High pay – in football and banking – shouldn’t be about morality
contribution by Orlando Cantell
Just over a week ago, I read this short article by Ros Coward on The Guardian’s comment is free, asking why the furore over bankers’ bonuses is not also directed at footballers such as Wayne Rooney, who apparently earns £18m a year.
I read this with disdain: she considered high earning only as a moral issue and completely missed the fact that remuneration in banks spurred the risk-taking that caused the credit crunch.
As conservative commentators have rightly pointed out, the public only started to complain about bank bonuses after the crash (duh). The controversy over wages in football has been around much longer.
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Why Quantitative Easing doesn’t make common sense
contribution by John Clare
The Bank of England, I am told, is to pump £50bn into the economy in ‘quantitative easing’.
As far as I can understand – the basic idea is that the Bank of England gives the banks £50bn. This eases their situation, which in turn frees them up to lend the money to businesses.
In their turn, the theory goes, those businesses will invest and employ more people, who will spend more, and the economy gets going.
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An attack on the wind industry is an attack on UK jobs
contribution by Philip Pearson
Recession looms, unemployment touches a 17-year high. But 101 Tory MPs want David Cameron to shackle the UK’s wind industry, which now employs over 10,000 people.
Their call will feed the predominant anti-renewables line in some media. The MPs want cuts in “taxpayer subsidies” for onshore wind and stronger rights for planning objectors.
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Is there really not a shortage of jobs as the govt claims?
contribution by Anjum Klair
Yesterday, the minister for disabled people, Maria Miller, said there are no shortage of jobs and blamed unemployment on people’s unwillingness to apply for work.
Every month I report on the latest unemployment data, the number of people claiming JSA and the number of vacancies in each Local Authority.
The last set of data showed that there are as many as 20 people chasing the one vacancy in some areas, in Lewisham there are almost thirty five dole claimants chasing each vacancy.
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Releasing Lansley’s Risk Register is key to saving the NHS
contribution by Neil Foster
Almost year ago I wrote here how the huge mismatch in public trust levels meant the Government was always going to struggle to win support for its controversial NHS Bill.
We’ve seen a steady stream of groups representing health professional formally oppose the Bill, with the Royal College of GPs among the most recent and significant.
As Dr Hamish Meldrum of the British Medical Association has argued: “If the Prime Minister wants to put clinicians in control, he should listen to what they are saying – louder each day – and put this increasingly confused legislation out of its misery.”
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Why more academies will make education worse
contribution by Natacha Kennedy
It has become a media consensus that turning a school into an academy will automatically turn it into a more successful school, improve its results.
But a closer look at the figures, which the mainstream media has conspicuously failed to carry out, shows a very different story.
So let’s have a look at the reality.
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When ‘lad banter’ becomes encouragement to rape
contribution by Jem Bloomfield
The online magazine Uni Lad received a lot of attention yesterday after they published an article on seduction that “jokingly” suggested a majority of rapes go unreported made for “pretty good odds” if your date refused you sex.
When challenged on Twitter, they initially asked the person complaining if they were “a dyke”, before taking down the piece from their site and issuing a partial apology. They now have a full apology and took down the site.
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If you’re angry at the bankers, then move your money
contribution by Clare Coatman
In 2008 we were plunged into the worst recession in living memory, the direct result of a financial crisis caused by the reckless gambling of an irresponsible cartel of banks who thought they were too clever to fail.
Despite receiving the biggest taxpayer-funded bailout in history, nothing much has changed: banks continue to pour money into socially useless lending and risky speculation.
Move Your Money is a campaign that launched today to encourage individuals to transfer their money from HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Santander and Lloyds to ethical, local and mutual alternatives such as credit unions, ethical banks and building societies.
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Enough talk – five concrete ideas for a more responsible capitalism
contribution by Mike Morgan-Giles
A key political battleground now exists around the issue of creating a fairer system of capitalism. Ed Miliband initiated this agenda and now both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have said they want a move away from ‘crony capitalism’ to ‘responsible capitalism’.
However, at the first opportunity – on boardroom pay – the Government failed to take the required action (introduce worker representation at board level). What we need some strong ideas to make capitalism fairer – and here are five that can achieve this:
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How Scottish independence could spell the end of Trident
contribution by Kate Hudson
Alex Salmond’s announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence has set plenty of political hares running – not least in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The SNP’s opposition to the location of British nuclear weapons in Scotland is well-known, and it mirrors majority Scottish public opinion pretty accurately. MoD thoughts are now turning to the knotty problem: if Trident is kicked out of Scotland where will it go?
A new report released today spells out the options, as they have been considered over the decades. Frankly, the alternatives posed range from the alarming to the downright bizarre. And the potential costs involved would only add to the snowballing expense of Trident.
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» Why Quantitative Easing doesn’t make common sense
» Barclays was also bailed out – Diamond doesn’t deserve a bonus
» Ten myths about private rented housing
» Even on the left, morality has its limits
» The NHS bill could be a Waterloo moment for the govt
» Ken Livingstone and gay rights – it just isn’t an issue
» Abu Qatada deportation: what about our principles?
» New study shows a Robinhood tax would boost growth
» In defence of Sky News’ re-Tweeting ban
» Another reason to continue banker bashing
» An attack on the wind industry is an attack on UK jobs
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