Ken Livingstone and gay rights – it just isn’t an issue
There was “outrage” in the expected quarters yesterday evening about this from a Jemima Khan interview with Ken Livingstone:
Well, the Labour ones have all come out . . . As soon as Blair got in, if you came out as lesbian or gay you immediately got a job. It was wonderful . . . you just knew the Tory party was riddled with it like everywhere else is.
Now “riddled” does jump out from the page as an odd word to use, with its connotation of disease. But the key point is that Livingstone didn’t put it in a page – he said it in an interview.
continue reading… »
Cameron confusion on tick boxes and nurses
So Cameron has announced to great fanfare that he’s going to rid nursing of its “stifling bureaucracy”, and that nurses should do hourly rounds to improve patient care.
Yeah, that’ll work out well!
Below is just one example of one of the forms a nurse will have to fill in every hour for every patient in her/his care, instead of doing the caring. Note the 152 boxes per patient per day.
And here’s one (see final page) from a pilot study at Whipps Cross Hospital. Progress.
It’s only got 144 boxes per patient per day.
Labour slowly getting it right on Eurozone calamity
It looks like Ed Balls is getting Labour’s approach on Europe right, in an an interview for the FT today:
Mr Balls said the summit had not addressed the crucial role of the ECB to head off the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. He also believes that European leaders – not just David Cameron – must move away from collective austerity and focus on growth.
This position is close to what I suggested yesterday:
continue reading… »
The Rioters were more politically sophisticated than many assumed
The initial releases from the Reading the Riots analysis suggests that what I was hearing from my own conversations with people was reflective of the wider picture:
The idea that more than half of those responsible for riots should blame a failure of moral conscience might seem contradictory – but it accords with hundreds of interviews in which rioters expressed regret, concern or disappointment at what they saw going on around them. More interestingly, they revealed how the rioting crowd would – at times – exercise some degree of moral restraint.
Whatever the bleakness of the picture portrayed by the research, this is something to hang on to.
continue reading… »
After the national strike: do unions need to shift tactics?
Yesterday I didn’t go on a march. Instead, in semi-journalist mode, I went round pickets in my area, having a bit of chat with those who were left, offering a tenner for the strike fund. Those left behind reported that most had gone off to the marches and rallies, some to Wigan, some to Liverpool.
They know that the battle lines have now been drawn; if we lose this battle, then we’re likely to lose the war.
The overall impression I took from yesterday is that we may be getting our tactics very wrong for the war of attrition to come, and that we need to pay attention now to the basics of strike organisaton.
continue reading… »
Seven questions Labour could ask about Osborne’s new spending
As I’ve already set out, I’m not averse to major infrastructure projects being brought forward through the use of pension funds, as is now being announced by the government.
The excellent Jim Pickard of the FT points out that Australian and Canadian pension funds put 8-15% of their funds respectively into infrastructure investments, while in the UK it’s only 1%.
But I have increasing doubts whether this is anything more than a delaying tactic while the government tries to figure out how to keep capital investment ‘off balance sheet’ at all costs. If I were on the Labour frontbenches tomorrow, I’d be looking to ask the following questions.
continue reading… »
Want to see road safety improved? Here’s how you can help
When I was a kid, my father was killed as he rode home from work. He was hit by a lorry turning left. The driver didn’t see him in his blind spot. The lives of my family, but also that of the driver’s family, were changed for the worse in a split second.
32 years on, a 10 minute bill sponsored by Alan Beith MP goes to its second reading on Friday 25th November.
The Road Safety Act 2011, which you can help support, would:
continue reading… »
‘Growth fund’ awards a million to dormant company linked to Michael Heseltine
This is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism from the How Do team, a website covering the North West media industry.
It appears that the government’s Regional Growth Fund has awarded more than a million pounds in funding (that’s the minimum grant level) to Listen Media Company Ltd, which is…
continue reading… »
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?
continue reading… »
Top 10 terrible Tory councils of the past 10 weeks
There are extra points for hypocrisy-while-being-evil-or-stupid, and extra style points for crass stupidity beyond human reason…. So without further do:
10. Kensington and Chelsea. K&C make it in at number 10 with the news that they’ve misused millions of pounds on consultancy contracts.
continue reading… »
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» 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
|
14 Comments 17 Comments 26 Comments 42 Comments 21 Comments 13 Comments 49 Comments 11 Comments 78 Comments 5 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » ROFLMFAO posted on Fabians change policy on unpaid internships » Cherub posted on High pay - in football and banking - shouldn't be about morality » jojo posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » Sun journos nicked in hack enquiry shocker « andrew henley posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » Daniel Factor posted on High pay - in football and banking - shouldn't be about morality » UKFI Not FFP posted on High pay - in football and banking - shouldn't be about morality » Frances_coppola posted on Why Quantitative Easing doesn't make common sense » Spike1138 posted on Abu Qatada deportation: what about our principles? » Bren Cook posted on New study shows a Robinhood tax would boost growth » Frances_coppola posted on Why Quantitative Easing doesn't make common sense » Tricia McDaid posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » Edward Buxton posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » Rich posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » ll_bazwaldo posted on Paediatricians Assoc. members slams NHS bill » ll_bazwaldo posted on Paediatricians Assoc. members slams NHS bill |
