requests recipients to circulate it widely. So here it is - followed by my reply.
>...
I’m rarely slow to knock the Guardian when it publishes nonsense, otherwise known as stuff I disagree with.
So let me now praise it for this fantastic article in yesterday’s paper about Paul Weller and the Jam. The bloke who wrote it really knows what he is on about. Crucially, it is not a factual...
I’d support any campaign in defence of hospitals and other health provision, but you’ll forgive me if I have a little extra drive to help save the two hospitals that saved my life.
Bart’s and the Royal London hospitals here in east London are under threat of bankruptcy and even closure because of...
The Hackney Gazette published my letter in praise of Brook Community Primary School. The question is: have I gone soft on OFSTED? And the other question is: Will a particular one of our local MPs take note? Here's the letter.
Over recent weeks, the Gazette has reported improvements and successes in...
I'm currently engaged in a discussion about absent parents etc. over on Jo Salmon's blog.
Searching for some graphics, Googling the term “anti-union”, I came across this gem, ‘The Complete Union Avoidance Manual’.
Apparently, “this book's powerful ideas, wisdom and professional legal advice will help you successfully identify and/or defuse any union's attempt to organize your employees...
My thoughts on the second part of Richard Dawkins' Channel 4 programme. (By the way, did anyone else notice that there were very few adverts during this programme, and would anyone like to speculate as to why?)
In part 2, the Prof tackles religious schools. “There is something exceedingly odd about...
Yesterday, we went on a trip to the Museum in Docklands. It’s a family favourite, and I’d recommend it. There is a great under-12s area called Mudlarks, which is relaxed yet adventurous, and more imaginative than your run-of-the-mill soft play area. After a session in there, your kids will usually...
We in Hackney have received plenty of literature of late promoting the benefits of recycling. A cause that I wholly support.
The problem is: once you have read this literature and been convinced to act on in, how do you dispose of it? The Council, you see, has not collected the recycling boxes for...
Last night, I tuned in to Channel 4 for The Root of All Evil? a programme by Professor Richard Dawkins (Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, pictured) damning the revival of religious superstition.
(For some background on Dawkins, check out criticism by Clive Bradley, a reply...
This is a blog, and therefore contains personal musings. So, although my objections to George Galloway are political (read more here), I will pass comment on his appearance in Celebrity Big Brother.
I couldn’t resist checking what Socialist Worker has had to say in the past about BB and its...
Following my earlier whistle-stop tour through 1997, let’s move on a year …
1998 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the National Health Service, and of the nationalisation of the railways. Tony Blair’s newly-elected New Labour government celebrated these twin milestones of Labour government...
On Thursday, the Guardian excelled itself with an appalling, ill-informed, out-of-touch, way-off-beam editorial about trade unions.
The editorial took as its starting point a report published yesterday by the Fabian Society. Not the first place I would start in assessing trade unionism.
Not...
Off on long-term sick, I'm passing some time sorting through various stuff. In particular, I am dispensing with those obsolete items known as floppy disks. Which is some task, as I have hundreds of them.
Over the last few days, I have trawled collections of political files from around 1997 onwards...
OK folks, here is a way you can support women in Iraq against both the occupation and the Islamists. It will take a minute of your time to click on the link below and vote for the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq to win twenty grand. Please do it.
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Vote...
The National Evaluation of SureStart (NESS) has published some early reports. It seems that these contain both praise and criticism - in particular, that it is not reaching some of the most needy kids and families. This has prompted me to dig out an article I wrote three years ago on this subject...
Two weeks ago, the Guardian published in its Family supplement a double-page spread called Things every dad should know. Said 'things' include:
These nuggets are from a book called Dad Stuff, which...
Some random observations about recovering from my accident and living with one eye:
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