Irresistible Things —This Month in Parliament This article joins together two others in this issue, on the one hand the editorial and the question ‘how will you pay for it’, and on the other hand the series on ‘What shall I do next?’ on youth employment. It refers to the 2021 Lords Youth Unemployment Committee … Continue reading Irresistible Things
This Month in Parliament 2 Questions in Parliament, 24th November 2021 Matthew Pennycook (Lab) Q7. The Government’s integrated review has concluded that the Chinese state poses a systemic challenge to our national security, and the Prime Minister has made it clear that when it comes to China, we must remain vigilant about our critical national infrastructure. … Continue reading The Government and China
By Michal Lerner To win the next general election, Labour must give bold answers to the question ‘How will you pay for it?’. Let us therefore imagine an interview between an interviewer (I) and a member of the Shadow Cabinet (L) and suggest how the dreaded question should be dealt with in the context of … Continue reading How to pay for it. The case of Universal Credit
Labour Affairs staff Johnson used his speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet 15 November to raise the ‘Russian gas versus Ukrainian freedom’ issue and at this time it is surely significant. Note the headline in this report from the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/15/west-must-choose-between-russian-gas-and-supporting-ukraine-pm-warns Russian gas or Ukrainian freedom has become Johnson’s battle-cry. Whether it works will depend … Continue reading Russian Gas or Ukrainian Freedom?
The Guardian Online of 4 October contained a page of reader’s letters in support of Sir Keir Starmer arguing that the criticism of his performance at the recent Labour Party Conference was unfair and only served the Tory interest. Aside from the fact that the “generosity” of the paper in this regard stands in marked contrast to … Continue reading Editorial 2 — The value of an effective opposition.
The Parliament Education Committee This was Parliament Notes published in the December 2020/January 2021 issue of Labour Affairs. [The Parliament Education Committee, chaired by Robert Halfon, Conservative, is composed of 11 MPs. The 4 Labour MPs on it are Fleur Anderson, Kim Johnson, Apsana Begum and Ian Mearns. The problem under scrutiny ‘Left Behind White Pupils … Continue reading How White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it
This is an extract from the Welsh Labour Party’s Manifesto for the forthcoming Senedd Elections. The extract concerns vocational education and the labour market, issue that Labour Affairs covers in some detail. In contrast to the policy vacuum that the national labour party seems happy to tolerate, Welsh Labour are focusing on issues of interest … Continue reading Welsh Labour Party Election Manifesto May 2021
Ernest Bevin: Labour’s Churchill by Andrew Adonis A review by Brendan Clifford Lord Adonis, who was a Junior Minister in the Blair Government, has written a book about Ernest Bevin. Bevin was an organiser of working class power. Blair's great object was to dissolve working class power in order to free the Labour Party from it. The Labour … Continue reading Ernest Bevin: Labour’s Churchill by Andrew Adonis
Food for schools, prisons and hospitals, or Public Sector Procurement of Food. The White Paper for a Health and Care bill. [The Covid epidemic in England has highlighted the low number of nurses and doctors on the one hand, and the high number of people in poor health on the other. The minister for Health, Matt Hancock, … Continue reading Parliament Notes
Labour Affairs is the magazine of the Bevin Society. Here is the February issue.
Editorial February 2021 Reclaim the State And so, the deed is done. We are out of Europe. A last-minute deal means that the trucks are able to continue rolling through Dover and the other points of departure to Europe. There are no tariffs or quotas and a much lower level of paperwork than had been feared. The fishing folk … Continue reading Editorial February 2021
Israeli military intelligence analyst Assaf Kaplan given “crucial new role at the heart of Labour” In September 2014, the Guardian published an article entitled Israeli intelligence veterans refuse to serve in Palestinian territories. It began: “Forty-three veterans of one of Israel’s most secretive military intelligence units – many of them still active reservists – have signed a … Continue reading Israeli military intelligence analyst Assaf Kaplan given “crucial new role at the heart of Labour”
The Pandemic, Key Workers: Value and Wages The Pandemic and its impact on the economy has demonstrated to a high degree what the essential work required to keep a society from breaking down. This also shines a light on value and wages. The labour theory of value argues that the economic value of a good or service is determined … Continue reading The Pandemic, Key Workers: Value and Wages
Under reporting of Covid illness and deaths at places of work By Catherine Dunlop The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for collating figures for illness and death at work. In 2010 its budget was cut by half for each workplace it was responsible for. In 2020 its employees worked from home, and inspections were a … Continue reading Under reporting of Covid at work places
Labour Affairs 