Africa For Norway - New charity single out now!

Excellent! Hat tip Foday Kabba from my branch who saw this video at the recent UNISON International Seminar at the wonderful UNISON holiday village at Croyde Bay.

Gregg McClymont MP on Pensions and Shaping Capitalism

Picture of Labour Shadow Pension Minister Gregg McClymont MP addressing UNISON Housing Association Branch AGM at the House of Commons.  Gregg was our keynote speaker on a subject that is very close to the hearts of many UNISON members, who work in the sector due to unnecessary closures and contribution hikes in many of our funds, recent announcements on state pensions and the impending auto-enrolment of non savers into pensions schemes.

He started his speech by teasing me that I was one of the very few Labour supporters who turned up to the Pension fringes at last year's Party conference in Manchester.  These fringes tend to be dominated by financial services lobbyists, who on the whole are not known for being rank and file Labour supporters.

Then he spoke about the recent government plans for the state pension which may be simpler but is in the long run less generous. Despite a lot of noise by this Tory led Government, it actually signifies a withdrawal in state pension provision.

Next, was Private Pension plan provision and their high costs and hidden charges. How can workers work out the value of a company provided pension if they don't know how much it costs? Why doesn't the Government allow NEST (the national pension saving plan set up by the last government with cross party support) to compete without restrictions and therefore bring down costs? (I can hazard a guess; just compare who provides expensive private pensions schemes and who donates to the Conservative Party).

The 3rd and most thought provoking part of his speech was about the role that trade unions and the Labour Party can play on promoting responsible capitalism. Can we use our pension assets and wealth to tackle excess? In Norway there is a massive sovereign wealth fund which is able to influence and promote good company governance practises. In the USA there are also huge public sector pension funds which do the same and change company behaviour for the better.

He posed the question is it a long term  project for the Trade Unions and the Labour Party to shape the future of responsible capitalism through our funded investment pensions schemes? (My answer - Yes)

We had a quick Q&A since Gregg had to go off and vote at a House of Commons division (the bell ringing loudly in our committee room) but I think he understood our "concerns" about the way many of us feel that we are being ripped off by both the state and our employers with regard to Pensions and unless something is done than most face a pretty miserable poverty future.

Many thanks to Gregg and his office for helping to arrange this event.

Hat tip picture Sarah Day our ace Branch admin officer.

Reflections upon Breivik and our own Far Right

Picture is from the front page of this month’s “Searchlight” (the anti-fascist magazine). It’s just over a year since the massacre in Norway and the verdict on Breivik is due out on Thursday. Searchlight has commissioned a number of articles on about him and the Far Right. Some very good (some a little odd).

It’s clear to me that Breivik is clinically insane. You don’t go around shooting children at close range while smiling and laughing without being deranged. It is also clear though that he knows the difference between right and wrong. This means in Britain that he would probably be found guilty of murder. The law in Norway is different and he might be found to be not responsible for his actions. Either way I cannot believe he will ever be released.

Searchlight make the valid point that in this country while we are concerned with the threat of violence from Islamic extremists we seem complacent about the threat from the Far Right. I’m sure this is true. There will be similar egotistic sociopath morons out there in our green and pleasant land who think that the only thing that Breivik done wrong was just not to kill enough people.

Hat’s off to the people and government of Norway for the way they have dealt with this appalling crime.

Message to Breivik and his kind

I posted this last year.  It is quite apt. Apologies for the language if not the sentiment.

In Sorrow and Solidarity with the People of Norway

I have just watched a moving BBC news report live from Norway.  There was a church remembrance service in Oslo where the entire congregation (including the King and Queen) were in tears.  Outside the Church it was reported that Norwegians of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds were coming together in sorrow and in solidarity with each other.

 

They will not let a racist moron with a gun and a bomb destroy their social democracy, their belief in freedom, tolerance and respect. 

In the UK as well as showing our sorrow with those in the Norwegian Labour Party and its Youth League who lost family and friends, we can demostrate our solidarity here by joining the call by Hope not Hate to ban the proposed march by our own home grown racist morons (the EDL) in Tower Hamlets on September 3.