How likely is it Britain will stagnate for the next decade?
At an event in central London today, the Resolution Foundation think-tank (which looks at the situation of middle to lower income worker), hosted President Obama’s advisor Jared Bernstein.
Along with other economists, they debated whether the UK can avoid the stagnation and economic decline of the US middle-class over the past decades.
In advance, the Resolution Foundation painted a ‘nightmare scenario’.
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‘Muslims more patriotic than average Britons’
A poll by the think-tank Demos has found that British Muslims feel a greater sense of national pride than the average UK citizen.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that while 79% of Britons agreed they were ‘proud to be a British citizen’, that rose to 83% for Muslims.
They were also significantly more optimistic: just 31% agreed that Britain’s best days were in the past, compared to an average of 45%.
The authors write:
This optimism in British Muslims is significant as – combined with their high score for pride in being British – it runs counter to a prevailing narrative about Muslim dissatisfaction with and in the UK.
Around half of the 2000 people polled agreed that Britain benefited from being a multicultural country.
The Demos report – A Place for Pride – argues that patriotism does not, and should not, come from either top-down narratives about Queen and country nor from so-called ‘progressive’ notions based on values.
They say:
Instead, modern British patriotism is founded in a profound, emotional connection to the everyday acts, manners and kindnesses that British people see in themselves.
This research also demonstrates, for the first time, the links between greater levels of patriotism and civic pride and pro-social attitudes and behaviours – those who love their country most are shown to volunteer more and to trust their neighbours more than those who are either ambivalent or ashamed about Britain.
You can download the report from here
In opposing Robinhood tax, Cameron wants to protect the City’s subsidy
The Robin Hood Tax is becoming the subject of much more heated debate: a sure sign that it is getting much closer to actual implementation.
The UK Government has ramped up the anti-Robin rhetoric, with the German Government fighting back. Some of the hyperbolic language was so similar that it was pretty clearly orchestrated.
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Poll finds unions far more trusted than govt on pensions
Trade unions were seven times more trusted than politicians on providing accurate information on pensions, a survey out today has found.
The extensive poll by Survation comes as Britain’s biggest unions gear up for the biggest strike in the country for a generation.
It found that TUs were in fact regarded as the most trusted body on whether public sector pensions were affordable, at 33% (a positive score of 4 or 5). Think-tanks came next, at 19%, while the media managed a measely figure of 13%. Politicians were trusted by 5% (excluding don’t knows).
Of those who expressed an opinion, 66% of people said a Pension was the most important benefit an employer can offer.
The poll will upset Westminster conventional wisdom that the government is winning the public relations battle against the unions.
» It also found that the public overwhlemingly believe politicians and company CEOs aren’t making enough sacrifices. 85% believe MPs are not doing enough; 86% cabinet ministers and 86% CEOs.
In contrast, only 9% thought nurses weren’t sharing the pain enough, 17% thought that of teachers and a similar number for refuse collectors.
» When asked what they felt was a reasonable pension for an employee who had worked for 25 years with a final salary of £25,000, 71% of people thought the figure should be between £10k and 20k a year. Under current public sector schemes such a person would receive around £10k a year.
» 74% felt the proposed changes to public sector pensions would make pensioner poverty worse. Only 5% thought it would improve matters.
The Survation survey was commissioned for Unite, the union.
The polling company is a member of the British Polling Council and has to abide by its rules.
Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation said:
This survey has uncovered a highly sceptical UK workforce feeling either worried, angry or helpless about potential negative pension changes and feel that perceived well off citizens are not pulling their weight in these difficult economic times.
The Survation data can be downloaded from here.
Not all good news however. A survey by YouGov yesterday found that 52% of people opposed public sector workers going on strike over, while 35% supported it.
Where have all the right-wing civil libertarians gone?
Remember the Tory MP David Davis? Remember when he spectacularly resigned from his seat and ran for the by-election again to make some noise about the attack on our civil liberties?
Anyone seen him lately? Has he left the country? I only ask because him and his fellow travellers on the right seem awfully quiet about the attack on our rights to protest these days.
The Indy reports today that ministers are looking to ban demonstrations aimed at the Olympics.
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Watch: Unions record song for #n30 strike
A group of workers from across the public services have come together to re-record classic song Let’s Work Together as a charity track to celebrate the public sector and raise money for today’s pensioners.
The song, available to download from itunes and amazon, will be launched on Monday 21 November and will chart on Sunday 27 November – the week of the TUC day of action.
The Workers are a 14-strong group, brought together by the TUC, which includes a firefighter, probation officers, a teacher and health service staff including a nurse, midwives and a physiotherapist.
They say:
Let’s Work Together is a classic song that captures the spirit of the public sector and the determination of its workforce to defend it. The record was created and produced by Jeff Chegwin and Nick Patrick – the hit production team behind the million-selling group The Soldiers.
Watch
A major part of the sale price, equivalent to about 40p out of the 99p cost in most outlets, will be donated by the TUC to Age UK to show support for today’s pensioners.
The song is a bit cheesy, obviously, but the video is quite feel-good.
Website: www.theworkers.org.uk/
“I’m not disappointed by President Obama”
This video is doing the rounds of the US blogosphere. I thought it was pretty good and worth a discussion.
Of course, I plan to go out to the US and campaign for Obama again late next year.
Why is Boris doing nothing about bicycle deaths?
“If Transport for London’s roads were a factory it would have been closed down with this number of deaths and accidents.” So said Hampstead resident Tom Kearney at a Road Safety hearing last week.
We were treated to the spectacle of otherwise straightlaced councillors laying into the powers that be.
Some even suggested TfL executives should be charged with corporate manslaughter for their alleged negligence.
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Egyptian military use #OWS brutality to justify own crackdown
Think that comparisons between crackdown on right to protest in Egypt are not comparable to USA and UK?
Think again. An increasing number of military figures in Egypt are now citing police brutality at #OccupyWallStreet protesters as justification for their own actions.
Earlier today, @SubMedina tweeted this:
So Egyptian State TV is saying SCAF military police emulates US police actions against OWS? The circle is full and spinning.
And then later in the day, this from @Arabist:
Just heard felool on State TV say, “In the West they suppress protests, so why can’t we do it here?” #OWS #tahrir
The idea that people in Egypt are completely divorced from what’s happening in the US simply doesn’t stand up any more.
Yesterday, this video of police casually spraying helpless students with pepper spray (which is a chemical weapon) went viral.
No wonder Egyptian generals feel emboldened to crack down at dissenters at home.
How ATOS could be put in charge of GP ‘sick notes’
So the same GPs who are to be entrusted with the £80bn NHS budget from April 2013 may be stripped of their role in telling people whether they are too sick to work or not:
A new body could decide whether people are fit to work, according to drafts of the Government’s Independent Review into Sickness Absence. Employers would be able to ask the assessment panel, rather than GPs, to make independent decisions.
…
It is likely to say that family doctors can be too quick to sign people off on sick leave because there is no incentive for them to help people stay inwork.
“No incentive,” eh?
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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