Unite back UKuncut’s NHS ‘Block the bridge’

by Newswire    
October 3, 2011 at 10:58 am

Unite the union yesterday publically declared its support for UKuncut’s ‘Block the bridge’ action this Sunday for the NHS.

Hundreds of people are expected to block Westminster Bridge on Sunday 9th to symbolically block the bill from getting from Parliament to hospitals.

On 11 October, the government’s blueprint to destroy the NHS – the Health and Social Care bill – moves to the House of Lords.

The action will be an attempt to convince the Lords to vote down the bill.

They say: “Yes, it will be disruptive. Yes, it will stop the traffic. But it is an emergency and everybody must shout as loud as they can.”

Get to the middle of Westminster Bridge shortly before 13:00. When Big Ben strikes one, pick one of the tactics below and help block the bridge:

Bring some fake blood and play dead
Bring hospital radio to the bridge with some music and comedy
Bring a nurse for a resuscitation skill-share
Dress up in scrubs and perform an operation
Enjoy a picnic overlooking parliament
Share stories about the NHS
Invite a friend from across the pond to describe the reality of a privatised healthcare system
Invite older generations to describe a time before universal healthcare

More details on the UKuncut site.

100 groups urge BMJ & RCN to drop ATOS

by Newswire    
October 3, 2011 at 9:50 am

Over one hundred organisations, doctors, nurses and prominent campaigners have signed a letter to the British Medical Journal Group, calling on them to end all business relationships with the conteroversial disability and health testing firm Atos Healthcare.

The signatories urge the BMJ to ban Atos Healthcare from their upcoming Careers Fair and to refuse to advertise any more vacancies for the company.

Campaigners are angry at Atos Healthcare’s involvement in the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which involves sick and disabled benefit claimants in a computer-based testing regime, called ‘callous and cruel’.

Campaigners allege that thousands of people, some with terminal or life-threatening conditions, have been found fit for work and their sickness benefits stopped or refused.

The letter says that Atos ‘kills’ and that medical professionals who lend it credibility give it a ‘licence to kill’.

Signatories include:
Dr Ron Singer, president of the Medical Practitioners’ Union
Dr Jillian Creasy, a Sheffield GP who recently tabled a motion calling on Atos to be removed from the WCA
Dr Felicity de Zulueta, Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Nushra Mansuri, Professional Officer at the British Association of Social Workers

Others include the MP John McDonnell, prominent health and social care professionals and academics, disability organisations, claimant and anti-poverty groups, branches of unions, including PCS which represents DWP and tax staff, and anti-cuts campaigners.

A demonstration was held outside the BMJ Recruitment Fair on Friday 30th September as part of the National Day of Action Against Atos.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Five ways train fares could be reduced for ordinary people

by Guest    
October 3, 2011 at 8:50 am

contribution by Richard Hebditch

In recent weeks, Ed Miliband has attacked high train fares as an example of constraints on the ‘squeezed middle’.

The British rail system has seen record numbers of travellers in recent years, with better punctuality and recorded satisfaction levels. But most of the public feel they’re being ripped off when they travel by train.

So who’s to blame and what could change?
continue reading… »

Conservatives looking to end rights for Earthlings

by Guest    
October 2, 2011 at 3:40 pm

contribution by Spacey

Theresa May has insisted that Conservatives must put an end to rights for humans if they want to fulfil their ambition of taking full control of Planet Earth.

The lizard-like creatures have been continually frustrated by the Human Rights Act and will look at the possibility of replacing it with something less focused on humans and rights.

The Home Secretary told the Sunday Telegraph “Humans must be enslaved to allow Conservatives to prosper.”
continue reading… »

Book tour pursues ideas of social change

by Newswire    
October 2, 2011 at 12:50 pm

Radical activist, author and occasional Liberal Conspiracy contributor Tim Gee is to embark on a twenty three date speaking tour in connection with his upcoming book Counterpower: Making Change Happen.

His work seeks to get to the root of how change happens by taking an in-depth look at the strategies and tactics that have contributed to the success (or otherwise) of some of the most prominent movements for change, from India’s struggle against colonialism to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

He concludes that any campaign is winnable in theory, but only if movements understand and embrace Counterpower – the ability of the ‘have-nots’ to resist the power of the ‘haves’.

The book has won plaudits from activists across movements, with endorsers including human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, nonviolence theorist Gene Sharp, US ‘Peace Mom’ Cindy Sheehan, CND Vice-President Bruce Kent and blogger Laurie Penny.

More information about the book is available at www.newint.org/counterpower

A full list of tour dates
3 October, Friends House, Euston, London, 6pm-8pm,
8 October, Rebellious Media Conference, London, 2.15pm
10 October, Big Green Bookshop, Haringey, 7pm
15 October, Peace and Environment Centre, Brighton, 1pm
15 October, Quaker Meeting House, Brighton, 3pm
16 October, Quaker Meeting House, Hastings (TBC)
20 October, Stoke Newington Bookshop, London, 8pm
22 October, Anarchist Bookfair, Queen Mary’s University of London, 4pm
26 October, Housmans Bookshop, London, 7pm
29 October, CAAT Conference, London, 2pm
30 October, Radical Bookfair, Edinburgh, 4pm
31 October, University Chaplaincy, Edinburgh, 7pm
12 November, Shared Planet, Oxford Town Hall, 3pm
16 November, Working Class Movement Library, Salford, 2pm
21 November, Leeds University Activism and Social Change MA, time TBC
22 November, Bradford University Peace Studies Lecture, 2pm
24 November, Chapel Allerton Library/Radish Bookshop, 7pm
26 November, Leeds Summat, Leeds University Union, 11am – 5pm
29 November, People’s Bookshop, Durham, 7pm
30 November, News from Nowhere, Liverpool, 7pm
4 December, St Albans Quaker Meeting House, 12 noon
5 December, Pogo Café, Hackney, London, 7pm
7 December, Westminster Quaker Meeting House, 7pm

A day at the dole office: does aspiration kill work prospects?

by Guest    
October 2, 2011 at 12:20 pm

contribution by James Bloodworth

I suspect the chorus of ‘captains of industry’ gracing the news are perfectly aware that Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday was not a move to the left. More than likely the attempt to define it as such has the purpose of encouraging the Labour leader, running scared of the media echo-chamber, to propose a set of capital-friendly policies more to their own liking.

Rather than the British people being intrinsically conservative, it has often been the ability of the right to get the Labour Party on to the back foot that has in the past allowed it to define the political landscape so effectively.
continue reading… »

Voters say Labour hasn’t moved on from Blair era enough

by Sunny Hundal    
October 2, 2011 at 9:30 am

Saying “sorry” was a key part of the Labour party strategy last week at conference. Ed Balls admitted Labour made a few mistakes in the past, and Ed Miliband even went as far as admitting Labour should not have opposed the right for people to buy their own homes during Thatcher’s era.

So far so good. But is it enough? Some within the party, most notably John Prescott, say the party has apologised enough and its time to move on. Others are wary of Ed Miliband distancing himself too much from the Tony Blair era.

But voters aren’t convinced yet.
continue reading… »

Govt to extend length of time employers can treat workers like shit

by Guest    
October 1, 2011 at 6:24 pm

contribution by Spacey

Chancellor George Osborne is to announce plans to extend the length of time that employers can treat workers like shit in a bid to help employers who like treating Workers like shit.

He is expected to reveal details to a baying mob at the Conservative party conference on Sunday.

Mr Osborne told the Sun: “We talk a lot about trade union rights – but what about the right of the unemployed person to be given a shot at being treated like worthless scum in the workplace and not just the Job Centre?
continue reading… »

Watch: Warren Buffett – ‘rich won class warfare’

by Sunny Hundal    
October 1, 2011 at 4:21 pm

Yesterday morning the American billionaire Warren Buffett was interviewed on the finance channel CNBC.

Here’s how part of the exchange went:

QUESTIONER: Are you happy seeing your suggestion, this new Buffett Rule, becoming more of a basis of a political battle that really has turned into class warfare?

BUFFETT: Actually, there’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class has won. We’re the ones that have gotten our tax rates reduced dramatically.

If you look at the 400 highest taxpayers in the United States in 1992, the first year for figures, they averaged about $40 million of [income] per person. In the most recent year, they were $227 million per person — five for one. During that period, their taxes went down from 29 percent to 21 percent of income. So, if there’s class warfare, the rich class has won.

Wow. Warren Buffett is now echoing what many on the left have been saying for years.
(via The Plum Line)

Watch

Disabled threaten 2012 Paralympics boycott

by Newswire    
October 1, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Campaigners are threatening a boycott of next year’s Paralympic Games because of links between the International Paralympic Committee and a company that tests disabled people’s “fitness to work”.

Last night Channel 4 covered the protests against ATOS and the growing campaign to boycott next year’s Paralympics.

ATOS has been the target of continuing protests by disabled people for the way it tests them for benefits.

The campaigners told Channel 4 News the company is running a flawed process to assess disabled people’s rights to benefits and is therefore an inappropriate sponsor of the Paralympic Games.

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