To grow the economy, companies must pay higher wages

by Guest    
May 12, 2011 at 11:08 am

contribution by Brendan Barber

I was at the O2 in Greenwich yesterday, speaking to the Insitute of Directors (IoD) annual convention. I always admire the way the IoD doesn’t pussy-foot around. They’re very clear that they don’t just back the spending cuts, but want more of them – and want them more quickly.

But in their desire to see the deficit tackled in this way, they should be very careful what they’re wishing for. The deep and rapid spending cuts are not just slicing away at the public sector, but doing big damage to the private sector too.
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Bin Laden: the ethics of state assassination

by Dave Osler    
May 12, 2011 at 11:00 am

Both Johann Hari and I were in the United States when the news broke that Osama bin Laden had finally obtained his wish to secure shaheed status. The well-known Independent columnist tells of mingling with jubilant crowds in New York’s Times Square.

This obscure blogger can confirm that the announcement detracted attention from the country and western band I was watching in Nashville for several seconds, with a perceptible murmur of approval after the headline flashed up on the big screen television over the bar.

It is impossible to know which scene most typified the national mood, but few Americans can have been unduly distraught. After all, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.
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Two reason the Tory ‘growth strategy’ is likely to hurt

by Left Outside    
May 12, 2011 at 9:02 am

Sunny’s initial reaction to the Bank of England May Inflation Report is logical, the Tories ‘growth strategy’ isn’t working because:

…there isn’t much demand or household confidence in our economy. And why might that be? Thanks to Osborne’s massive spending cuts.

I’m cool enough to have just watched a recording of press conference.
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Tory Council wants to charge kids to play

by Newswire    
May 12, 2011 at 8:30 am

Wandsworth’s Conservative Council has proposed to pilot a weekend fee of £2.50 per child at Battersea Park adventure playground.

The council, which is looking to raise revenues and make crippling cuts across its public services, says that the park has high maintenance charges.

It now wants to recoup those costs by charging kids to play.

If this pilot is successful the Director of Children’s Services will extend the charges to weekdays in the school holidays.

The council says that during the pilot, charges will not be levied on weekdays during school holidays, or after school hours during term time.

In a statement issued today, Ken Livingstone said

Only the Conservative Party could consider charging kids to play. I believe London’s parks and playgrounds should be free for London’s families and I am deeply concerned at this attempt by the Conservatives to turn publicly funded playgrounds into areas which only the rich and privileged can enjoy.

This appalling proposal will reinforce fears that the outgoing leader of Wandsworth Council, Eddie Lister is set to drive through a hard-right agenda at City Hall in his new role as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff.

The leader of Wandsworth Council, Eddie Lister, was recently appointed Chief of Staff by London Mayor Boris Johnson

A petition calling for the Wandsworth council to abandon the proposals is here

Update:

In a debate on BBC London Radio on today, the council admitted the proposal wouldn’t actually raise more money. Left Foot Forward got the transcript.

Conservative cabinet member for Education and Children’s Services Kathy Tracey said:

[It is] not budget saving, just a pilot to see if it affects usage.
…
We have lowest rates in country – we have three adventure playgrounds and one of only authorities that do, we have invested £3 million in parks and playgrounds, battersea park has 3m visitors a year.

Unbelievable. It’s just to test if the cost affects usage.

Pushing for the Living Wage, shareholder-activist style

by Guest    
May 11, 2011 at 4:58 pm

contribution by Suitpossum

Last week Boris Johnson announced the new Living Wage to be £8.30 for London. The Living Wage campaign is now its tenth year, but progress remains slow.

One way to speed up the campaign is through shareholder activism, buying a share and attending the annual general meeting of a company to raise the issue. This is exactly what I did this week.
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Do Libdems support NHS Bill? Not really..

by Sunny Hundal    
May 11, 2011 at 2:55 pm

Department of Health statistics today reveal that waiting times of over 6 weeks for any one of the 15 key tests was 10,800 at the end of March 2011.

This is an increase of 2,800 from February 2011, and an increase of 7,000 from March 2010. Still think the cuts aren’t affecting front-line services?

Meanwhile, how much Libdem support is there for the NHS Bill? And should we even be focusing once again on their ‘betrayal’?

The myth is that the Libdems have been offering full-throated support of the NHS Bill.

But a reading of their votes and presence in Parliament betrays otherwise. And this does not bode well for Lansley.

Revolts.co.uk offer this reading:

Yesterday saw a Labour Opposition Day debate on the future of the NHS – at the end of which no Liberal Democrat MP voted in support of the Labour motion.

But dig a little deeper, and you can see signs of the Lib Dem doubts about the government’s policy for the NHS. Andrew George, who abstained on the Second Reading of the Health Bill on 31 January, cast a deliberate abstention last night by voting in both lobbies. And there is also a question mark over the large number of missing Liberal Democrat MPs. Dr John Pugh, a long-term critic of the Bill, spoke in the preceding debate against the legislation, but was then nowhere to be seen in either division lobby.

In total, there were 23 missing Lib Dems last night, of whom four were members of the Government (including the Deputy Prime Minister). So that leaves 19 missing Lib Dem backbenchers. We doubt all 19 had been given the night off.

And contrast last night’s limp turnout of 33 Members with the 48 Lib Dem MPs who enthusiastically voted in favour of the Second Reading of the Health Bill on 31 January. The two votes aren’t directly comparable but mustering fewer than six in ten of your parliamentary party in support of a key plank of Coalition policy hardly represents a full bill of health.

If Labour is able to deftly exploit this deep Libdem unease over the NHS Bill, it could jeopardise Lansley and Cameron, and block the bill.

But it requires some careful footwork from Ed Miliband.

UKuncut to target banks to protest NHS cuts

by Newswire    
May 11, 2011 at 1:35 pm

UK Uncut, the anti-austerity action group, is rallying activists to transform banks nationwide into hospitals, operating theatres and GPs surgeries, to demand that government focus on banking reform than NHS cuts.

The day of action – on May 28th – will take place under the banner ‘UK Uncut: Emergency Operation’ and will draw attention to the annual estimated £100bn/year state subsidy to financial services.

Despite a pre-election promise by David Cameron to ‘cut the deficit, not the NHS’, 50,000 NHS jobs will be lost over the next five years including thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives in a £20bn ‘efficiency drive’.

The Uncut movement has also spead across the world, with actions taking place in the United States and Portugal in recent weeks.

“The government should be cutting subsidies to banks, not the NHS and other essential public services. The £100bn claimed in benefits by banks each year could pay for the entire NHS budget,” said UK Uncut supporter Sophie Healey.

From a press release

When will Tories admit their ‘growth strategy’ isn’t working?

by Sunny Hundal    
May 11, 2011 at 1:10 pm

The political media has largely ignored the Bank of England report today but its sentiment is stark, and illustrates how badly Osborne is getting it wrong.

The BoE has cut its growth forecasts for the UK economy again, and says the short-term outlook has deteriorated. As we’ve been saying here for months, that means Osborne’s “growth strategy” is failing miserably. And why…?
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1000s to march today against disability cuts

by Newswire    
May 11, 2011 at 10:19 am

Today thousands of disabled people, those with long-term conditions, carers and their friends and family will be marching on Parliament to send the Government a clear message – stop the cuts to support which is essential to our everyday lives.

They will then go into Parliament to meet their MPs and tell them why this support is vital for us and ask what they are going to do to stop the cuts.

Follow all the action on Twitter by searching for #hardesthit. Also see the Hardest Hit website.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that disabled people are using the courts to challenge multimillion-pound spending cuts that slash vital support services.

In a judicial review brought by the families of four severely disabled people which is being keenly followed by the caring community, a judge ruled last month that Birmingham city council’s plans to limit social care for disabled people are unlawful.
..
In a similar action in Lancashire, a disabled woman and the parents of two disabled children, boy A and boy D, have launched high court proceedings against their local council. The woman is challenging cuts to adult social care and possible cuts to her own care package.

The authority must save £179m in the next three years, with a significant amount coming from its care budget. It does not accept criticisms of its budget decision.

Today, the Hardest Hit coalition intends to bring Westminster to a standstill to call on the Government to:

- Scrap plans to cut Disability Living Allowance, a vital benefit that enables disabled people to live independently.

- Make sure Employment and Support Allowance, which replaces Incapacity Benefit, has a fair and effective assessment process, does its job and supports disabled people.

- Stop cuts to services that are essential to disabled people’s quality of life, such as day care, transport and respite care services.

Plan for today’s march
1.30am onwards: Campaigners gather on Victoria Embankment by Horseguards Avenue.

12-12.30pm: Rally on Victoria Embankment. Speakers include disabled people, MPs and Jane Asher.

12.30pm-1.30pm: March – from Victoria Embankment, along Parliament Square and Millbank, finishing at Dean Stanley Street.

1.30pm-5.30pm: Campaigners meeting their MPs in Westminster Hall.

More coverage
Hardest Hit website

Guardian live-blog by Amelia Gentleman

How effective are Osborne’s gimmicks? Just look at the NI Holiday

by Richard Exell    
May 11, 2011 at 9:56 am

Ed Balls was very effective yesterday, ridiculing George Osborne’s National Insurance “holiday.” This is one of the government’s new employment programmes, letting new businesses off paying National Insurance Contributions for the first 10 employees hired in their first year.

Back in 2009, the Conservative Party claimed that it would create 60,000 jobs in two years, but by the time of last year’s Budget this had risen to 400,000 businesses (and presumably more jobs) benefiting.
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