British politics is in a strange state. Since winning the 2019 general election with a substantial overall majority of some 80 seats, the Conservative Party has been tearing itself apart. It has already disposed of two Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. It is now being managed by the richest Prime Minister in history, Rishi Sunak. His main … Continue reading Budgets and Wars—Editorial 2
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Eamon Dyas The action by the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee, acting on Starmer’s instructions, to deny Jeremy Corbyn the right to represent Labour at the next general election stands in marked contrast to the way in which he has welcomed back into the fold the likes of Mike Gapes. In February 2019 Gapes resigned … Continue reading Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
NEC Motion re Corbyn
Starmer’s NEC Motion For completeness we give below the full text of Starmer’s NEC motion to block Corbyn being a Labour Party candidate and how the NEC voted on the motion: This meeting of the NEC notes: the Labour Party’s purpose is to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour … Continue reading NEC Motion re Corbyn
Minimum Service Levels
Campaign For Trade Union Freedom Rally on the Minimum Services Level Bill Pete Whitelegg At the beginning of this year the government published its long promised anti trade union legislation, the “Minimum Service Levels Bill”. This bill was contained in the Tories 2019 election manifesto. Originally the bill was only applicable to the transport sector. … Continue reading Minimum Service Levels
ICC — US Double Standards
Message from the White House: "We believe in investigating war crimes - but not ours and not Israel's" The US State Department website says the following about the International Criminal Court (ICC): "We maintain our longstanding objection to the Court’s efforts to assert jurisdiction over personnel of non-States Parties such as the United States and Israel." In … Continue reading ICC — US Double Standards
The end of the EU ban on State subsidy
Eamon Dyas [Eamon Dyas comments on Lucinda Creighton’s article “Ireland is asleep at the wheel as the EU single market is being undone.” (Business Post, 17/12/22)] Lucinda Creighton refuses to acknowledge the biggest elephant in the room here - EU’s sanctions on Russia. The Green Agenda may have been the slow-burner on this and is … Continue reading The end of the EU ban on State subsidy
Labour and Housing — Part 12
The funding of social housing provision (cont.): from 1890 to the first Labour Government By Eamon Dyas The Local Government Act of 1888 established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect in 1889 and with it the emergence of the London County Council. This 1888 Act was viewed … Continue reading Labour and Housing — Part 12
Labour Voters – the Lost and the Found
By Gwydion M. Williams The following article appeared in February 2020 Labour Affairs, and remains relevant. But some digressions and out-of-date comments have been removed. Corbyn is being blamed for “the worst result since 1935”. 1935 wasn’t that bad, if you think about political outcomes. If you don’t see Labour existing just to give nice jobs to ambitious … Continue reading Labour Voters – the Lost and the Found
Notes on the News
By Gwydion M. Williams The Tapeworms of Finance Untrustworthy Dollars Britain – the Tyranny of Structurelessness China’s Democratic Dictatorship China from Number 2 to Number 1 Snippets ICC – Kangaroo Court The Fight for Tik-Tok Saving Female Sports Salad Failures Iraq – Also Remembering 1987 The Tapeworms of Finance Tapeworms are tough and hardy survivor … Continue reading Notes on the News
An Interview with the Leader of the Donbass CP
A shift to the left in Russia - Boris Litvinov http://wpered.su/2023/03/21/v-rossii-budet-levyj-povorot-boris-litvinov/ Boris Litvinov, first secretary of the Donetsk regional branch of the KPRF, gave an interview to the "Antifascist" news agency. (https://antifashist.com/) - Boris Alekseevich, our previous interview was published on 11 February last year, in which you said that sooner or later Russia will … Continue reading An Interview with the Leader of the Donbass CP
Occupied Palestinian Territories
House of Lords Debate 27/03/23 [Note: A road map with Israel was mentioned in these exchanges in the House of Lords. Here it is:2030 roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations, all 4,000 words of it. It was signed on 21stMarch. This tells us that Israel and the UK are "freedom-loving, innovative and thriving democracies". Tell that to the … Continue reading Occupied Palestinian Territories
School Meals in the Lords
Children’s school meals Debate in the House of Lords 27/03/23 https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2023-03-27/debates/EAB74562-AB3E-4799-95CE-49E7A40FAD65/Children’s SchoolMeals Question Asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review and revise the children’s school meal regulations to reduce the levels of processed sugar and to provide incentives to encourage the use of alternatives such as stevia. … Continue reading School Meals in the Lords
Vienna Social Housing
BBC Radio 4 series: Rental Health — Vienna The first in the series on rented accommodation(27/03/23), presented by Kirsty Lang, was a eulogy of Vienna’s social housing, which was very inspiring. This is what she explained. Vienna has had a radical housing policy going back over a century, it is the largest property owner in Europe, 60% … Continue reading Vienna Social Housing
Water Scandal in France
A scandal in France: New Reservoirs Froggy One solution to the problem of drought in France is the creation of artificial reservoirs, the size of several football pitches and 10m deep to provide water for irrigation. These are called ‘mega-bassines’ [mega-bowls]. They are filled by pumping water from the water table, and this exposes the water … Continue reading Water Scandal in France
Public Sector Wage Increases and Inflation—Editorial
Public Sector Wage Increases and Inflation British society as a whole is poorer because of the war it is waging against Russia. The sanctions that it has imposed on Russia have resulted in dramatically higher energy prices. Britain must give up a much larger share of its income to consume the same amount of energy. How is … Continue reading Public Sector Wage Increases and Inflation—Editorial
Starmer’s Labour Party — Editorial 2
Starmer’s Labour Party Keir Starmer was first elected as an MP in 2015. He rose to prominence when he led the opposition to various attempts to implement Brexit while the party was under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. In 2019 he convinced the Labour Party conference to support a 2nd referendum over Brexit. There are strong reasons to believe … Continue reading Starmer’s Labour Party — Editorial 2
In remembrance of Feargus ORaghallaigh
Sale of the Supermarket Morrisons By Feargus ORaghallaigh Feargus was a regular contributor to this magazine who died recently and we are publishing the article by him which, although published elsewhere, has not been published before in Labour Affairs. We are doing this as a reminder of his deep knowledge and analytical powers which this journal … Continue reading In remembrance of Feargus ORaghallaigh
Speech to Derry Meeting
Speech to Trade Union Rally, Guildhall, 21st February 2023, Derry, Northern Ireland Mark Langhammer The rally was organised by the NI Teachers Council made up of unions as follows: NASUWT, INTO, UTU and NEU (my union). One NITC affiliate, the NAHT (the Principals union) was not on strike. The meeting was hosted by the Derry Trades … Continue reading Speech to Derry Meeting
Labour Affairs 