Do the England squad need better incentives?
One has to feel a bit sorry for North Korea’s football squad. Despite a spirited performance against Brazil yesterday on Tuesday, and managing to go in 0-0 at half time, they lost 2-1.
By any normal standards it was a remarkable result for a squad in which only 3 members play overseas.
Indeed cheer might be taken from the fact that the 0-0 draw between Portugal and Ivory Coast was probably one of the worst world cup games ever, suggesting that North Korea might produce a surprise upset and qualify for the knock-out stages.
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London limits pay gap; Tories vote against
A motion agreed at the Greater London Assembly (GLA) yesterday urged the Mayor to sign up to the Government’s pledge to limit senior public sector pay settlements.
And even though the Prime Minister has pledged to limit the highest public sector pay settlement to a 1:20 ratio, all Conservative Assembly Members opposed the motion yesterday.
Eventually the GLA passed a motion (proposed by Darren Johnson, Green Party AM) by 13 – 12, setting the maximum pay ratio allowed within the GLA and its associated bodies.
The cap would apply to the Greater London Authority, The Metropolitan Police Authority, The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Transport for London and the London Development Agency and would include a long term goal of no one in the GLA Group being paid more than ten times the lowest salary.
The Greater London Assembly is following the example it took on the Living Wage, and is once again leading the way in best practice on remuneration and reducing inequality.
Darren Johnson AM said:
Research shows that pay inequality has a detrimental effect on the whole of society, the rich, the middle classes and the poor. Countries with a smaller gap between the well and low paid have less crime, fewer health problems and greater social cohesion.
We welcome David Cameron’s pledge to limit the pay gap in the public sector and urge Mayor Boris Johnson to follow his leader and implement a similar policy across the GLA Group.
He also wrote an article for Guardian CIF on the issue.
The full text of the motion reads as follows:
This Assembly notes the Prime Minister’s pledge to limit the highest public sector pay settlement to no more than twenty times that of the lowest worker, and the Equality Trust’s proposal to aim for pay inequality to be reduced to no more than ten times. The Assembly also notes that within the GLA Group there are approximately 90 staff paid more than ten times the London Living Wage.
As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
From a press release
Is Ed Balls briefings against the Milibands?
James Macintyre at the New Statesman reports Ed Balls telling this to Total Politics magazine:
Between the brothers there has been a little bit of off-the-record briefing going on. Hopefully, the two of them will say to their supporters to stop it. It is pretty unedifying.
But where’s the evidence?
The Sun reports on the same story:
Ed Miliband’s supporters have been slagging off his brother David’s “eccentric personality”.
And David’s fans are mocking Ed’s “dodgy decision-making”, according to former Education Secretary Ed Balls, who is also in the running.
Supporters of David and Ed taking pot-shots at each other shock! This probably happened over Twitter.
How is that “off-the-record briefings”?
It looks like a classic case of accusing others of flinging mud while doing it yourself.
Perhaps Ed Balls wants to push the “Miliband brothers in huge clash” narrative. This looks like a pretty crude way of doing it.
Which Labour candidate can social democrats be proud of?
contribution by James Maker
Is there any credible candidate among the Labour front-runners social democrats can be proud of?
For me, one of the most profound points emanating from Tuesday’s Newsnight exchanges was the performance of the front runners David and Ed Miliband.
Taken out of the comfort zone of audiences largely composed of party activists, the elder Miliband was unable to put forward the central line of his candidacy; creating a legion of community activists, grassroots movements and democratising the party machine.
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Guido’s silly rumours on Brown’s mental health
contribution by Mental Nurse
If you’ve been wondering why Gordon Brown hasn’t been seen in public much lately, blogger Guido Fawkes has an explanation.
In a post entitled, “The Former Prime Mentalist” he cites rumours that “Gordon Brown has been spending stints in a London hospital. For psychological reasons.”
He later updated the post, stating, “Usually reliable sources have pointed Guido toward the Royal Edinburgh Hospital rather than a London hospital.” Over on my blog, Mental Nurse, some of our readers know the Royal Edinburgh well, because they’ve been patients on its psychiatric wards.
They’ve pointed out a few flaws in Guido’s story.
First, as DeeDee Ramona says, Gordon Brown is in the wrong catchment area for the Royal Edinburgh.
Emmie, who has also been a patient at the Royal Ed, points out that it’s really not the place for a hush-hush hospitalisation of a major public figure such as Gordon Brown.
Perhaps even more relevantly though, as DeeDee suggests, it is bloody hard to hide in the Royal Ed. And I have tried. There aren’t private wards. Sector wards there have only one or two single rooms, which are generally bagged and coveted by longer stay patients, (all other bedspaces on those wards are still shared room or dorm-style), nothing at all on the sector wards there is ensuite…so just logistically it is very hard to keep any kind of low profile.
You’ll be queing over the shower for a start.. Having been detained on 3 of the 5 sector wards there I have investigated this more thouroughly than I’d have liked too!
Unfortunately for Guido, Gordon Brown turned up in public yesterday (June 16th), and not queueing for the showers in the Royal Edinburgh.
He was visiting a school in Cowdenbeath. Paul Staines notices this, but doesn’t retracted his rumour.
So, given that Brown lost the election just over a month ago, he’s had a month to spiral into a mental health crisis, be admitted to the Royal Edinburgh without anyone noticing him hanging around the communal wards, be discharged or sent on leave, and then appear back in public looking absolutely fine.
So, either Brown’s had a impressively-fast recovery, or Paul Staines and his “usually reliable sources” are talking out of their collective arses.
Even if Brown did have a mental health problem, that doesn’t necessarily make him unsuited to political office. Winston Churchill famously suffered from depression (his “black dog”, as he called it).
Mark Harper MP has recently been nominated for Mind Champion of the Year for his campaign to lift the prohibition on people who have been detained under the Mental Health Act from standing for Parliament.
For all the sneering by P. Staines, it was the mentalists themselves who spotted the gaping holes in his story.
Is the Telegraph censoring criticism of climate-change deniers?
About ten days ago, Telegraph employee and blogger Tom Chivers wrote a blog post titled ‘Viscount Monckton is an embarrassment to global warming sceptics everywhere‘.
In the blog post he wrote:
Entertaining news of the week: high-profile global warming sceptic Viscount (Christopher) Monckton has been caught out in an embarrassing example of (if we’re charitable) utter scientific illiteracy, in one of the most magisterial scientific take-downs on record.
He goes on to explain that Monckton giving a lecture at a university in Minnesota where he made a series of “startling claims”.
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Oona King unveils strong support against Ken
Two days before the closing date for nominations for the London Labour Mayoral candidate, Oona King has revealed that she is backed by 11 MPs across London.
Her endorsements include Siobhan McDonagh from the outer London seat Mitcham & Morden and Rushanara Ali from the inner-London seat of Bethnal Green & Bow.
Oona King’s endorsements, significantly, are twice that of the number of London Labour MPs supporting Ken Livingstone. Ken is so far the only other Labour candidate in the race.
The campaign is being chaired by Jim Fitzpatrick MP (Poplar & Limehouse), with Joan Ruddock MP (Lewisham Deptford) as vice chair.
The other seven MPs endorsing Oona are: Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), Stephen Timms (East Ham), Margaret Hodge (Barking), Mike Gapes (Ilford South), Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East), Stella Creasy (Walthamstow), Andy Love (Edmonton).
Jim Fitzpatrick said:
Today, along with many of our MP colleagues from London, we will announce our endorsement and support of Oona King to be Labour’s candidate for the 2012 Mayoral elections.
Like me they are convinced that her offer to London would represent a future where our prosperity and our incredible culture is shared and enjoyed by all; a less stressful place to live and work; and a city where in tough times communities are empowered to come together rather than drift apart.
The campaign says more endorsements will be announced in coming days.
But Oona King’s campaign has been criticised for being short on policy detail and ideas.
To counter that she released policy proposals on housing, saying:
- She would create a compulsory register for all private sector landlords in order to set minimum housing standards.
- She would re-introduce the requirement to ensure that of all new developments, 50 per cent of the new homes built will be social housing.
Three years on, Israel’s blockade is still illegal
Israel’s apologists in Britain, aware that they’re fighting a losing battle, haven’t got many options left when it comes to making excuses.
With renewed focus on the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, they have opted for a familiar refrain: it’s all about self-defence.
Thus the Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre (BICOM) claim that “the source of Israel’s policies on limiting access and trade to the Gaza Strip” is “the security threat” posed by Hamas. The Zionist Federation has described the blockade as “a mechanism that is used successfully by Israel to stop weapons being imported into Gaza”, while The Board of Deputies of British Jews has also sought to justify the blockade as being about security.
Except it’s not – and it’s illegal.
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Did New Labour suffer from a contradiction in policy ideas?
contribution by Alex Meikle
The demise of the New Labour government has perhaps witnessed the dawning of the end of an era in British politics.
That era has been characterised by the attempt to systematically advance policies promoting social liberalism and economic conservatism simultaneously.
Over the past 20 years, but particularly marked since Labour took power in 1997, a liberal left agenda or value base has predominated in the social and cultural sphere, while a right-wing agenda has predominated in the economic sphere.
continue reading… »
Labour candidates join Ed-M on Living Wage
All five Labour leadership candidates have affirmed their support of the Living Wage campaign an in interview with Unions Together.
They were asked whether they supported it and what they would do practically to implement it.
They answered:
Diane Abbott
I would support introducing legislation to ensure that government tenders are not able to be taken up by contractors who are not prepared to pay a living wage to their staff.
Ed Balls
Our plan must be to:
- Raise the National Minimum Wage every year at least in line with average earnings.
- Follow Ken Livingstone’s example by having the Low Pay Commission properly assess the level of a Living Wage.
- Reflect different family circumstances through child benefit and tax credits. We cannot base a living wage on a 1950s notion of the family.
- Beef up enforcement – I want to see local council and tax inspectors empowered to blow the whistle on employers who evade the legal minimum. There is a strong case for a unified Employment Inspectorate.
- Strengthen laws on agency and posted workers to combat undercutting.
- Ensure low paid workers have access to trade union organisation if they so wish.
- And ensure the public sector leads the way on fair pay, both directly and through procurement.
Andy Burnham
Under my leadership, introducing a living wage in the public and private sectors will be a priority. But first we’ve got to practice what we preach. We should work towards a requirement in government contracts that only those companies paying at the agreed level, region by region, should be entitled to bid. As resources allow, we should ensure that those employed in government departments also receive a living wage.
…
It is important that it is set at the right level. … We must also remember the importance of policing and enforcing the minimum wage. … Finally, I will set up a scheme, where good employers who were paying at the level of a living wage would receive accreditation and gain the recognition of being a good employer with positive employment practice.
David Miliband
I think we should pursue this goal through the government becoming a living wage employer – and committing to only doing business with contractors who pay a living wage. This would set a bar and show the way for the private sector – where campaigns involving community groups and trade unions have already made a big difference.
Ed Miliband
When in government I pushed to make Whitehall a Living Wage employer – a commitment that appeared in our manifesto. When in government again we need to throw its entire weight behind the campaign, by supporting councils who adopt it, broadening the range of public sector workers who get it and by moving towards a procurement process that supports living wage employers bidding for external contracts.
Although it has been a centre-piece of the Ed Miliband campaign, it looks like Ed Balls has the more detailed and constructive answer.
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» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
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