Labour Party CLP NEC election results 2016

Clean sweep for Jeremy Corbyn supporters on the Labour Party NEC. A significant margin I think.

UNISON National Labour Link Committee (I am a NEC member of this committee) meets on Thursday to decide on our nomination.

My Nephew Lewis and his Baby Daughter Teagan

Off message but love this picture from today of East Ham born Lewis and his beautiful 2 month daughter, Teagan. Lewis and his partner Felicity, had to go through the drama of childbirth and then soon after moving into their new home in Witham, Essex.

I won't make cheap political points about the really difficult time this young couple had getting a home to bring up their baby.

They have made it, but it is still very scary with a big mortgage debt and uncertainty over future interest rates.

To me, the right to adequate housing is a fundamental political issue and while I am so happy that Lewis, Felicity and Teagan now have a home - so many others in similar circumstances - don't. 

 

Sports Direct: The Evil Workhouse: Union shareholders call for independent review of the inhuman employment practices at AGM

"The Trade Union Share Owners group (TUSO) has submitted a resolution to the Sports Direct AGM calling for an independent review of their widely criticised employment practices, which have led MPs to compare the company to a ‘Victorian workhouse’.

Details of the resolution were published today (Friday) in the company’s AGM notice. In the explanatory notes, the Sports Direct board recommends that its shareholders vote against the resolution, stating that it has asked its law firm RPC to compile a Working Practices Report.

Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of TUSO coalition member the TUC, said: “It is bitterly disappointing that the board of Sports Direct has declined to back the resolution. The board’s backing would have sent out a clear public message of reassurance to shareholders that it is serious about addressing deep-seated problems with its employment practices.

“We do not have confidence in the independence of any review led by Sports Direct’s own legal firm. And many of the shareholders we have spoken to share our view of the importance of a fully independent review as the only way to make sure that in future Sports Direct delivers fairness for staff, and decent returns for shareholders.

“We hope that asset managers invested in Sports Direct, who manage the capital of working people, will give the board a clear signal that change is needed by voting for the resolution. And we encourage the management of Sports Direct to continue constructive dialogue with the trade union Unite to improve conditions and respect for staff.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- TUSO is a coalition of trade union funds (comprising the TUC, Unite, UNISON and the International Transport Workers Federation) with over £1.5bn assets on the capital markets, including shareholdings in Sports Direct.

- Resolution 19 to the Sports Direct AGM states: “That the board commissions an independent review of Sports Direct International plc’s human capital management strategy and report back to shareholders within six months.” Full explanatory notes along with the board’s full reasons for recommending rejection of the resolution are in the AGM notice for 2016 which can be downloaded from here: www.sportsdirectplc.com/media-centre/press-kit.aspx

- Sports Direct was heavily criticised in a report by the Business Innovation and Skills select committee that was published on 22 July 2016. For more information visit: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news-parliament-2015/working-practices-at-sports-direct-report-published-16-17/

- Sports Direct is currently the subject of an investigation by HMRC into its failures to pay the minimum wage to some staff.

 

Hat tip TUC Website

“Last chance to give your views on UNISON's Labour nomination”

I am sending this out (hopefully) today to the 1000 members of my branch who are members of the Labour Party supporting affiliated fund.

"Support Jeremy Corbyn, Owen Smith or make no nomination?

Dear Labour Link (APF members). 

You should all by now have received an email from our General Secretary, Dave Prentis, asking you to take part on our consultation about the future Labour Party Leadership. If you have not voted yet please do as soon as possible. The consultation will finish this Monday 8 August.

This is a really important election for UNISON and the Country. Please make sure that you let National Labour Link Committee know your views.

Yours faithfully

John Gray

Branch Labour Link officer and National Committee member

Check out further information on the UNISON website https://www.unison.org.uk/about/our-organisation/political-affiliations-and-support/labour-link/labour-leadership-elections-2016/

High Court Strikes out Libel Claim as “totally without merit”

In a victory for free speech (and common sense) yesterday the High Court struck out a claim of libel against me by Kamran Malik (see judgment and order below). Mr Malik objected to me republishing here a government press release that described his imprisonment for immigration advice offenses. He will no doubt appeal.

If anyone wants to link or comment on this case can they please be careful and also be fully aware of the probable consequences. I have closed off my own comment thread.

Many thanks to my ace legal team - Barrister Jonathan Price, Solicitor Advocates Robert Dougans and Serena Cooke.

Check out the written judgment on this blogger page here

(UPDATE: there is a typo in the order that is being sorted)

Me, Dave and the Royal Court of Justice result...

Picture from early on this evening  at the UNISON centre with my social media comrade, Dave Osland, enjoying some beers to celebrate another freedom of expression legal victory at the Royal Court of Justice.

Further details on the case will hopefully be blogged tomorrow.

Hat tip photo Stroppybird

London Loop Walk: Section 7 - Kingston Bridge to The Causeway

Off message. I am trying to catch up on my walking posts.  Following the May 5 election I went on a walking weekend with Gill to get away from politics and enjoy my "hinterland".  We have been trying to complete the London Loop since last year in sections. The Loop is a 150 mile circular walk around London.

On the Saturday we walked section 6 Banstead to Kingston which was about 11 miles.

We stayed the Saturday night in a great "Airbnb" flat and enjoyed a night out in Kingston.   On Sunday we walked from Kingston Bridge to The Causeway (about 10 miles).

Bushy Park was a pleasure. A lovely green park with deer, lakes and beautiful flower displays.

There are some busy roads and industrial areas during the walk but lots of walking next to water.   Hounslow Heath was amazingly remote and even a little wild despite the noise from airplanes taking off from nearby Heathrow airport.

I have lived in London for 28 years but spent nearly all that time in East and Central London. It has been an experience to walk and explore South, West and (next) North London.  I recommend that all Londoners who can, should have a go at the "London Loop" and walk around their great City.

There is no race and you can complete it in as long or short time as you want. 

Check out more photos at my "London Loop" FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/LondonLoop2015/

Cathy come home: 50th anniversity tonight on BBC4

"In 1966 the powerful Cathy Come Home shone a light on the desperate housing problems gripping Britain at the time. When the programme first aired, the extent of the crisis shocked the nation – 3 million people were living in slums or stuck in a brutal private renting market. It was a far cry from the popular notion of the swinging 60s.

The film generated massive public support for Shelter, which was established only a few weeks later. We’ve been working tirelessly to make life better for those struggling with bad housing and homelessness ever since.

But while, thankfully, the slums have faded into memory, the sad truth is that this country is once again at the mercy of a housing crisis – and a new generation of Cathys have nowhere to call home.

Private rental sector is the 'new home of poverty' in the UK

Brian Robson

Urgent action is needed to empower local authorities to drive up the standards of privately owned homes

Read more

On this, the film’s 50th anniversary, homelessness is on the rise again. Every day at Shelter our advisers support families across the country who have lost the battle to stay in their homes. We see the heartbreaking toll that bad housing takes on people’s health and wellbeing, and the way it breaks up families and communities.

This is the tragic result of decades of failure by successive governments to tackle the root causes of this crisis and build the genuinely affordable homes we so desperately need. From people forced to live in unstable, unsuitable and often unsafe private rented homes, to the thousands of families stuck in temporary accommodation, right though to a generation of young people who have lost hope of ever getting on to the property ladder.

Everyone deserves the chance to have a stable home where they can put down roots and build a life for themselves, but today’s sky-high housing costs mean this is nothing more than a distant dream for many. And with millions living on a financial knife-edge, it doesn’t take much, such as an illness or a reduction in working hours, to tip a family into the downward spiral towards homelessness.

W​e need nothing short of a wholesale review of housing policy​ after Brexit

Bob Kerslake

The report by the House of Lords economic affairs committee should be required reading for the incoming housing minister, Gavin Barwell

Read more

But if our history tells us anything, it’s that together we can make a difference. The new government has a chance to turn things around, by committing to building homes that people on ordinary incomes can afford to rent or buy, and strengthening the welfare safety net that is there to catch those who fall on hard times.

Shelter will continue to fight for everyone to have a safe, secure and affordable place to call home and will be there to support those who have lost the battle to keep a roof over their heads, for as long as we are needed. But ultimately, I hope we won’t still be here in another 50 years.

For the sake of future generations we cannot make this someone else’s problem. Together, we all face the consequences when thousands of families and children grow up in homes that are simply not good enough. And together, we can fix it.

• Cathy Come Home will be screened tonight at 10pm on BBC4

Sunday Night Live: 30 July 2016 Social Movements - The end of politics as we know it?

"Prior to our pause for the August break, come join us at our Sunday Night Live Summer Salon where we’ll be discussing the rise social movements, implications for politics and political parties.

 

The fastest growing political movements across the left and right the world over are those who have risen out of disenchantment with the current economic and political order by disparate social forces.

 

And if politics is a battle of social forces, political parties act as representatives of those forces. Just look at the success of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who tapped into the Tea Party movement; or Bernie Sanders whose movement has dragged the Democrats’ policy platform to the left and got Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to proclaim ‘your cause is our cause’ during her acceptance speech on Thursday.

  

Developments across Europe suggest there won’t be a return to business as usual anytime soon either. The schisms gripping the Labour Party since its membership voted for an anti-establishment left-wing leader last year has resulted in a leadership challenger who is trying to convince half a million party members that only he can take forward an anti-austerity agenda as an electoral winner based on a different kind of social movement - but the same politics.

 

We’ve also witnessed the UK Conservative Party making electoral in-roads with a superficial centrist agenda; the rise of Ukip which led to the UK voting to leave the EU; the fortunes of Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain twiddling against the face of popular criticism; and the rise of nationalists in Austria which has paralleled the upward trend in support for populist politicians across Europe’s core: France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and now even Germany.

 

While it is proclaimed that new and invigorated social movements are needed to provide the basis for change in the old world / status quo politics, Sunday Night Live will explore: 

 

• How convincing are social movements as agents of civic and democratic mobilisation in alternative to political parties?
• How much can political parties learn from social movements?
• Can social movements interact with political parties?
• To what extent and under which conditions can party organisations adopt tools and repertories of actions of social movements in a way that leads to electoral success?
• Can political parties comfortably recruit political personnel coming (or expected to come) from social movements?

So come join us for a relaxed evening of documentary viewing and discussion. Register here now and we look forward to seeing you!

 

 Feel free to invite your friends, circulate this email to your networks and post on Facebook & Twitter!"

TUC found that between 2007 and 2015 in the UK, real wages fell by 10.4%, the joint lowest in OECD countries

I think this is one of the real reasons for Brexit.  No wonder so many people feel angry and betrayed in the face of such a massive cut in wages. 

Employment may be relatively high but evidently most of these jobs are insecure and have rotten pay. Low skilled, low paid jobs with little or no rights for workers breed fear and resentment. 

So encouraged by populist nationalism they blamed johnny foreigner for all their ills and not the excesses and imbalances of capitalism that caused it. 

"A report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has shown that Britain has suffered a bigger fall in real wages since the financial crisis than any other advanced country apart from Greece. The TUC said earnings in Britain have fallen by 10% since the credit crunch began in 2007. 

Using data from the OECD’s recent employment outlook, the TUC found that over the same 2007-2015 period, real wages grew in Poland by 23%, in Germany by 14%, and in France by 11%. Across OECD countries, real wages increased by an average of 6.7%. 

The TUC’s general secretary, Frances O'Grady, commented: “Wages fell off the cliff after the financial crisis, and have barely begun to recover. Working people must not foot the bill for a Brexit downturn in the way they did for the bankers’ crash.”

The Guardian, Page: 1,4 The Times, Page: 43