tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62549610191099722802024-03-13T07:07:13.887-07:00RAP (Rants About Politics)My Name is Lee and these are my rants about politics and stuff...stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-83561609585079576562018-01-01T06:55:00.000-08:002018-01-01T12:33:55.296-08:00My review of 2017 and what I hope for in this coming year.<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">A late to the party 2017 review. Was thinking hard of what to say hence the lateness of this.</span></div>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Firstly I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. Like last year, i spent it with my best mate and my brother playing card games and going up pole hill in Chingford to watch the fireworks at midnight. Didn't get to bed till 5 this morning and had a great evening.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">In terms of 2017, a fair bit has happened to me. As ever with me the personal and political are quite interchangeable so apologies for those non-politically minded friends reading this.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">The year started off fairly quiet for me up until about March when I went to the Global Greens Congress in Liverpool which was really inspiring as I met fellow Green Party members around the world.</span></div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Of course we had the snap general election which was a surprise for us all. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was unable to get involved much with campaigning. However I did manage to get down to Bristol to help out Molly Scot Cato's campaign there. That was a really enjoyable weekend and it was a really exciting campaign to be part as there seemed to be a really good chance the Green Party would get a second MP elected. Sadly this didn't prove to be the case in the end.</span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">I was proud to play my part in forming an electoral alliance locally with a Labour MP in order to push for a fairer voting system. Even if the national strategy was a bit all over the place, I am really proud of fellow Greens throughout the UK putting country before party political gain in order to push for a fairer voting system and to stop the Tories getting a big majority in the election. And it worked. There was surprisingly a hung parliament and we played our part in making that happen. We may have lost a lot of votes but we kept Caroline Lucas in parliament with an increased majority and gained a lot of respect from people outside the party. To my friends in the Labour Party that will read this, I hope you acknowledge the part us Greens played in helping stop the Tories from getting a majority of seats.</span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">The reason I was sadly unable to help as much as I'd like in the general election campaign is that I had a really good holiday visiting my brother in Vietnam. Even though I've personally been there before, It was great experiencing the food and culture again with Joel and doing new things like rowing down the Mekong Delta. It was a much needed holiday and one that I will certainly remember.</span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Back to politics, this is not something I admitted to many people but I did briefly after the general election result really consider my position in the Green Party and whether it was best to pursue my activism somewhere else. However, after getting some really good advice, I decided to stick it out in the Greens as I still believe we offer the best long-term solutions for the country despite the Labour Party becoming more progressive with what they were offering. I also believe that the local Labour Council have made many mistakes and need to be held to account.</span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">This brings me personally to the last few months of 2017 which have been a lot busier for me . After the summer of soul searching, my passion for Green politics has been reignited and I've started to lead a really exciting and productive local election campaign for next year's local elections and just want to thank everyone that has helped, whether financially, doing data entry, coming up with ideas for campaigns, leafleting, canvassing, running stalls. You've all been great.</span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Unfortunately given the amount of time and energy this is taking, I have had to give up my role on the Green Party Trade Union Group as well as leaving my Trade Union Unite. Although i do still wholeheartedly support the Trade Union movement, I have to prioritise this really important election coming up. I wish my friends and colleagues in the Trade Union movement good luck in continuing the fight and to improve workers rights and will do what I can to help with this.</span></div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;">
<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="14" data-removefontsize="true" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Of course I can't really ignore the bigger picture of what has happened in this last year. In his first year as President, Trump has almost started a war with North Korea, had corruption, resignations and scandals in his administration. He has been trying to ban Muslims from coming to America, albeit with some inspiring resistance to this and of course who can forget his personal war on media outlets that criticise him like CNN. He even suggested revoking their licences to run as outlets. That is frightening that he is trying to silence criticism of him. He has also consistently denied global warming, has done nothing to stop the ever increasing gun violence in the US, pushed through tax cuts for the wealthiest and happily retweeted and apologised for fascists in his own country as well as the UK.</span></div>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">We've also had an ongoing refugee crisis worldwide, genocide in Myanmar and somewhat violent political upheaval in Venezuela as well as the crisis between Catalan and the rest of Spain and many other things happening around the world. We mustn't forget our fellow citizens worldwide that are suffering in these countries.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">We have also seen a sexual abuse scandal with hollywood celebrities and UK politicians but the widespread condemnation and bravery of the victims speaking out is hopefully going to change things.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">The good news worldwide is that there is fightback against fascism. Whether it is the worldwide protests against Trump, or the rise of the far-right in France and Holland being halted.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Back in the UK we had the disaster of the fire in Grenfell tower. A block of flats that was neglected for years and shows the contempt politicians have for the poorest in our society where they refuse to make homes fit for human habitation. The response from people in the community trying to fight for justice for those who suffered at Grenfell has been inspiring to see so hopefully we will see justice and homes across the UK made safer to stop this happening again.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;"><br></span></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">In other developments for the UK this year, the Brexit negotiations seem to be all over the place, although there has been some small progress. There is still a long way to go but it is good that MPs will lawfully have the final say over the Brexit deal. </span></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Sadly homelessness has been steadily rising in the UK and the NHS and other public services continue to suffer the unnecessary austerity being imposed on them. However the general election result earlier this year shows that maybe there is some hope of a better future for all of us and it is possible that we could well have a change of government by the end of 2018. Watch this space. </span>
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Also Despite what UK and US government's lack of action on Climate Change and the affects of Climate Change becoming more prevalent this year, we have seen a rise in renewable energy use in the UK as well as countries like China taking much more serious action.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">There is probably a lot I have missed out but I am hoping that things will get better in 2018 worldwide, in the UK and personally and I just want to thank everyone that supported me this year whether you are friends or family.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">On a personal level this coming year I am going to be working hard for a good result in the local elections in May, maybe even getting elected as a councillor myself. I am also excited about the prospect of having another nephew. I aim to progress professionally with my career, properly learn another language, hopefully go on holiday to Germany this year and just in general continue political activism to help make the world a better place locally, nationally and worldwide.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Also just on a more light-hearted note, I am genuinely excited at the prospect of a female Doctor Who despite the man-babies crying over it. I'm gutted that we are going to wait until September for the first episode of the new Doctor Who era.</span>
</div></div><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;">
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<div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 1px;"><div class="m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mf m_-4585801795992715990gmail-_1mj" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;">Anyway onwards and upwards. Fingers crossed for a great 2018 for all of us. </span>
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stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-52917869142143009712017-07-31T02:39:00.001-07:002017-07-31T02:39:16.992-07:00What to do about Brexit: For the first time in my life, I’m genuinely torn on an issue.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
the year since Britain voted to leave the EU, there appears to be three
prevailing narratives about what WE should do. Leave the EU and everything
associated with it i.e. the Customs Union, the Single Market and the Parliament.
Stay in the Single Market and/or Customs Union but leave everything else to do
with the EU and have a second referendum after we negotiate a deal with an
option of staying in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
political party I am a member of, the Green Party, was one of two parties
calling for a second referendum at the most recent general election. We even
voted on this at last conference and barring one or two of us it was
overwhelmingly voted for. I despaired at this because anyone that can briefly
research Green Party policy on the EU will see that we backed the initial
referendum. Nowhere in our policy did it say we would like a second referendum to
have a vote on the final Brexit deal reached. Yes party policy can change but
for me it just looked hypocritical and to my friends in the Green Party that
are vehemently defending this position, surely you can see that it is how it
would look to the outside world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since
the referendum, I have consistently argued against a second one. However as
someone that voted Remain, I do sympathise with the argument. In a Question Time
episode shortly after the referendum result, Ian Hislop made a very interesting
point that you don’t stop making an argument or stop standing by a political
position just because you lose a result. The opposition parties don’t stop
opposing a government if they lose a general election. They try to force the
government’s hand on certain issues and potentially push for a second election
before it officially should happen. Theresa May arrogantly called a general
election just two years after the previous one so there is a precedent for
having a second vote soon after a first vote on a political decision. Is that
ignoring the “will of the people” from 2015 though?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However
the difference is, the parties that called for a second referendum got less
than 10% of the vote at the 2017 general election and talking to voters on the
doorstep in London and Bristol during the election campaign, no one bought up
Brexit to me apart from one person. It seems to me that most voters I talked to
have moved past the referendum. I realise that this is a generalisation and it could
be different in other parts of the country. However it doesn’t appear that
there is a desire to have a second referendum even though a recent poll showed
that if there was a second one, remain would win. I can absolutely see why
people are arguing for this option. Whatever the temptation and logical
arguments in favour of a second referendum though, my gut instinct is against it.
I don’t think it is a battle that can be won. I also fear a public backlash in
the form of a low turnout at future elections, potential civil disobedience and
an even further drop in Green Party support because we backed the initial
referendum. Also what happens if Leave win that second referendum, is it
accepted? It should be but then why would you then stop fighting for what you
believe in? See it’s more complicated than people realise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Let’s go to one of the other options now.
Staying in the Single Market and/or Customs Union but leaving the political
aspect of the EU, namely the Council, Commission and EU Parliament.
Economically this makes sense. No Tariffs on goods traded and freedom for all
of us to work wherever we want in the EU at no extra cost via a Visa. Because
of the Customs Union, anything businesses want to sell around the EU have no
tarrifs on them and they can get through borders and ports quickly because
everyone in the EU has the same safety and regulation standards. This also
means consumers don’t have to pay an extra charge on buying things from the EU
as well. Someone told me that when they bought something from the US recently,
they had to pay a customs charge of £15 when they picked it up from the Post
Office. This was because it was outside the Customs Union. However if we wanted
to stay part of the Customs Union and/or Single Market, we’d have to abide by
the same rules we do now but not have any say over them as we currently do. So
whilst our economy could benefit, there would be a huge democratic deficit. One
of the reasons I voted remain was because I felt we could reform the
undemocratic aspects of the EU and enhance the power of the democratically
elected European Parliament. So this is why I am very sceptical of this option.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So the last option which a lot of
Conservatives and the Labour leadership support is to completely leave
everything to do with the EU and work out “tariff free access” to the Single
Market outside of it. Whilst I’m sure we could negotiate a deal with the EU, I
don’t think it would benefit us as much as being in the EU. I genuinely believe
there will be tariff costs unless we compromise and accept the four freedoms of
the Single Market which neither Labour or the Tories are likely to accept. Yes
this option respects the result and if we still had a close and friendly
relationship with the EU then that may quell some remain voters’ fears. However
economically we could be left worse off for years whilst we are working out a
trade deal with the EU and other countries separately (which would take the
best part of a decade as most trade deals do.). And even then I’m very
sceptical that any deals we make will be as good as the current arrangement we
have as part of the EU. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So all these options have merits and downsides
and there are no easy answers here hence why I said I’m genuinely torn. I envy
anyone that has a clear thought of what they think Britain’s future
relationship with the EU should be. I just see what the least bad option is
because there are serious difficulties with all of them. I’ve always been very
clear and principled about what I’ve believed. Whether it is on education,
healthcare, economic policy and yes I was clear about campaigning for Remain
during the referendum. Britain’s future relationship with the EU post referendum
is the most uncertain I’ve ever felt about any issue. It’s quite frustrating.
But I guess life is complicated and there aren’t always easy answers to things.
If anyone can convince me to enthusiastically support one of these options,
then please try. I don’t want to feel like this. You may think this blog is
pointless as there is no clear conclusion but for me it is hopefully voicing an
opinion about Brexit that many have but are too afraid to say. As in we just
don’t know and would rather avoid openly confronting the uncertainty for fear of
looking weak. I’m not an expert on the EU and yeah I may have got some facts
wrong. People may call me unprincipled and say I’m just trying to please
everyone with this. But you know what, it is ok sometimes to say the words I
don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-76004477219603806712017-04-25T03:29:00.002-07:002017-04-25T03:29:35.949-07:00Why Blair is wrong to suggest voting for pro-EU Tories<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="m-5747095958605496875s1">Yes I’m a Green Party
member so probably shouldn’t stick my nose in Labour Party business but when I
saw the suggestion from Tony Blair that people should consider backing some pro-EU Conservative MPs I have to admit, I did a double take. An ex-Labour Prime
Minister suggesting that people vote for a right wing party based on one issue?
Brexit is an important issue but is Blair so out of touch that he hasn't seen
the damage the Tories have done over the last 7 years? The slashing of our
public services and welfare state, which Blair's government actually boosted funding in. </span>How can he possibly
suggest supporting that? Whatever his views on Corbyn, surely he shouldn't ask
people to consider supporting the party that he fiercely fought three elections
against and won?</div>
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-converted-space">I agree with him that
leaving the EU is most likely going to damage our country in a lot of ways but
to suggest voting for any MP that wants to fight against a hard Brexit no
matter their party is incredibly one-dimensional and narrow minded. Even some
of his protégées such as Chuka Umunna have completely dismissed the idea.
Bizarrely he also said he would definitely be voting Labour himself. I’m sorry
but if he is voting for Labour then surely he should be saying others should as
well? As an ex-Labour Prime Minister, I also think he has a responsibility and
a duty to encourage others to vote for Labour and not give any hint or
suggestion that people should consider voting Tory. If he could stand as a candidate
under Michael Foot’s manifesto, then surely he can stomach campaigning for
Labour under Corbyn?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-converted-space">It’s interesting though how
we haven’t heard anything from Blair over what has happened domestically in
Britain over the duration of this current Tory government. However when it
comes to foreign affairs such as the EU and the middle-east he is very
opinionated. A few months after the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition formed, they
had a clear programme of government which included dismantling our welfare
state. When asked about them, Blair said at the time it was too early to tell about whether they were
a good government or not. One thinks that he may have secretly supported what
they were doing but didn’t want to openly say it. Considering it was the New
Labour government that introduced the Work Capability Assessments and the
Bedroom Tax in council housing, it wouldn’t surprise me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="m-5747095958605496875p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-converted-space">I would personally say do
not just vote for a party based on what their views on the EU are. Look at what
they’ll for the country overall. Of course what their plan in the EU
negotiations are, is important but it really isn’t the only issue. Look at our
NHS, education system, our public services and tell me could you really stomach
voting for a party that will continue to dismantle those things whilst giving
tax cuts to the richest just because a particular MP of theirs shares your
views on the EU? For me personally, I’ll
ignore Tony Blair’s advice. I'd rather not be a Turkey voting for Christmas.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-32594950827099209802017-03-06T05:42:00.000-08:002017-03-06T05:42:35.190-08:00Why I disagree with Jonathan Pie's comparison of trigger warnings and the ban of public swearing by Salford Council <div class="m5809706062865295791p1" style="background: white;">
<span class="m5809706062865295791s1"><span style="color: #222222;">Jonathan Pie/Tom
Walker is a fake news reporter/comedian. He is well known for his rants on how
the news is presented. In his latest videos he attacks the idea of trigger
warnings when tricky subjects are talked or written about. So his video starts
bemoaning the fact that Salford council have banned public swearing and local
citizens can be punished for doing so. Then he goes on to attack students on the
“liberal left” for what he calls “policing language”. He thinks that having
warnings on books at universities is “Orwellian”. Yes because I remember that
bit in 1984 when they talked about trigger warnings. Also interesting how he
accused left wing students of curtailing freedom when a recent report from
Amnesty came out and stated the UK citizens were the most watched in the world
in terms of surveillance and of course we have a Tory government.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="m5809706062865295791p1" style="background: white;">
<span class="m5809706062865295791s1"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="m5809706062865295791p1" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222;">For those that don’t know what “trigger warnings” are, I’ll
explain them. Essentially all they are is that before you speak or write about
something, you inform people that a certain subject will come up that could be traumatising.
If someone is writing an online blog for example or a Facebook post and put a
trigger warning beforehand, they’ll start with the letters TW followed by the
subject (i.e. sexism, racism, sexual abuse etc) because these kind of subjects
can be triggering for people, as in they’ll recall a time where they suffered one
of these things. It’s a way of taking someone’s feelings into account before
you write or speak about something. Hardly Orwellian. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="m5809706062865295791p1" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">According
to Jonathan Pie “no one has a right to not be offended”. That’s correct but
free speech always comes with consequences. Maybe not lawfully but words can
hurt and the human mind is complex and people are affected by words that are
said. Anyone like myself that suffered verbal bullying at school every day will
understand this. To be fair, Jonathan does state that hurling abuse at someone
isn’t acceptable. However bullying isn’t always openly aggressive but it can be
subtle and damaging over time as the form of bullying I received was. Words
matter. That’s the reality. There is a reason that most of us curtail our
language and do not use certain racist, sexist or homophobic slurs. Because we
know how awful those words are and that they can be used in a Hate Crime.</span>
T<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">he thing
is, we all vary our language depending on the situation we find ourselves in.
For example in your workplace, you may swear a lot less than you do with your
friends because it’s against the code of practice at work. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
this latest video, Pie also laments the fact that a university has a trigger
warning on copies of the book “to kill a mockingbird” because of the racist
language in it. He says that everyone should just simply understand context of
words and just not get offended. I understand the context of words is important
but there is no banning of words here, just a warning for people that say have
suffered a lot of racism and maybe don’t want to read a lot of racist slurs
that they themselves have been subject to. We put warnings on films when they
are on DVD or in the Cinema because they contain certain content like violence,
sex or swearing, yet Pie doesn’t appear to have a problem with that.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
don’t see the harm of trigger warnings. You’re not banning people from saying
something, but it just means those that don’t want to read about something that
can be triggering, get a polite warning beforehand. It’s not something I
believe should be enforced however, as you have no idea about what your friends
or colleagues will find distressing or not, unless you know them really well. If you want to talk about certain subjects
online or in a speech then fine but if someone says to you in future can you put
a warning on before you write or speak about a certain subject because it’s
triggering a horrible part of my life, then it’s a polite thing to consider
doing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
think what it also comes down to is that Pie appears to just think that as long
as we all debate with people openly and just don’t be offended or upset by
words then that is the way to defeat certain viewpoints. It’s true that when
Nick Griffin appeared on Question Time, his views were exposed and ridiculed
and the BNP went downhill from there in terms of the number of elected
politicians they had. But exposing and openly debating racist or sexist views does
not mean they’ll be defeated. The rise of UKIP and Donald Trump very much prove
that. Pie has blamed PC lefties for the rise of Trump because they were
shutting down debate and not talking to Trump voters about their concerns. That’s
partly true but it’s far from the whole story. The lies and the hatred promoted
by the right wing media in America and the UK has fuelled the rise of the
far-right as well as the failure of centre-left governments of Blair, Bill Clinton
and Obama to deal with the rampant inequality and allowing industries and
communities to fall apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
everyone has the confidence to openly debate with what they see as horrible
view points, and yes people do need places they can feel safe, i.e. “safe
spaces.” It appears that Pie thinks certain people are weak for getting
offended. It’s not weak to be upset or hurt by words. It’s human. This is sadly
how the selfishness and uncaring nature of our society that has developed from
the Thatcher years has ingrained itself into the psyche of certain people on
the left like Pie. He’s talked before about how we as a society need to
seriously deal with the mental health crisis in this country. Yet a lot of
people suffer from mental health issues because they are had a go at for being offended
at certain words by people like Pie. They should just put up with it, not say
anything and just get over it, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
general, I think Jonathan Pie’s videos are funny and insightful and with things
like this, he certainly gets debates going. However I believes he simplifies
the issue of free speech and trigger warnings too much rather than considering the
merit in carefully choosing words. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">NB: Just to note,
I realise Jonathan Pie is a character but after reading a recent interview with
Tom Walker, Pie is basically the actor’s views but exaggerated for comic
effect.</span></i></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-12964723148087955612017-01-23T06:38:00.000-08:002017-01-23T06:38:05.396-08:002016 was quite a bleak year for many of us. Let’s make 2017 the year we fight back.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump,
Brexit, the hate-crimes that have increased since Brexit, the Syrian refugee
crisis and Europe’s utter failure to help the millions displaced. It’s easy to
see why so many people found so much to be pessimistic about last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
I join in the chorus of people that say 2016 was “the worst year ever” though,
good things did happen. In the UK, Zac Goldsmith got punished at the mayoral
ballot box for his racist campaign. He also lost his seat as an MP. Furthermore the Trade Union, Unite, helped strike a big blow against
Sports Direct and forced them to change their awful work practices. Worldwide,
the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that global malaria deaths have
gone down by 60% since 2000. In addition, the Paris Climate Agreement was
signed meaning a lot of countries are doing more than ever (although still not
enough) to combat the effects of human-made climate change. However we must be
vigilant as Trump seeks to pull the US out of this agreement. So whilst bleak
things of a huge consequence did happen and are continuing, there was some good
news to mitigate this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
what does 2017 hold for us? Well in the UK we have the prospect of Article 50
being triggered and a push by the government to get us out of everything to do
with the EU, including the single market. Further train strikes are likely to
happen because of safety concerns of Southern Staff. TFL Station staff are also likely to go on
strike again because of ticket office closures and staff cuts. The crisis of
homelessness in this country and the NHS under constant strain is likely to continue. In the wider world, we have had the
inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the US, as well as an
ongoing refugee crisis because of conflicts in places like Yemen and Syria. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is so easy to ignore it all and pretend it’s not happening because to even
think about any of those things can be quite upsetting and infuriating.
However, the sad but hard truth is nothing will change unless you get involved. If you're not already, become an activist of some sort. It doesn’t matter how big or small
your activism is. Pick one topic in particular that you’re passionate about and
go with it. If you don’t think you’re passionate about anything, then just
think what you’d like to see change about a particular issue. Are you worried
about the government’s Brexit strategy? Are you angry at big corporations
getting way with not paying tax? Are you worried about the effect Donald’s
Trump’s policies will have on the rest of the world? It could even be a local issue such as a green space that is being built on or the selling off of a housing estate that are leading to mass evictions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are a number of things you do practically to start of with. Find a group to get
involved in, so you’re not doing it on your own. If you google a particular issue,
you’re bound to find a campaign group on it. Or start a group with one of your
friends and try and build it up. The actions you can do are things like writing
to local and/or national papers to spread the message about the issue. You can
also write to your MP to challenge the government. Believe or
not, some MPs do bring up their constituents concerns with the government. You
can deliver leaflets or knock on your neighbours’ doors to get signatures for a
petition or to let people in your community know about a particular issue. You can volunteer for a refugee charity and make sure refugees get the help they need. You
can even get involved in direct action such as a stunt outside a business or
government building or a big protest march. A few years ago when UK Uncut
organised protests outside Vodafone shops, tax avoidance become a national
issue in the media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Being
an activist can give you so much adrenaline. However, it can be frustrating at
times when you think you’re not changing things straight away but if you </span>persevere<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> you may end
up making a difference. For example, I mentioned Unite’s Sports Direct campaign
before. Now given how long they’ve been treating employees appallingly, and how
much in denial Mike Ashley was, it didn’t seem that things would change. But
when Unite organised mass protests outside their shops across the country and recruited
union members from Sport’s Direct staff, suddenly things changed. The rest of
the Sports Direct board got angry with Ashley, a Parliamentary Committee
demanded he change the practices in the workplace and ultimately the Sports
Direct workers are now organised in their workplace and are treated a bit
better. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
many people are apathetic. A lot of people choose to not think or act about what they see as injustice because they think nothing will change anyway. The system is too corrupt and messed up for that.
However, if enough people that felt like that actually attempted to change
things, we’d have made more progress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Still not convinced that you care enough to become a political activist? Then here are a few things to think about. Have you ever been angry at train fare rises
equalled with poor service? Have you felt that you and you're fellow employees are underpaid or undervalued
at work? Have you ever been angry at the fact that you and your friends/family can barely afford to rent let alone buy a
house? These are things that you can help change. Even if you are physically
and/or mentally not able to really do too much, you can do a simple thing like
sign a petition and share it. Any petition that reaches over 100,000 signatures
is likely to be debated by MPs in Parliament so it is worth doing and no amount
of activism is not enough. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So what are you waiting for? Be the change you want to see. I know I sound very
idealistic but I can’t afford not to be. There is too much at stake to even
consider that I won’t make any difference in what I’m doing. The moment you
think you can’t change anything, you won’t. Being an activist can be hard and
draining at times but as long as all of us have a strong support network around
us then we can together make the world just that bit better over time .Looking
at the millions that marched against Trump last weekend, including people who
hadn’t done it before, it gives me hope that maybe a big fightback is underway
this year. Don’t just “watch this space”, be part of it and make a new year’s
resolution to be proud of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-46991745015612028702016-12-01T01:02:00.000-08:002016-12-01T01:02:31.729-08:00My thoughts on the Richmond Park by-election, progressive alliances and why the Green Party co-leaders have messed upThe Green Party have an image of being very nice and from the outside are seemingly united. Caroline Lucas is widely admired, so who would have thought there would be a relatively high-profile spat between Caroline and members of a local Green Party.<br />
<br />
For those that don’t know, the Green Party, with a big splash of publicity decided to not put forward a candidate in the Richmond Park by-election in which Zac Goldsmith is standing as independent candidate. He resigned as a Tory MP due to his opposition to the government over Heathrow expansion. Covering this constituency are two local Green Parties. Richmond & Twickenham and Kingston. Both voted to stand aside to avoid splitting the anti-Goldsmith vote. He ran a racist mayoral campaign and had the backing of the local UKIP party as well. So if the right united in Richmond, why shouldn’t those on the centre-left and left? It makes sense. This is where the “progressive alliance” idea came in to play.<br />
<br />
The “progressive alliance” idea has been promoted by the Green Party leadership and it is basically the idea that different parties on the left and centre-left of politics in this country come together to defeat the Tories. Whether that is campaigning on political issues together or to form an electoral pact where one party decides to stand down. The co-leaders of the Green Party had been very clear that decisions like this should be purely down to local parties and that they would not be forced by the leadership to take part in this.<br />
<br />
How strange then that after Richmond & Twickenham Green Party voted to stand aside and Kingston were still quite keen on putting a candidate forward themselves, that Caroline wrote an article for the New Statesman expressing her disappointment that the local Greens were still keen on putting someone forward. Add this to the fact that Jonathan Bartley attended the Richmond and Twickenham Greens meeting and persuaded them to stand aside and you get an impression of top-down pressure. Now of course Caroline and Jonathan are allowed their opinions on this but it felt like they were really pushing their views on the local Green Parties. With a heavy heart, Kingston Green Party voted at their meeting to stand aside but were very clear that they were not openly endorsing anyone else but would like to see Goldsmith ousted.<br />
<br />
So last weekend, a picture was released online of Caroline with the Lib Dem candidate Sarah Olney. Some members of the Kingston Green Party expressed fury at this as they were not made aware that Caroline was going to endorse her. Yes an action weekend was planned to generally promote the Green Party in Richmond Park. More for the local elections and to explain to voters why they were standing aside for this election. Indeed as a member I got an email inviting me to this. It never said anything about us openly endorsing Sarah Olney so I can understand why some in the Kingston Green Party are angry about this.<br />
<br />
Having debated with many people on this, I was told by another Green Party member that essentially standing aside against Goldsmith meant that the Green Party automatically would back the candidate most likely to beat him, which is Sarah Olney. Whereas Richmond and Twickenham Greens seemed quite happy with this, clearly some in Kingston Greens weren’t. A group of them even wrote an angry letter to the Guardian which made the front page of the online edition. Some have said with the by-election happening today, there was no point in causing a fuss about this and all it does is make the Green Party look divided. This group of Kingston Greens wanted to keep a low profile during this by-election and they never wanted to come out publicly against the leadership. However, I've been made aware that they felt they had no choice because Caroline Lucas never told them beforehand that she was going to back Sarah Olney.<br />
<br />
Just to be clear, I’m not against the idea of progressive alliances and I want Goldsmith to lose today, but the way the co-leaders have handled this by-election is quite frankly very authoritarian and they bypassed one of the local parties in their decision to endorse another party’s candidate. If this idea is going to work and we are going to do this properly, then in future Caroline and Jonathan need to be in full contact with local parties that have to make decisions about electoral pacts and essentially allow them to take the lead on it. One of the things that I really like about being a Green Party member is that local Green Parties have always been given autonomy and the membership are the ones that lead and decide on policy. If Caroline and Jonathan think their personality and popularity in the party means they can get away with dictating to local parties what to do, then they are going to find a lot of people resistant to that, including me.<br />
<br />
Whilst I’m not a member of either of the parties affected by this by-election, I just felt that as a member of the Green Party I couldn’t sit by and allow the co-leaders to ride roughshod over local democracy without voicing my opinion. This public disagreement between Caroline and some members of Kingston Green Party has genuinely divided opinion between different Green Party members across the country. However, I’m hoping the co-leaders take note of this and in future allow local parties to take the lead on a sensitive issue like a progressive alliance. If they don’t, it could lead to more unnecessary public disagreements and more division when we need to unite and fight the Tories more than ever.<br />
<br />
<br />stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-16592939033491434912016-10-25T07:45:00.003-07:002016-10-25T07:45:56.062-07:00“I, Daniel Blake” reinvigorated my passion for social justice and my anger towards the UK’s welfare system. Here’s why.<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>Last Saturday, I went to see a film called “I, Daniel Blake”.
It focuses on a man who suffered a major heart attack and yet was
still deemed fit to work by a “healthcare professional” from the company
running Work Capability Assessments. He has to appeal to get his disability
benefit whilst in the meantime claim Jobseeker’s Allowance and try to find work
his doctor tells him he is not well enough to do. He befriends a single mother
who gets her benefits stopped because she was slightly late to a job centre
interview due to being lost in a city she didn’t know. She is then driven to
get food from a foodbank. It is heart-breaking to see how desperate her and her
family become and is sadly too common in a country in which the usage of
foodbanks are steadily increasing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the majority of the Coalition government years many
of us heard horror stories of how people being declared fit for work after
their work capability assessment (WCA) subsequently died. We also saw how many
people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance were being made to work for their
benefits with the infamous “workfare” scheme. Many people campaigned against all
of this and we made sure that people on the workfare scheme were then paid the
minimum wage for their work. Furthermore the company ATOS who were in charge of
the WCA lost their contract because of pressure from campaigners. However,
instead of the government making sure doctors were at the forefront of
assessing people’s fitness to work, the WCA contract was instead awarded to
another private healthcare company, Maximus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since the Conservatives’ general election victory in 2015,
there have been even worse things happening in the benefits system. ESA
claimants had their benefits cut by £30 a week. Disabled people lost their
Independent Living Fund which helped them function in everyday society. Some of
that money was then given to local councils so they could administer the
support. However this money was not ring-fenced so many people have now lost
the support they previously got. The previous Work and Pensions Secretary Ian
Duncan Smith even resigned supposedly because he felt the planned cuts to
disability benefits were a step too far. Many of us doubted his sincerity in
the reason for his resignation as he was a well-known advocate for leaving the
EU. Subsequently he became one of the poster boys for the official leave
campaign.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given the Tories promise of a Referendum on the EU, the
attention of the media and many of us became focused on the debate surrounding
it. Given that were also local council elections, London, Scottish and Welsh Assembly
elections at the same time, the cruelty of the benefits system sadly got
side-lined. The closest we got to this issue in the national news since the
2015 general election was IDS’s resignation and Jeremy Corbyn pressuring the
government to abandon their planned cuts to Working Tax Credits. Not
that there wasn’t anybody campaigning on this. Indeed, Disabled People Against
Cuts (DPAC) have been doing vital work on this and in his researching on the
film, Ken Loach has been travelling around the country in the last few years to
see the devastating impact of benefit sanctions and austerity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just a personal take on this now. After I graduated from
University, I claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance for two years on and off whilst
only finding temporary work. However since the summer of 2013, I have luckily
been in steady full-time employment. Whilst I was claiming JSA, I was subjected
to the “workfare” scheme and was made to work in Tesco for four weeks with just
my benefits and travel expenses paid. If I had refused to do this, they said it
could have affected my benefit payments because I would be refusing an offer of
employment despite the fact that this job was paying far less than the legal
minimum wage. Tesco got free Labour and there was not a paid full-time job at
the end of it. Going back to the film, it shows the main character being forced
to do a CV workshop despite the fact he wasn’t fit to work yet. This
particularly resonated with me as I was put on a couple of pointless courses
that were genuinely of no benefit to me. Indeed in the CV writing course I went
on, they used my CV as a template for others to do theirs. I did do further
education courses whilst I was unemployed but these were ones I found myself.
Every job I applied for on the government’s Universal Jobmatch website led to
nothing. I eventually found a full-time job but only due to my friend
recommending me at his workplace. My point being that for the most part, the
Job Centre barely helps you. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2015/feb/03/sanctions-staff-pressured-to-penalise-benefit-claimants-says-union">An
investigation has shown that the Job Centre advisors actually have targets to
meet in terms of sanctioning claimants.</a> Anyone of us could end up in a similar
situation to Daniel Blake. Being made redundant, suffering major illness, being
denied disability benefits and being forced to look for work despite the advice
from your doctor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst “I, Daniel Blake” has stirred up my anger again
towards the government’s disgusting treatment of our most vulnerable, it has
also given me hope. Not only did the film shine a light on the degrading way
benefit claimants are treated by the system, it showed that fellow citizens
will help each other. Whether that is a neighbour, a Job Centre employee, a
foodbank volunteer or indeed a stranger you meet in who is in a similar
predicament.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I urge you and anyone you know to see the film if you
haven’t and if it riles up a sense of anger and injustice, then good. Channel
that anger in activism. If you know a friend that is being treatment awfully in
the system, help them. If you see that a local foodbank needs volunteers or
more food, do what you can to help. Even if you just share this blog or write
to your MP or the Department of Work and Pensions, we can all play our part.
Theresa May will continue her hollow rhetoric on creating a society “that works
for everyone”. Don’t believe it for a second. The incredibly flawed Universal
Credit system is being spread to more parts of the country and the Work
Capability Assessments are continuing to play havoc and wreck people’s lives.
The next four years at least are going to be grim for many of our poorest and
most vulnerable citizens. A few years
ago, Cameron talked about creating a “Big Society”. Well you know what, let’s
create that. Let’s show the Tories that we will not continue to accept their
appalling treatment of our fellow citizens and that they are not “ just
National Insurance Numbers or Statistics” as Daniel Blake puts it. <o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-84422820795929020662016-10-06T02:34:00.000-07:002016-10-06T06:13:40.928-07:00Theresa's May speech. Empty progressive platitudes undermined by hypocrisy and far right policies.<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So in Theresa's May
first speech as Tory party leader and PM yesterday, she said that she wanted to
tackle injustice and unfairness and make sure the country works for everyone
and not just the privileged few. She stated quite dramatically that the vote to
leave the EU was a "revolution" and that with stagnating wages and
failing schools a lot of the working class felt the system wasn't working for
them and thus voted against the system.</span> She also stated that politicians
haven’t listened to working class people and belittled their views on crime and
immigration. She stated that some politicians felt the public’s view on crime
was “illiberal”. There is quite a significant proportion of people in this
country that want to bring back capital punishment. Should politicians give in
to people’s demands to illiberal policies because it is popular? Just because
something is popular, doesn’t mean it is right. Politicians are meant to
persuade people of ideas and meant to become signpost’s to a vision of Britain
that they believe is right, not become weathervane’s and blow whichever way
public opinion is going. Of course people’s concerns should be taken into
account but not at the expense of evidence-based policy making.<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Going back to the idea she mentioned that people
feel the system isn’t working for them, Theresa May is right. However, she has
been at the heart of a government for six years that has been the cause of the
system failing the working class. If she really cared about it that much, you
would have thought she would have had a little word in Dave's ear when he was
in charge.</span> <span style="background: white;">Of course she blamed
stagnating wages on low skilled immigration coming in rather than the public
sector pay freeze and lack of a genuine living wage for everyone. She even had
the temerity to accuse the Labour Party of peddling the politics of hate and
division and referred to them as the new "nasty party". Never mind
Theresa that over the last few days you and your ministers have been openly
spouting hate towards foreign workers and doctors and trying to blame them for
our country's ills.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">She also believes that she can prevent resentment
and division and make sure that no one in this country lives in fear. This is undermined
by far right policies such as making firms list foreign workers and
"phasing out" foreign doctors by 2025. Also EU residents that are
"cards" in our Brexit negotiations will be fearing their future now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">On education, she apparently wants a system where
people's talents will take them as far as they can go. She said she wants to
build on Michael Gove's education reforms. She says that still over a million
pupils do not go to a good school. However, this has been caused by Michael
Gove's education policies over the last six year. It is also clear that Gove's
increase in rigorous testing and focus on "core subjects" has stifled
creativity and undermined people fulfilling their potential and not allowing
their talents to flourish as May so wishes to happen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">If she really wanted to create a system where
everyone can achieve their potential, she'd look at the Finnish model and
invest in a comprehensive education system where schools collaborate and share
best practice, where there is a little homework, school hours are shorter and
the teaching style is more interactive rather than standardised. Alas, none of
this was mentioned and it seems that once again her empty platitudes will be
undermined by the continuation of failed education policies over the last six
years.</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was gobsmacked when
she payed tribute to Jeremy Hunt as an “advocate for doctors and patients”.
Rather than being an advocate for Doctors, he has forced an unpopular and
damaging contract onto them. This shows how out of touch and arrogant May is on
this issue. She also claimed that the Tories have been protecting the NHS and
claimed that the biggest wave of privatisation happened under the last Labour
government. However, it was the Tories in the 1980s who began an internal
market in the NHS and it was Major’s government who started the PFI deals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She will also apparently
review workers’ rights policies and enhance them by seeking to get workers on
the boards of companies. Fair enough, that is a good idea. However will she get
rid of the pernicious Trade Union Act? What about employment tribunal fees and
the long wait for unfair dismissal claims? I won’t hold my breath on those.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She also made vague
promises on being an outward looking nation by ratifying the Paris Climate
Agreement despite the fact her government got rid of the Climate Change department.
She also promised to build “more affordable homes”. What types of homes will
these be? Yet another empty platitude, just like the promise of going after tax
dodgers despite the fact the Tories have been in power for six years and done
sod all to do that. Her husband also works for a company that invests in tax
dodgers such as Amazon so I doubt she’ll act on that promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the heart of her speech was the
promise of making us a fairer country and tackling injustice but this was
doublespeak. On one hand she talks about fairness and the next, she gets a round
of applause for having a go at <span style="background: white;">"activist
left wing human rights lawyers harassing armed forces". This was referring
to the promise to take the military out of the convention of Human Rights. How
is it fair that the military should be able to get away with human right’s
abuses? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To sum up though, I
will agree with her on one thing. A change needs to come. But the very idea
that keeping the Tories in power who have undermined the things she said about
fairness and injustice is laughable. However we won’t be laughing when we see the
most vulnerable people still suffering for the next four years and the promis
of a fairer Britain from May turns out to be empty and hollow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-9863531321826274612016-07-01T05:33:00.000-07:002016-07-01T05:33:09.150-07:00My thoughts on the Corbyn Coup and why I think he now has to resign<div class="MsoNormal">
So what a week it’s been. Britain has voted to leave the EU,
Gove has stabbed Boris in the back to run for Tory leader and indeed Prime
Minister, leading Boris to withdraw his leadership ambitions. Having used this
referendum as a leadership bid, Boris has now crawled away when the going get’s
tough and as Ewan McGregor eloquently put it, is a “spineless c***”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the main story that has dominating the headlines is the
coup organised against Jeremy Corbyn to get him to resign as leader. It all
started with Hilary Benn telling him he and many others in the shadow cabinet
didn’t have faith in Corbyn’s leadership and that there would be mass
resignations if Corbyn didn’t stand down as leader. This led Corbyn to sack
Hilary Benn leading to mass resignations and a vote of no confidence from the
majority of MPs. Corbyn now only has the backing of 40 MPs and has barely been
able to fill up the Shadow Cabinet with replacements thus leading us in effect
to have no working main opposition. Corbyn however has stated that he has the
backing of most of the membership and would not betray them by standing down.
This had now led to an inevitable leadership election in which Angela Eagle had
put herself forward to stand against him but is delaying it to give Corbyn more
time to formally stand down. Although, it has recently emerged that she set her
leader campaign website up two days before Hilary Benn launched the coup
meaning that this was clearly all planned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The way the Shadow Cabinet behaved after the EU vote is
nothing short of disgraceful. At a time of national crisis, where we had just
voted to leave the EU, the Labour Party needed to turn their fire onto the
Conservative Government. With this government in disarray, with no Brexit plan
and no leadership after Cameron resigned, there was an open goal for Labour to
score. But shockingly they decided to turn against their own leader and have a
series of mass resignations in order to force Corbyn to go thus making the news
about them rather than the Tories. As Diane Abbott said, if they wanted to oust
Corbyn, they should have launched a formal leadership bid in a discreet and
private way, announcing an election after parliament broke for recess and not
at a time of national crisis. Now I don’t know what happened between Hilary
Benn and Corbyn in their meeting but what should have happened is that instead
of threatening mass resignations, Benn should have said there would be a
leadership election due to lack of faith in Corbyn as a leader. With Angela
Eagle having already created her leader campaign website at this point, it is
bizarre why they didn’t do this. They had someone lined up. But I think the
reason they didn’t is because they were uncertain about whether they would get
the membership support.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before I go into why I believe Corbyn should go, I just want
to say first that have a lot of respect for him. I think it was so refreshing
last year to have a candidate for Labour leader that was a genuine alternative to the
Conservatives. Whether that was on austerity, housing, healthcare or foreign
policy, Corbyn really made himself stand up amongst the other candidates who
continued to pander to the tory-lite policies of Ed Miliband and the
Blair/Brown government thinking that was the only way to get elected despite it
not working in 2015. It was the first time since I was able to vote that I
genuinely considered supporting Labour. I even met the man last year after a
protest against Sports Direct two days before he became leader. I can tell you
he was one of the nicest and most genuine politicians I have met and when I
asked him for a picture, he didn’t even hesitate. However I didn’t join the
party as I wanted to see whether he would last given that he never had the support
of the majority of Labour MPs. Unfortunately it seems as soon as he was
elected, they were trying to find a way to get rid of him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why do I think he should resign? Is it because I believe
he is “unelectable”? Well no I don’t believe that. Interestingly though I did
talk to Labour and former Corbyn supporters who thought he wasn’t pragmatic
enough and too principled at a time of national crisis. Then they said they
wished they had Tony Blair back because he was a pragmatic leader and would
have the PLP behind him. That may be true but I think harking after new-labour
at a time of austerity and a probable recession isn’t the answer. I believe
Tony Blair would support austerity to have a so called “balanced” approach to
things. But what we need at this time is an opposition calling on the
government to invest in public services and in areas that will now lose EU
funding and to reject the premise of austerity as it causes unnecessary
hardship and actually increases the Government debt. This is what I believe Corbyn
could have done. So to be honest I believe he should resign simply because he
is unable to fill the Shadow Cabinet given most MPs don’t have confidence in
him. At this time, we need a united opposition with a full cabinet behind their
leader covering the various government roles. Even if the membership vote for
him as leader again, the 170 odd MPs that have no confidence in his leadership
aren’t going to suddenly change their mind. What we could end up having is MPs
being re-selected and Labour across the country in their various local parties
completely split on that. I believe this would then formally split the Labour
Party like we had in the 1980s and when there could be a general election
looming in the coming months, this simply isn’t an option that should be taken.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there is a general election in a few months, I believe
Labour will lose it anyway because of Corbyn and the rest of the Parliamentary
Labour Party infighting straight after the country is put into severe economic
uncertainty. However what I believe could make a difference now is that Corbyn
and the PLP come together to resolve their differences. Corbyn should then
formally step down and should be allowed to put forward another candidate that
has similar views to him but would unite the MPs. Personally I would choose
Andy Burnham. They should then have their leadership election as quickly as
possible, before the Tory leadership election is over.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given that I am a Green Party member, why should the Labour
Party potentially splitting concern me? Surely people will end up joining the
Greens and we can then do better as a party. True the Labour infighting does
benefit us in that sense, but given that we are still nationally quite low in
the polls, we are not suddenly going to jump to lead the polls by the time a
general election comes round. So we as a smaller party on the progressive side
of politics need a united Labour Party that we can work with. We have already
put a call out to the leaders of the Lib Dems, Labour and Plaid Cymru to form a
progressive alliance for the upcoming general election given that no party is
likely to get a majority. So I make this plea to Corbyn supporters and the
Labour Party as a whole. Come together to resolve your differences, get Corbyn
to resign but choose a leader that offers a genuine alternative to the Tories
because we need a united opposition now more than ever.<o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-78879174501487787002016-06-28T02:21:00.001-07:002016-06-28T02:47:52.828-07:00Why us remainers shouldn’t be calling for a second referendum<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But Farage said he would call for a second referendum if
remain won by 52%” cry some on the remain side. But does that make it right?
No it doesn’t. Hand on heart and be honest, would you be really calling for a
second referendum if remain had won by that margin? I know I wouldn’t. It may
be a slim majority but it is technically a majority so the politicians have to
listen to the people now and trigger article 50 and our exit from the EU. Interestingly
though it is not a legally binding referendum and if parliament votes against
it, we don’t leave the EU. Bear in mind the majority of MPs in parliament are
in favour in staying, this is a distinct possibility. Although if parliament
does this, you can imagine the backlash they’ll get and those MPs that voted
against invoking article 50 would find it very hard to get re-elected. So it is
unlikely to happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is this a horrible result? Yes. Is the future uncertain and
precarious? Yes. Does the idea of Boris Johnson being PM make my skin crawl?
Absolutely. It is becoming increasingly clear that those on the leave side of
the argument have no proper plan in place and have outright lied to the
electorate on promises to do with the NHS for example. But what we remainers
should be doing is pushing for the government to make sure we don’t get rid of
things like the social chapter and environmental standards that we get from the
EU. That will be very difficult. Even though there is very likely going to be a
general election, I’m very worried whether the Tories will be ousted given that
rather than take on the Tories, Labour seem to re-enacting an episode of Game
of Thrones by brutally trying to get rid of their leader. It’s all a shambles
at the moment in British politics but it is why we need people to remain calm
and push for a progressive post Brexit Britain. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be honest, the only political leaders that have had any clarity are
those pushing for remaining, Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron. Sturgeon has said
to protect Scottish interests there needs to be a second independence
referendum given that the majority of Scotland voted to remain. That makes
sense. After all why would you accept leaving an organisation that the majority
of your citizens voted to stay a part of? Although Tim Farron has said that in
the next general election his party will have staying in the EU as a policy
despite the referendum result. I’ve even seen some fellow Green Party members
suggest that we make re-joining (through an eventual second referendum) as a
manifesto pledge at the next election. Given that could be in a few months, I
do worry about that pledge. It will make it look like we are ignoring the
majority of the electorate in this country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In hindsight I do think this referendum was a mistake. There
was not a massive appetite to have one. It was only made so Cameron could stop
Tory votes going to UKIP. It was also such a complicated issue that barely
anyone, including me, fully understood how the EU works. I think what sums this
all up is that a day after the referendum, the second most googled thing in
Britain was “What is the EU?” But that
is all by-the-by. Even if it was a mistake, the referendum has happened and a
slim majority of the electorate have spoken. We now need to live with that.
Given that our friends, loved ones and neighbours are now facing torrents of
abuse just from being EU citizens we need to help them and make sure we stop
any more attacks and make sure that EU migrants are protected from potential deportation.
I fear either not going through with Brexit or holding another referendum could
further divide our country, cause more anger and resentment and make the
situation a lot worse. I know a lot of people on the left of politics that did vote leave, So what I would like to see now is the progressives in politics on either side of the debate build bridges, unite and fight this government's austerity measures, which will sadly only get worse as a result of Brexit.<br />
<br />
So stop going on about getting people to sign a petition for another referendum. We need to respect the wishes of a
small majority of the electorate who wanted to leave a political union that
felt distant to them. We on the remain side failed to put a really positive case for the EU forward. And this is where the EU itself has serious questions to
answer as other nations themselves will start questioning their membership of the EU.<o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-76678959817857855512016-06-20T04:25:00.002-07:002016-06-20T04:25:44.963-07:00The debate surrounding the EU and why I’m voting remain.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
the EU debate. Hands up who cannot wait for it to be over and is sick of it
some of the bullshit coming from both campaigns? (Shoots hand up drastically in
the air). Well I’m afraid I’m going to be yet another mouthpiece trying to
persuade you because this is such a huge decision that will effect all
of us. So below I’m going to try and de-bunk some of the leave campaign’s
claims and explain why I’m positively voting remain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Firstly
the “Leave” side say that we can get back our sovereignty and not let an
undemocratic organisation make our laws. But just how undemocratic is the EU?
Well the EU parliament elected by us can amend laws. The EU Commission which co
proposes laws with the Council of Ministers (who are elected politicians from
each country) is selected by the EU parliament and has a member for every
country so no one country dominates the commission. Hope you are following this
so far. So just be clear. Council of Ministers are elected politicians from
every country. And the EU Commission is appointed by the democratic EU
parliament. Compare that to the UK where we have a Parliament elected by us
voting on laws that Ministers (elected MPs) come up with and we have an
appointed House of Lords that can influence laws. Very similar to the EU. So
rather than leave the EU to come up with laws only made in our vaguely
democratic system, let’s improve the system in both the UK and EU so they are
both more accountable and democratic. The EU does actually promote democracy
because any country that wants to be a member has to be a democracy that gives
it citizens’ rights and freedoms. Hence why Turkey will not become a member unless
it changes its ways drastically regardless of what the leave side have said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
that is the democracy argument de-bunked. What about our sovereignty? Surely
each nation state should be free to make our own laws and regain complete
control on any laws that have been made by the EU. Well there is an argument
for that but I personally think some laws should be made internationally
because that is the best way to make effective change. Climate Change, Air
Pollution and Terrorism know no borders so it is good that we can have an
international organisation that is partly elected by us coming up with laws to
deal with those things. International workers’ rights legislation coming from
the EU has raised standards everywhere in the EU (although not enough) and if
we enhanced and improved it, it can stop forced migration. So if we have to
pool some of our sovereignty as a nation state along with 27 other countries to
help come up with legislation to benefit all of us, then that is something I’m
quite comfortable with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The leave side also say we can control immigration if we left the EU. Well
considering most immigrants that come here every year, come from outside the EU it won’t
make much of a difference to the numbers. (This is from the Office for
National Statistics if you wish to look it up). Now the leave side have also
said that whilst we should look to make trade deals elsewhere around the world,
we can continue trading with the EU because it is in both their and our
interests. Sure but if we want access to the single market from the EU, we have
to accept freedom of movement as Norway and Switzerland do and how Canada will
have to after they’ve signed up to the trade deal they have with the EU. Also
if we wanted to amend freedom of movement then we have be a full member because
having access to the single market but not the political union itself means we
cannot influence any EU rules. The positive case for me though is that freedom
of movement has meant that many British people have the opportunity to work and
study abroad as well as EU citizens coming here. Ultimately different cultures
mixing together makes our and other EU citizens lives more interesting and can
create cohesion and understanding and a sense of unity and not division as it
has done in London in particular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
positive environmental case for the EU is also strong. We have laws meaning we
have to have cleaner beaches because of the EU. We also have laws protecting
our green spaces and making sure we have bio-diversity (i.e. <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">the variety of plant and animal life in
the world so that we can survive as a species ourselves). </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In regards to animals, the leave side have said “Fishing quotas” from the EU have limited the amount
we can catch fish thus putting our fishing industry out of business. Well if we
didn’t have these quotas, fish would run out quicker and thus that would in the
long term put our fishing industry out of business. EU subsidies for “fish
farms” means that we can selectively catch and breed fish and make that
industry sustainable and protect the different species from going extinct. Bans
on animals being used for cosmetic product testing has also come from the EU.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So to sum up. The EU is as democratic as our
system but we can improve it. The good that comes from pooling sovereignty and
making more effective decisions on animal rights, workers’ rights, protection
of our environment and freedom of movement benefits all of us across the EU. So
for the reasons above, please vote to remain in the EU on Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>P.S. Apologies if some of the things I’ve talked
about are technical but I felt I need to really take apart the leave campaign’s
arguments. If you would like to know more or debate this, please comment below
or find me on Facebook or email me at lee.burkwood@gmail.com</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-10378505446907942972016-02-01T05:42:00.001-08:002016-02-01T06:46:17.304-08:00London's housing crisis is hitting Redbridge hard. The development on Britannia Music site is doing nothing to help.<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva";"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">This is my first blog of the new year and I hope you all had a good break over the festive period. In my last blog, I wrote about how the housing crisis is affecting the amount of homeless people there are living on the streets on Britain. As the Green Party candidate for Redbridge and Havering, I wish to express my frustration at a new housing development in Ilford. Just to give you a bit of background knowledge, property values in Ilford have risen by 5.71% in the last year, according to Zoopla, and by 24.53% in the past five years. Property industry giants Jones Lang LaSalle claim that</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva"; font-size: 12.8px;"> of all the areas set to benefit from Crossrail, Ilford will lead the way in terms of price growth. Now, after securing a £25m loan from the Mayor of London's Housing Zones initiative, developers Durkan will be building 354 new homes on the Britannia Music site, which had been lying empty since 2007. Durkan's online advertisement trumpets: "stylish one, two and three bedroom apartments in a fantastic, well-connected location in the heart of Ilford, just 16 minutes by train to Liverpool Street station". This makes it abundantly clear that the developers' prime targets are not local residents at all, but city slickers, themselves priced out of central London.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva";">I completely support the building of new homes in Ilford. However I am disappointed in the amount of genuinely affordable new homes that will be provided on the Britannia Music site. Out of those 354 homes only 93 will be classed as "affordable". That means that 74% of the homes on this site will not be affordable for Redbridge residents. Further, given that a lot of the funding for this will come from City Hall, we know that the Mayor's definition of affordable is 80% of the market rate - which really isn't affordable at all for people on low and average incomes. According to the Centre for Cities Think Tank, a quarter of private renters in London claim Housing Benefit - therefore this development has the potential for making the benefit bill even higher. Sadly, m</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva"; font-size: 12.8px;">ost of the homes being built on this are for private rent. However our mayoral candidate Sian Berry has announced a policy whereby every private renter in London will automatically be part</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva"; font-size: 12.8px;"> of a City Hall funded Renters Union that will provide advice and support including for the residents that will be living on this site. So under a Green administration at City Hall, we can really hold Durkan to account regarding the standards of these homes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva";"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">I am disappointed though that the Labour-led Redbridge Council has completely backed this, given that their Housing Strategy document states that Redbridge is the most expensive Outer London Borough for Housing. As I said in my previous blog, If City Hall worked with Councils, Housing Associations and </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">communities</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> more and took a tougher stance on big developers, we could build more truly affordable homes for residents. This also shows why we need more Greens elected to City Hall and having more genuinely affordable homes built for residents in Redbridge and Havering will be one of my priorities if I am elected to the London Assembly.</span></span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-78287918464278588162015-12-16T05:01:00.000-08:002015-12-16T05:01:37.292-08:00The massive problem of homelessness in London and how we can together help eradicate it.<div dir="ltr">
It's that time of year again. You're worried about last minute Christmas shopping, how drunk you'll get at the office Xmas party and of course the possible stress of preparing to see your family over the festive season. For London's 742 homeless (as of 2014) they don't have the luxury of worrying about these things. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/407030/Rough_Sleeping_Statistics_England_-_Autumn_2014.pdf">According
to the Department for Local Government this is a 37% increase from the previous
year</a>. In a supposedly growing economy with falling unemployment this is an alarming statistic. In 2013/2014 <a href="http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/statutory-homelessness-statistics.html">111,960
households across the country applied to their local councils for homelessness
assistance</a>. A rise of
26% since 2009/10. Another recent report by Crisis showed that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35063040">21% of
people that had their benefit sanctioned in the last year were made homeless as
a result.</a><br />
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But the problem of homelessness goes much deeper than this. The people I mention above are part of what is called the "statutory homeless" which is officially counted by the government. This does not take into account the 'hidden homeless'. Think about some of the people you see at tube stations or outside the supermarket. <a href="http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports/resource/6c740944-3816-4f21-bbcf-04505b59c76b">According
to a GLA report, between April 2014 and March 2015, 7,581 people were seen
sleeping rough in London</a>. This is an increase of 16% from 2013/2014.</div>
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It is hard to know exactly how many people are homeless at any given point. <a href="http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/Homelessness%20briefing%202015%20EXTERNAL.pdf">Independent
research carried out for Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that almost
one in ten people in the UK say they have been homeless at some point.</a> That's one in ten of you that read this. There are many complex reasons why people are made homeless. Alcohol and drug abuse, problems at home, a harsh rise in rent, losing their job, benefit sanctions etc. The fact that there are so many that are left for so long is just wrong.</div>
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So this all sounds like doom and gloom but what can be done. Well individually we can donate to brilliant charities such as Crisis and Shelter that specifically give advocacy and help to the homeless or individually we can help any homeless person we see by giving them food or a hot drink or by offering to take them somewhere they can get help. The problem is though we as a country are relying too much on individual generosity and charity to help homeless people. We all think we are helping when we do these things and in a way we are. But it is only a sticking plaster rather than a real solution to the homelessness crisis we are facing. The simple truth is, we need to build more social housing for these people to live in.</div>
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According to the Mayor's Office, <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/housing_in_london_2015.pdf">a
net of 68,000 new homes were built in London in the last three years</a>. Almost 18,000 of which are apparently "affordable homes". This includes homes to buy. But as a lot of us in London are painfully aware, buying a home in London is rarely affordable. What it doesn't say in the report is how many of these affordable homes that were built were genuinely affordable social housing. What we need in London in particular is for City Hall to be tougher on big developers about the amount the social homes they build and work with councils and community groups more about the type of housing they need in their area rather than just meet the needs of big developers. We also need a genuine collective outreach team at City Hall to help the many homeless people that are being ignored and for central government to give City Hall the power to control rents in the private sector. Additionally, we need the change the culture and thinking in this country that just sees houses as assets to buy rather than a human right. But that is more of a long term aim.</div>
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Yes I'm a Green Party candidate for the London Assembly so naturally I will say vote Green in the next election to see proper action on housing and homelessness. Right now though you can individually and/or collectively lobby every level of government about this and support council tenants protecting their homes from being demolished and them being evicted. Currently there is a "Homes for All" campaign in Waltham Forest so that is something to get involved in. People of all political parties and none need to work together to eradicate homelessness once and for all and to not stand by on the other side while our fellow citizens suffer in silence. </div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-84548921428655890332015-11-12T04:41:00.002-08:002015-11-12T04:41:51.740-08:00The Living Wage. What is it? Why is it important? What we can all do to make sure everyone is paid it.<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the ONS, <a href="http://visual.ons.gov.uk/how-many-jobs-are-paid-less-than-the-living-wage-in-your-area/">there
are around 5.9 million workers in this country not paid the Living Wage</a>.That is roughly a fifth of the workforce. That is scandalous
in one of the richest countries in the world. The Living Wage I’m talking about of course is
the one that is defined by the Living Wage Foundation and not the government’s
so called “National Living Wage” which is actually over £2 less an hour than
the Living Wage in London. The Living Wage in London is £9.40 an hour and for
the rest of the country it is £8.25 an hour and is calculated by independent economists
as the average cost of living.</div>
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Whilst Labour have been rightly talking about the cut in
Working Tax Credits next April which is set to make the lowest paid workers
over a £1000 a year worse off, the elephant in the room is that a lot of these
workers are still paid less than a wage they can live on. What the government
have done is arbitrarily cut Tax Credits whilst raising the Tax Free Personal
Allowance and creating this “National Living Wage” for anyone over 25 thus
apparently making people better off. However this has been quickly rebutted by
the IFS who have said their measures will not make the lowest paid better off.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What needs to happen is that every adult that works needs to
get paid the Living Wage and anything else they need to cover the cost of
living should be provided by Tax Credits. I include under 25s in this. At the moment they are not even entitled to
this new National Living Wage and have to settle for the derisory £6.50 an hour
as a minimum whilst of course not being able to claim Working Tax Credits or
Housing Benefit if they are under 21. But according to the Tory Employment
Minister, <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/07/tory-minster-says-young-peoples-work-isnt-good-enough-to-earn-the-living-wage-5426329/">under
25s are not worth this National Living Wage as they are not as “productive”</a>.
Obviously this is unproven nonsense and regardless of whether under 25s are as
productive or whatever experience they have, surely everyone deserves a wage
they can live on as a bare minimum. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And it is screamingly obvious that if the Living Wage was
introduced as the minimum wage, Working Tax Credits costs to the taxpayer will
lower naturally as people will claim less. People will also have more
disposable income and this will help the economy as the minimum wage did when
it was first introduced. And if there are small businesses or charities that
can prove they can’t afford to pay their staff this, this is where Tax Credits
come in to top up that staff’s income.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>So what can be
done to make sure everyone is paid it?<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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Well there are a number of things we can do. Support the Living
Wage Foundation by helping them with their campaigns. Start a campaign in your
local area to encourage businesses and councils to pay the Living Wage. What the Green Party will be doing as part of our campaign in the London
Assembly elections is create “Calling Cards” to leave to staff in shops to tell
us their stories about how low paid they are or what their working conditions
are generally like. Putting real-life stories to this campaign will help
gain support and pressure the government and businesses alike to pay their
staff the Living Wage. This is something
that everyone, regardless of the differences in political views, can get
behind. So what are you waiting for?<o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-15067219940821402152015-10-05T05:16:00.000-07:002016-02-01T08:57:00.897-08:00My plea to the anti-austerity movement. Don't let your anger ruin what we are building and don’t defend the indefensible.<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all can I say well done to the 60,000 largely
peaceful demonstrators that made it up to Manchester over the weekend. There were
some really creative protests such as an anti-austerity rave and a flash mob at
Manchester Piccadilly train station to try and make it a fun and inclusive
affair. However the protests were overshadowed by a group of idiots that threw
an egg at a delegate of the Conservative Party conference, spat at a journalist as they came out of the conference
centre and generally being quite aggressive towards the Conference delegates
going in and out.</div>
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Yet I've seen quite a few people on the left defend this aggressiveness saying that what the Tories
are doing is much worse and that the Tory member that got egged had it coming because he was goading the
protesters by showing them pictures of Margaret Thatcher. But throwing an
object at someone is assault and assault is obviously wrong and against the law,
whoever the victim is. The first two articles I saw about the protest could
barely get a paragraph in without mentioning the egging so well done to those
for making the headlines about that rather than the importance of the protest
itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes I don't expect the majority of the media to be onside
with our movement, however by doing what they did, all that these idiots have
done is give ammunition to the press to paint the left as militant thugs. Exactly
how are we going to build a movement to beat the Tories if we put people off
from joining due to this?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Am I making it worse by focusing on the minority of
protesters behaving aggressively? I don't know. All I do know is the majority
of the public don't really care about politics one way or another and that all
they see in terms of the protests is the bitesize headlines and what exactly
are those headlines going to be focusing on?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I get that there is a genuine heartfelt anger at what the Tories are
doing and believe you me I, like many people, have been negatively affected by austerity.
Here's an idea though. How about you channel that anger into positive action
against the government. I know that the vast majority people within the
movement do this and that there will always be idiots at protests who think
they are being funny and clever when they assault someone. However, if you are
serious about helping build a strong movement against the Tories, then cut out
the puerile, immature and aggressive behaviour and don't create negative
headlines that can be avoided. As Jez says, no personal attacks. Thanks and
solidarity x.<o:p></o:p></div>
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P.S. Quick message to the police and the government. Please
don’t in future intimidate innocent peaceful protesters by having snipers aimed
at them. Ta.<o:p></o:p></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-48549831421418095812015-09-18T04:33:00.000-07:002016-02-01T08:55:24.623-08:00Why the Trade Union bill is the biggest attack on workers in a generation and why we must all fight it. <span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">Flashback to the 1970s and apparently the </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">Trade Unions</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> had control of the weak Labour Go</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">vernment. T</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">he 3 day weeks and rubbish piled up everywhere </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">was</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> because of constant strikes</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> and lack of communication and negotiations</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> between Government and Trade U</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">nions.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> something had to be done supposedly.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">Enter stage Margaret Thatcher who basically sold us the idea that the Unions were part of “the enemy within”</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">. </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So she bought in a raft of anti-union legislation that banned workplace ballots, stopped union members getting paid for going on strike and introduced notice periods for strike action. By the end of 18 years of Tory rule we had the strictest trade union laws in Europe. </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">W</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">hilst New Labour didn't really change anything in regards to Trade Union law, they did bring in a raft of measures that generally helped people at work including the minimum wage and Working Tax Credits.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So flash forward again and it is 2015. After a few years of Tory/ Lib Dem Government there had been a number of strikes in the education sector, the healthcare sector and of course infamous tube strikes because of a change in pay and conditions at work. So now with the Tories in government on their </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">own, they are </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">bringing in furth</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">er anti Trade Union legislation. Their tightening up of Trade Union rights include a 50% turnout to make any strike eligible, at least 40% support for strike action in vital public services such as education and transport.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">Furthermore they are increasing the notice </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">period at which you can call a strike from 7 to 14 days and the Government are going to </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">allow companies to </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">hire</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">agency workers to replace striking staff.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> In addition if a Union official at a picket line isn't wearing an official armband, they could be fined up to £20,000.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So you may be thinking, well what is wrong with having at least half a union turnout to vote for a strike. It makes it more legitimate</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> and the public will more sympathy with them</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> I</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">f the Conservatives </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">actually</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">believe a majority turnout means real legitimacy for a result of a ballot, why are the Local Elections and European Election results, with less than 40% turnout</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">, legitimate? Also the Alternative Vote referendum had barely 30% turnout, yet the Conservatives at the time claimed that the</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> result of that meant a</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> majority of British people supported the current voting system. One rule for Trade Unions, another rule for the British Electorate</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> it seems. Here’s an idea, if you want to increase voter turnout for Trade Union strike ballots, why not bring back workplace ba</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">llots or bring in online voting rather than arbitrarily having a minimum turnout.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> Personally I’d do the same for elections as well.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So increasing the notice period at which a strike can be called may</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> seem</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> reasonable as it means other workers not on strike can make contingency plans in regards to themselves getting into work. However sometimes negotiations take a while and things can be agreed at the last minute and most strikes are called off because of this. </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">If</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> you have to give more notice to strike then that gives the employees less bargaining power when fighting for their rights and means the employers call the shots. Employers bringing in agency staff to cover striking workers may again seem positive on the surface</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> as the company don’t lose productivity and their business activities keep going so therefore this benefits the economy. However </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">this is where the threat of strike actio</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">n becomes completely pointless. If employers can replace staff like that just for going on strike then they are hardly going to care whether their staff go on strike and once again this gives Trade Unions pretty much no bargaining power when fighting to improve their members pay and conditions</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">So to sum up. Yes strike action c</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">an annoy and </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">affect a</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> lot of people</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> that are not </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">Trade Union members. It means people</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> are late or can’t get to work at all. However, the rights that we take for granted today </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">weren't given to us willingl</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">y by employers and Governments. They were fought for by Trade Unions fighting for individual members pay and conditions as well as taking direct action</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> collectively</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> such as going on strike.</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15"> Whether it is paid holiday, maternity leave, health and safety in the workplace, Trade Unions have benefited all of us. If we allow the </span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">G</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">overnment to curtail Trade Union activity even more</span></span><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15">, there is nothing to stop them pursuing a race to the bottom on rights at work and who is going to be able to stand up for us then?</span></span></span></div>
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<i><span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">NB: </span></span>For full disclosure, I am a member of Unite, which is the biggest Trade Union in the country. <span class="s3"><span class="bumpedFont15" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Trade Union bill passed it second reading earlier this week. To help fight the bill, lobby your MPs and join the </span></span><a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/tubill">TUC’s campaign</a></i><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-29779035664851451102015-09-06T05:55:00.000-07:002015-09-06T06:07:10.955-07:00Corbyn supporting Labour purgees don't despair. There is another option
for you.<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">Well after a few months of trying to get people to support Jeremy Corbyn, I've been purged from the Labour Party. They've rejected my application to be a supporter. I joined in mid July. I have had many promotional emails from different candidates but no ballot and it took my brother phoning on Friday to confirm what I feared. And apparently you have to pay £10 to find out why. Isn't democracy wonderful?</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">Now there are those that will say that it's only fair that I got rejected as I am a member of the Green Party. I accept that but many other Corbyn supporters that joined have also been purged. Comedians such as Francesca Martinez, Mark Steel and even PCS union leader Mark Serwotka. These people are not members of any other political party so it is suspicious that they have been purged.</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">It's interesting though because a quick check from Labour HQ at the general election would have confirmed I was actively campaigning for the Greens yet that didn't stop them bombarding me with election literature and I'm sure come the next election, they'll do the same. My thoughts are if they don't want my support now, why should I support them in the future when it's convenient for them?</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">To fellow Corbyn supporters that have actually been unfairly purged I say this. There is a political party that will welcome you with open arms and that is actually united against austerity. Join the Greens because unlike Labour there is no risk of us ousting our leader for being too left wing.</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">If Corbyn does win the Labour leadership election, I genuinely wish his supporters in the Labour Party the best of luck in changing Labour into a bottom up movement that is democratic and makes them a force for socialism and equality again. It will be a massive struggle so be prepared to fight it out with the authoritarian blairites. At the end of the day, I want see progressive socialist politics get more popular and I don't mind which vehicle it is driven in, hence I why I initially joined as a supporter to vote for Corbyn.</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">For now I'm focused on helping The Green Party's campaign for the City Hall elections next May and in particular promoting our #workfair campaign as part of it. Sounds interesting to you? Then join and be part of a real progressive change for London.</span>stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-75464176292912945202015-08-26T04:46:00.000-07:002015-08-27T14:42:45.395-07:00Three Months into a Conservative majority Government. What have we got so far?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
here we are. Three months in to a Conservative majority Government and all the
media can talk about is "Corbynmania". But whilst everyone is finding
as much dirt on Corbyn as possible, the Conservatives have been quietly getting
on with some of the most controversial policies we've seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
I'm going to break down the bullshit Cameron talked about on a lovely video on
his Facebook page when he marked the first 100 days of his government, staring
at you with his cold dead eyes, talking about how his Government are a
"one nation" Government providing security at every stage of your life.
Yes I'm talking about YOU in particular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
starts off by talking about education. Saying that by turning every failing
school into an academy and giving the Government power over local authorities
to do so, this will ensure that every child has the best start in life. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let's
forget then that a recent report that said that </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/07/24/academies-sutton-trust-report-improvement_n_7862356.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">almost
half of academies are failing disadvantaged students</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Also they don't have
to provide support for SEN students because they can be selective about who
they take in rather than meet the needs of local students as happens under local comprehensives. Given the new reliance on passing tests rather than teaching
life skills as well as cuts in further education colleges along with maintenance grant scrapping at universities, what kind of security is that?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
then talks about making the NHS 7 a day a week service (it is already) and
investing an extra 10 billion into it. He obviously leaves out the selling off
of services to private companies and the closure of some hospitals due to PFI debts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Furthermore
he goes on to say about how by raising
the minimum wage to a "living wage" of £9 an hour and by lowering the
benefit cap, it will always pay to be in work and by increasing the tax
threshold to the minimum wage he is creating a low tax, low welfare, high wage
country. First off that living wage isn't a living wage. The current London living
wage is £9.15 an hour. Secondly by scrapping working age benefits for 18-21
year olds and by excluding them from this living wage, where is the security
for them? Also arbitrarily lowering the benefit cap at a time of ever rising
rents will just lead to homelessness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Speaking
of homes, he says he is providing the security of home ownership for all by
allowing Housing Association tenants to buy their own homes. What about a young
person like me that just wants to be able to afford to rent? Or people that are
on the social housing waiting list? Where is the security of being able to have
somewhere affordable to rent?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead
of building affordable homes he is just selling off social housing and cutting
inheritance tax for home owners. You can see where his priorities lie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
for the final stage of life, the Government say they will provide security by
"triple-locking and increasing the state pension." Never mind that
increasing the retirement age means future generations won't get this. Also no
one seems to have noticed this but the Government are quietly dropping the cap
on the cost of social care that they introduced in the last parliament. At every
stage of life, Cameron seems to be giving with one hand and taking with the
other. Apart from children and young people in which he is literally taking
every opportunity they get and squishing it into the ground with his massive
shiny spam-like hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><u>Oh
F**k, this sounds completely horrible. What can we do to fight it?</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I'm
glad you asked that. Very eloquently put aswell. As I mentioned in previous
posts, join a trade union or a direct action groups or dare I say it a
political party. Apart from the Tories obviously. Which would be a weird way to
fight them. Unless you want to infiltrate them like they are doing with Labour.
But they've gone so far to the right that trying to influence them is like a
metaphor I can't come with right now. But anyway the point is, it's impossible
to do so. I digress. We've fought back against privatisation of our forests and national parks and the closing
of certain A & Es. We can fight against some of these changes aswell. It
will be a long hard slog, but f**k it what have we got to lose?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-76152771760028483372015-07-23T04:43:00.000-07:002015-07-23T05:31:56.804-07:00We shouldn’t let fear of a coup stop potential progress. Why we should all support Corbyn.<div class="s2">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Over
the last month or so I and many others on the left of politics have been really
considering whether to join the Labour Party as supporters in order to vote for
Jeremy Corbyn as leader. It is easy to see why this would be a serious
consideration. Corbyn is anti austerity, anti-fracking, pro investment in
renewable energy projects, anti trident and of course favours nationalisation
of public services such as the Banks and the Railways.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
what should non-labour member do? Well I have heard different opinions being
expressed. One being that as it is an internal Labour election, those of us not
members of Labour should just leave them to it and see what happens and just
build the anti-austerity movement outside Labour. I have also heard the
argument that there isn’t a short term solution to getting progressive policies
implemented and it is a ‘certainty’ that Corbyn will get ousted should he be
elected leader so there is no point in supporting him anyway. I’ve even seen it
suggested that if some of us join Labour to help make Corbyn leader, the
inevitable coup from Labour MPs will discredit those of us on the left and keep
the agenda of the Tories intact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
on this potential coup, yes it is true that Corbyn barely scraped enough
support by fellow Labour MPs to get on the ballot. Yes it is true that a lot of
MPs that nominated him won’t vote for him. And if you believe certain Labour
insider’s, there could well be a rebellion by right wing Labour MPs, who only
need just over 40 MPs to take down their leader. Corbyn could then be gone in a
matter of months and MPs could discredit him in the meantime by voting for some
of the government’s policies. If Corbyn did win the leadership election, his
role of Leader of the Opposition could be seriously undermined. These are
serious issues that have rightly been looked at when deciding whether to throw
our support behind Corbyn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
even if there is a coup, why does that mean the left wing of the Labour Party
will be discredited in the media and in the public’s eye? Yes the Murdoch press
will gloat bigtime in the split and chaos of Labour and will vilify Corbyn as
someone who can’t keep a unified opposition. However it could well be the case
that the general public have sympathy with Corbyn and distrust and dislike
those that bring him down undemocratically. And actually that could help political
parties like the Greens become more popular and get grassroots Labour members,
who have been frustrated and ignored for years by the leadership, to join,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whatever
the risks of Corbyn winning the Leadership contest are, you can’t just not do
something because of the risks involved. Life is full of risks. At the general
election I voted for the Green Party in a Tory/Labour marginal seat and was
accused of splitting the vote and letting the Tories in. However, It didn’t
happen. Labour won the seat. But if it had happened, I would not have regretted
it because I knew that at the time the Green Party were the only party to offer
a clear and coherent alternative to the Government. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now
a Labour leader candidate is offering that, I’m not going to turn down an
opportunity to help build the anti-austerity movement. I want to see
progressive policies put forward so the poorest and most vulnerable in our
society can actually be helped. If that means I back a Labour candidate who
advocates those policies, then so be it. There is too much at stake for the left to be tribal and split on this as we are on so many issues. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
may not even win in the end, but he has certainly opened up the debate and got
the anti-austerity message out into the mainstream media. And if he doesn’t
win, I WON’T be supporting Labour at all. I’ve made that clear from the start
of this. In the meantime, join me and many others in backing the only Labour
candidate who is offering that alternative to the Conservatives we really need
right now. #Jezwecan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-55203438171954184632015-07-16T14:19:00.000-07:002015-07-16T14:19:19.200-07:00Osborne’s budget: If you’re young, you’re on your own!<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Well it’s been</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> over</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> a week since Osborne’s budget and I know I’m probably repeating what others have said but I wanted to put my thoughts out there for what it’s worth.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">So you can see I'm trying to be fair, I'll start with the positives. There are very few but I'll try my best. Raising the tax free allowance £12,000 and putting in law that the minimum wage should always be tax free. Sounds good when you think it about it, but why not raise the minimum wage to a living wage rather than just cut taxes. He also raised the 40% rate of tax to e</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">arnings over £43,000 and raised</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million. The problem with being a 'low tax' chancellor is that even though you may increases peoples disposable incomes, you actually lower the tax revenues coming in, thus less money to spend on public services</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> and therefore they could get worse as a result</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">. Osborne also raised the minimum wage to a new 'national living wage' of £9 an hour by 2020. </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">A step in the right direction</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> but when you </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">look at the fact that the current living wage in London is £9.15 an hour and £7.85 nationally and you take into account the cuts to tax credits , a lot of people are going to be worse off. Also why are under 25s excluded from this?</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">That was literally the most positive I could be about his budget. Now onto the really negative stu</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">ff. The threshold at which you </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">can claim working tax credits has been reduced to</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> yearly</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">earnings of £3850. Considering the chancellor is raising the minimum wage to £7.20 an hour and you have to work 16 hours a week to claim</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">, he is essentially abolishing Working Tax Credits. </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">You </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">might think but he is raising the minimum wage to £7.20 an hour, why would they need them? Well unless people get</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> a wage they can live on, i.e. a</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">n actual living wage, then they have to cl</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">aim them. Some will argue that </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">businesses won't be able to </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">afford a living wage. Well </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">big busi</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">nesses absolutely can afford it. I</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">f small businesses can't</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> afford it, </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">you can either cut their taxes or you top up people's income with working tax credits so they have a wage they can live on. You don't cut tax credits and</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> replace it with a paltry minimum wage</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Not only are they cutting child and working tax </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">credits</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">, they are literally freezing the rate of all benefits barring disability benefits so essentially</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">,</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> given inflation</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">,</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> a lot of the poorest will be worse off. </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-live-george-osbornes-benefit-cuts-set-to-make-13m-families-significantly-worse-off-10378031.html"><span class="s4" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Some families could actually end up over a £1000 worse off a year as a result in the cuts to </span><span class="s4" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">benefits</span></a><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"></span><span class="s5" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 14px;"></span></div>
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<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Furthermore, t</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">he benefit cap is being lowered to £23,000 in London and </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">£20,000 everywhere else.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> Despite what papers like the Daily Mail say, these benefits don’t go on flat screen TVs and lots of booze and fags. A lot of the Housing benefit bill in particular </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">go</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">es straight </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">to private landlords that charge high rents. </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">One of the</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> way</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">s</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> you</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> can</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> get the Housing Benefit bill down</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> fairly</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> is</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">n’t by punishing the claimant but </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">by capping</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> the rate of</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> rents. It is so obvious.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">By the way just as a personal anecdote, when I was first started claiming JSA and Housing Benefit, even though I declared my rent to be £300 a month, as a result of the benefit cap, my housing benefit only reached £260 a month. It was only </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">because of my JSA and the minimal earnings from my Saturday Job that I managed to scrap</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">e</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> by every month. So imagine what it would be like if I needed that now?</span></div>
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<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Speaking of Housing Benefit, one of the cruellest, yet most expected measure in the </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">budget was scrapping of </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Housing Benefit</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> eligibility for 18-21 year olds</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> Apparently if you are that age you have to “earn or learn” and live at home with your parents. Now what if you can’t get a job or a place to study? Even if you can find a job, it is likely to be low paid. I mentioned earlier that under 25s aren’t entitled to the new national living wage and actually for years they haven’t </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">been able to claim Working Tax C</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">redit</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">s</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">. So how will you afford to live on your own if you’re parents (if you have any) can’t afford to support you? The likely result is, that young people will made homeless or have to consistently move between different B&Bs.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> It shows how out of touch the chancellor is if he thinks that every adult between the ages of 18-21 can all afford to just live with their parents.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Another way the chancellor is </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">screwing</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> young people</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> over</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">is by removing </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">maintenance</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">grants from poor students going to university from 2017 and basically saying they can only get loans out. There is no </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">g</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">uarantee that what they would of got in a grant, they’ll</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">get in a loan. All it will do is add</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> to</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> the burden of debt along with the tuition fees and basically make the debt they accrue at university unpayable, thus costing the taxpayer more in write-offs. So not only is it just harsh but it is also economically </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">illiterate </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">as well</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">.</span></div>
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<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">
<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Going back to housing, apparently households with an income of more than £40,000 living in social or council housing will now have their rents upped to the “market rate”</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">. So this could then force people to move out of their affordable housing and have to rent in the private sector where the rents remain uncapped. O</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">f course social housing should only</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> be for the poorest.</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> Never mind having a more cohesive society that has</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> the</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> well off and the poorest living along side each other. No let’s just segregate people from different social classes even more. What co</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">uld possibly go wrong? Take this with the selling off of “high value” Housing Association properties, you begin to wonder if the government has any plans to deal with the shortage of affordable housing at all? I’ll let you be the judge of that. </span></div>
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<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">There is much more in the budget to go over but I can’t go on forever and I’ve probably bored you by now but I’</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">ll just quickly sum up. </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">£37bn</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> of cuts. £12bn in Welfare</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> cuts</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> and an extra £20bn in departmental budget cuts. Oh and only £5bn invested to deal with tax avoidance and evasion which will raise only £7</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">.5</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">bn over the cou</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">rse of the parliament despite </span><a href="http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/09/22/new-report-the-tax-gap-is-119-4-billion-and-rising/"><span class="s4" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Britain</span><span class="s4" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> losing over £100bn in tax avoidance and evasion</span></a>. <span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">So basically there</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> are going</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> to be more cuts in welfare than money raised from rich individuals</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> or corporations</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> not paying tax. Says it all really.</span></div>
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<span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">To lighten the mood after this rather angry rant, o</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">n next week’</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">s blog there’ll be e</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">xclusive </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">pictures of Greek Prime Minister Alex Tspiras literally</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">bending and taking some good old 'financial discipline' from </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Angela Merkel. ;)</span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-56044089404550604572015-06-10T14:02:00.000-07:002015-06-11T00:01:07.081-07:00Why Labour need Jeremy Corbyn as their Leader.<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A month since the general election and the contest for Labour leader is heating up.<br />When the first four candidates were announced, I groaned at the thought of labour sharply moving back to the right with no proper consideration for what went wrong at the general election. The general assumption seemed to be that because Ed Miliband was supposedly too left wing they needed to re-ignite blairism in the hope of attracting that holy grail of voters. The "squeezed middle" in the south of England. Forgetting of course that they lost a lot of seats to an anti-austerity party in Scotland. Although I will concede that Miliband was certainly to the left of Tony Blair, was he actually that left wing?</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Well if you believed the right wing media you'd be forgiven for thinking he was a rabid Marxist. In reality he promised austerity, backed academies, still wanted a role for the private sector in the NHS and promised to be just as tough on welfare as the Tories. So now when you look at that you think what do Labour actually stand for? And that was their problem in a nutshell. No clear narrative.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Anyway back to the candidates themselves, lets see where they stand. Liz Kendall believes Labour should be "reformists" and be "economically credible" and back austerity and welfare cuts. After researching Mary Creagh, I found out that she pushed the last Labour government to make school food healthier, supports HS2 and wants Labour to learn from what Blair did to win them elections. Yvette Cooper worked in the treasury under the last Labour Government and like Andy Burnham believes Labour should back "Aspiration" and not be too anti-business and encourage enterprise and business to grow. So far one staunch right-winger, A person that doesn't stand for much and two candidates standing for meaningless vacuous phrases.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">However the last candidate to throw their hat in the ring was Jeremy Corbyn. Lets see what he stands for. Anti austerity, anti privatisation, pro public ownership of the railways and NHS and anti trident. Whatever your political views, you can't deny that Corbyn is the only candidate that puts clear distance between Labour and the Tories and the only one that seems to have any staunch principles. Offer a clear </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">alternative and people will listen. The British public aren't that hostile to some of the things </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Corbyn stands for. </span><a href="http://labourlist.org/2015/03/almost-two-thirds-of-people-want-some-form-of-public-ownership-of-the-railways-polls-finds/" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">For instance, there is quite a lot of support for public ownership of the railways.</a></h4>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">And yes I am a Green Party member and I'll continue to vote green until another party offers a clear alternative to the Conservatives. Labour don't at the moment but if Corbyn becomes leader, I will look to see where he takes Labour and may vote for them in future but for now, lets hope he at least gets on the ballot.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">So to sum up, I urge the Labour MPs that haven't nominated anyone yet, please nominate Corbyn. As I type this he has the support of 11 MPs. He needs 35 to be on the ballot paper. And to anyone reading this, please also urge Labour MPs to back Jeremy Corbyn. They have until the 15th June to nominate a candidate. If nothing else, he could offer a real debate within the leadership race to what otherwise could be a very dull and samey affair that will do nothing to get people onside with Labour.</span></h4>
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stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-10976942003906526032015-05-28T14:27:00.001-07:002015-05-28T14:27:51.932-07:00Three weeks since the general elections. Thoughts and musings and what to do next?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yay we did it guys. We beat
the Tories. There is now a progressive alliance between Lab/SNP/Green and
plaid. Austerity is over.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">So that was the dream and now
the reality that the Tories have an actual majority, I feel a sense of despair.
I say majority, but 37% of the vote (if you don't count non voters) is hardly a
ringing endorsement.</span> To those that say "get over it, the Tories won the election, you lefties lost", I simply say this. Now matter how the election panned out, I was never going to stand by and watch Housing Benefit being taken away from young people, our Human Rights being taken away and our social housing being sold off. And also as I don't want to seem insular and narrowly preaching, I am happy to debate anyone who disagrees with me and have a genuine conversation about the future of the country. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>So are quite a lot people in
the country on the right of politics?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This question is
interesting. The opinion polls show majority support for things like rent
controls and public ownership of the railways and health service. Yet
considering how wrong the opinion polls were for the election, was this type of
polling wrong as well? Were the samples they took accurate and representative?
Maybe people are more right wing then polls suggest. Considering the insular
individualistic culture and the divide and rule tactic that has been promoted
over the last 30 years, is it any wonder 11 million people voted out of fear?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This brings me to my next
point. The opinion polls showed a tie between Labour and the Tories right up to
the election day, yet the there were still quite a few people undecided until
election day. My theory is that the undecideds swung the election back to the
Tories, partly based on fear of a Labour/SNP coalition. And even though the way
data is collected for polls has been improved, occasionally polls will have
wild inaccuracies, as proven by the 1992 election.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this election, the Green Party got 1,157,613 votes. An increase of 336% from 2010 and the Tories got 2,000,952
more votes than Labour and won the election. It would be very easy to say the
Greens split the vote on the left and let the Tories in. But looking at the
figures, it would have not made much of a difference if all those that voted
Green, voted Labour. It would of only meant one more seat for Labour but they
still would of fallen short in votes. And if you look at the places that Greens
did well but didn't win, I.e. Bristol West, Norwich, Islington North, Liverpool
Riverside, these were seats that Labour
won . In my constituency, where it was a Tory/Labour marginal that Labour won,
the Greens only got 2% of the vote. This shows that the Greens didn't really
split the vote on the 'left' as much as people thought. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore this argument implies
that Labour are still on the left. In my
opinion, Labour sent a very mixed message in the election. On one hand they said they
would tax the richest more but also stick to the Tories spending plans and cut
public spending. At least with the Tories and the Green Party, you knew where
you stood. Maybe this was also a contribution to Labour's downfall. With the Blairites taking control of the leadership contest, I think we can wave goodbye to Labour being a genuine opposition to the Tories in the next five years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>This is all well and good but
what can the 63% of the electorate opposed to the Tories do now they are in
power?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Good question. Well democracy
doesn't just happen every five years at the ballot box. It happens when you join a
trade union, take direct action by occupying spaces, going to rallies and
protests, or even just chatting to someone in the pub or in the workplace about
things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It all counts. Especially
that last one. It's all well and good going to a protest or a rally and
preaching to the choir but if you actually chat to people on a everyday basis,
you can get a sense about why they voted the way they did or why they didn't vote. As I said earlier, I am happy to chat to anyone about politics and if all of us on the left get out of our comfort zone and talked to people we don't agree with, maybe we can convince someone to take action or change their mind. Case in
point. Someone I have known for years is quite Conservative in their views and
we often disagree on politics but they were genuinely undecided at this
election and voted Green for the first time because of the passion I showed for
the Green Party. I'm not saying they are a Green Party activist now but I was
told how they voted after the election and it genuinely made me happy and I felt that if I could convince just that one person to go from Conservative to
Green, what else can I achieve? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If enough of us fight for what we believe in, things can change. The people on The New Era estate stopped key social housing being sold off to
rich US investors. A recent threat of strike action forced the Queen to pay her
staff a living wage. It doesn't matter how big or small, every victory counts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what I suggest everyone does now is keep active, starting with a very important rally at Parliament Square on
Saturday 30th may to defend the Human Rights Act. Already the government seem to be
backing down on this. Lets keep the pressure up, not just now, but for the
next five years. It's going to be tough, but hopefully it will be even tougher
for the Tories when we show them that we won't stand by and let them enact
their cruel policies.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-670516464980596582015-04-23T05:46:00.000-07:002015-04-23T09:40:12.325-07:00Two weeks to go. Hold my nose and vote for Labour? Or be brave and vote for real change?<br />
Two weeks to go the general election. I bet most of you are sick of the coverage now and just want it over and done with so we know who our next government is.<br />
<br />
Well it may not even be that simple. Given how close the main two parties are in the polls, it is very likely that we will see a hung parliament for the second election in a row. Given how both Labour and the Tories have said that they will not form a coalition with other parties, it is going to be interesting to see how either main party will try to reach out to other parties so they can form a minority government with support on a vote by vote issue. So although the votes will be counted by 8th May, we probably wont get another government formed for a couple of weeks.<br />
<br />
For those that have read my previous blogs, you'll know that I've said I'm voting for the Green Party. Given that I've been a member since 2012, it would be a bit weird if I didn't.<br />
<br />
Now given all the uncertainty surrounding the election and the fact that it is unlikely that either party will get enough seats to form a majority government, will I change my stance? A concern for those on the left of politics is that the more people vote Green, the more that splits the Labour vote, the less seats they'll get, and the more likely it is that the Tories get back into government.<br />
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Owen Jones has recently written an article urging people to vote Labour. He says that the main difference between Labour and Tories on the Bedroom Tax should be reason enough to vote Labour. He says that the fact that Labour have vowed to get rid of the Bedroom Tax will make a difference to so many vulnerable people's lives. He uses a case whereby a woman got her housing benefit cut because her daughter died and therefore she had a spare bedroom. That is the cruel idea behind the Bedroom Tax. You get your Housing Benefit cut if have a spare bedroom.<br />
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Owen also makes the point that campaigners have pressured Labour to change their stance on the Bedroom Tax, to promise a clamp down on tax avoidance and to get rid of exploitative zero hour contracts. Therefore us lefties are more likely to get concessions from a Labour Government than a Tory one. <br />
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There has been this idea mooted around called "vote swapping". So what you would do is swap your Green vote for a Labour one in a constituency where it is a Labour/Tory marginal. In return someone will vote for Green in a constituency that isn't so risky for Labour. The main problem with this is that it involves an element of trust with a complete stranger. How would you know whether they followed through on their promise as all voting is anonymous?<br />
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In the past I have rubbished the idea of tactical voting and said it is a scaremongering tactic from Labour supporters that know their party isn't offering enough of an alternative for people to be inspired to vote for them. However, I have softened my stance. I understand why people will consider doing this and especially those that are suffering from the pernicious attacks on the most vulnerable by this government. I do not judge those that go for the safe option of voting for a slightly less harsh Labour government. <br />
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So going back to the original question I posed, have I changed my stance and decided to vote Labour? After careful consideration I'm afraid the answer is no. Personally I can't vote for a Labour Party that still backs the horrible Work Capability Assessment (which they bought in 2009 along with the Bedroom Tax). I can't vote for a Labour Party that backs the destruction of our environment by promising to continue investment in fracking. I can't vote for a Labour Party that wants to keep Academies that are very selective schools that don't guarantee provision for SEN students. And lastly I can't vote for a Labour Party that supports limited privatisation of the NHS rather than none.<br />
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The Green Party opposes all these policies and offers a positive vision of the future which sees our public services run for the public not for private profit, which sees people paid a living wage and which sees an education system where children are taught genuine life skills rather than shoved through constant exams. It is why I'm voting green.<br />
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Will this vote be wasted in that all it will do is consign us to five more years of Tory austerity? Not necessarily. Miliband is getting more popular, especially with his "milifandom" (Look it up, seriously it is so weird). So it is likely that we could have a Labour minority government, that with pressure from progressive parties like SNP, Plaid and Green, we can help enact policies that we desperately need to change this country for the better.stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-75187883026663817662015-04-07T17:00:00.005-07:002015-04-07T17:00:47.916-07:00A month to go to the election and Labour still aren't offering a clear alternative to the Conservatives. Time to vote for real change.So it is a month to go until the general election. Things are getting exciting for those of us interested in politics. Now considering how close it is between Labour and the Tories in the polls, with the Tories on 34% and Labour on 33%, every vote really does count. So will I change my stance and vote Labour to keep the Tories out?<br />
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Well I'll answer that by quoting Ed Miliband in responding to what Leanne Wood said to him in the Leaders Debate about Labour supporting privatisation in the NHS. "My Two sons were born in a PFI Hospital, it was an old falling down hospital, but you are right, there need to be limits to privatisation." Notice the word limit. For me that shows that Labour support some elements of the private sector running NHS services, which is just wrong on so many levels. And he defended PFI? The very same initiative that has put so many hospitals into debt and being put into special measures. Any party that supports even limited privatisation of the NHS does not get my vote.<br />
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And when it comes to austerity, the economic policy that is destroying so many lives and widening the gap between the rich and the poor, what does Ed Miliband say? Again I'm taking this as a direct quote from the Leaders Debate "We will make common sense spending reductions and in areas outside Health and Education, spending will be falling". To put it in other words, Labour supports austerity.<br />
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When you put this to Labour supporters, they just respond negatively and tell you that a vote for Labour is a vote AGAINST the Tories and to get them out of government. How about I vote FOR a party I believe in?<br />
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When it comes down to it, yes they have policies on the 50p rate of tax and abolishing the bedroom tax which I agree with, but they generally support the idea of Austerity. They have given in to the mantra that it was the last government's overspending that lead to a massive increase in our debt rather than a global financial crisis caused by speculation in dodgy financial products.<br />
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You know how desperate Labour are getting when they jump on a dubious and it turns out false article that suggests Nicola Sturgeon prefers David Cameron to Ed Miliband to be Prime Minister. Yeah don't debate on the serious issue of Austerity, but just join a smear campaign which is completely false. This arrogant quote from a Labour candidate, who tweeted about this, says it all.<br />
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“I haven’t taken it down,” said Mike Gapes, who is standing for Labour in Ilford South. “There is, privately, an SNP agenda that wants Cameron to stay in office because it would speed up a second referendum on independence.”<br />
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So to sum up, do you really want to vote for a party that doesn't offer a real alternative to the Tories and just uses negative tactics to get people to vote for them? I'll just leave you with Natalie Bennett's closing Leaders Debate statement which sums up why I'm voting for real change.<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHmaZWFmK3o<br />
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<br />stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254961019109972280.post-13458349486110901892015-03-04T04:47:00.001-08:002015-03-04T04:47:26.639-08:00Everyday Sexism and why we should all be feminists<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Welcome to my third blog in
three weeks. Not quite so topical this week but a blog I've been considering
writing for a while. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway a couple of months ago
I read a book called Everyday Sexism. I'm a feminist so naturally the book
interested me.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It all stemmed from an woman
called Laura Bates who started this Everyday Sexism project in 2012 to
highlight her own experiences and encouraged others to send their experiences
in to her website and facebook page. She got so many responses that it went viral
worldwide. She then started regularly speaking in schools, colleges and
universities and started writing articles for newspapers. This has now
culminated in a book that highlights a lot of experiences of women around the
world and is backed up with stats and puts sexism in various contexts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In her book, Laura covers
subjects such as harassment on the street, public transport and the workplace.
Did you know for instance that in 2012 43% of women in London aged 18-34
experienced sexual harassment. (Source: Yougov).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She also covers gender
stereotyping at an early age to
encourage children to stick to traditional gender roles. One of the examples
used in the book was a woman tweeting in to her that 'Every time a girl sees
science toys under a boys sign, she is told science in not suitable for her'.
From a boys perspective, a mother messaged in to the project saying how she
received a lot of negative comments about her son pushing around a doll in a
pushchair.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore she also
discusses sexism in the media. It's pointed out that women write only a fifth
of newspaper articles in the UK. (Source: Women in Journalism Study 2012). The
lack of representation of women in politics is also highlighted (Only 147 out
650 MPs are women).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Double Discrimination is also
seen as a key issue. One stat pointed out is that in the UK almost 1 in 5
black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi women is unemployed compared to 1 in 14 white
women. (Source: APPG on Race and
Community 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">These are just some of the
many example whereby women experience everyday sexism. There are many more in
the book and in a wider variety of contexts across the world. This isn't just a
book review, but more of a blog about how Everyday Sexism has reiterated to me
the importance of the fight against sexism and how we can all get involved. There is no excuse not to be a feminist. It is purely about gender equality regardless of the negative connotation the word has had attached to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So I urge everyone,
regardless of what type of book you usually read, to read Everyday Sexism. Especially to those that think sexism basically doesn't exist any more. This could really open your mind. Yes we have made certain strides in the fight
for gender equality but the Everyday Sexism project proves how much more we
need to do. </span></div>
stopthecuts999http://www.blogger.com/profile/16485488826153000299noreply@blogger.com0