Why I like to pay taxes....

Love it. Hat tip the USA coffee movement. Maybe we should form something similar across the pond to counter the uber right wing Tories or their Kipper cousins.

Why is Housing the dog that never has its political day?

It was pretty depressing to read "Inside Housing" last week and see that housing is not in the voters top 10 priorities for the general election.

For someone who works in social housing and whose case work as a Councillor is mainly about overcrowding or homelessness, it seems very strange that "housing" is not a top election issue.

This is not just a "London thing". I'm now back from seasonable breaks in North Wales and Lincolnshire where both my sisters have a mid 20's adult "child" living with them because it is too expensive to rent or buy. Another nephew in Ipswich is also still at home saving up to buy aged 30.

So why is there this apparent lack of political interest?

There is an argument that if you are adequately housed then its "I'm all right Jack" and you are simply not that interested in homelessness or poor quality housing.

I'm sure that this is true for some but I think that the deeper real problem is that people no longer believe it is the role of the state to ensure that its people are adequately housed in secure, decent and affordable homes.  Instead housing is treated differently than say the NHS and seen by many as the responsibility of individuals and families.

This is a political problem but a problem that will be eventually fixed. See the chart above (double click to bring up details) which I think illustrates the scale of the housing crisis and how we are in a bubble that will eventually burst.

Since 1969 the supply of housing has crashed. In particular the supply of council housing. Neither private builders nor Housing Associations have taken up the slack. At the same time the price of housing has gone up and up. This cannot continue and something has got to give. Once this bubble has burst housing will become a political priority again. The role of councils is tackling this crisis will be critical.

We have to increase the supply of housing that people can afford and we have to control rents. To increase the supply of truly affordable housing somebody will have to subsidise it. Cross subsidy, freeing public and private land banks and allowing greater freedom to borrow is all well and good. We should not fool anyone that the scale of the crisis is such that it will need money. That money will have to come from the state as it takes up its traditional role again to make sure its people are decently housed. 

 Hat tip IPIN for chart.

Sign me up as a Labour supporter...fight the General Election (and pick the next London Mayor)

There is only 4 months and 5 days to go until the General Election. So this is going to be a busy, busy time for me and other Labour activists.

Part of my job as West Ham Labour agent and Chair of London UNISON Labour Link will be to encourage Labour Supporters to get involved and become active.

There are more UNISON members who voluntarily pay the Labour Party political levy in London than there are Labour Party members in the Capital. 

The National Party is finally implementing the Collins Report reforms and has set up this website for Labour Party supporters to register. The primary purpose of this website (and postcard campaign) should be to encourage affiliates and supporters to take part in the election.  Immediately after the election, there will be a selection process to pick the Labour candidate to be the next London Mayor.

UNISON should be ahead of all the major trade union affiliates since we already have separate  Labour Party and General political funds (members can chose which one or none). So we only need a signature for our Labour Link affiliates.

So I hope and expect that UNISON will be busy promoting and signing up our members to be Labour activists in the forthcoming election, help elect a Labour Government and then get these members involved in the primary for London Mayor.

So if you are a UNISON member and pay the Labour Party levy (also known as Applied Political Fund - APF) but haven't signed up yet as a supporter then click on this link.

Happy New Year 2015 - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Picture of Bardsey, the Island of 20,000 Saints, Llyn Peninsular, New Years Day 2011

My year according to Google+

This is what Google+ thinks of my 2014. Sad that Gerry and Stuart as well as others are no longer with us but there was many good times as well. Highlights of the year for me was being re-elected as a Councillor in West Ham, visiting Ireland and completing the London Triathlon.

"Charity is a cold grey loveless thing..."

Well said Clem.  Remember there is a difference between rich people doling out charity to please their fancy or conscience and working people showing solidarity to others with their widow's mites.

UPDATE: its been pointed out this this quote is a mis-attribution. It was actually said by Attlee's biographer Frances Beckett summarising his views. This is the quote I think he was referring to - it still all makes sense to me.

 “In a civilised community, although it may be composed of self-reliant individuals, there will be some persons who will be unable at some period of their lives to look after themselves, and the question of what is to happen to them may be solved in three ways – they may be neglected, they may be cared for by the organised community as of right, or they may be left to the goodwill of individuals in the community. The first way is intolerable, and as for the third: Charity is only possible without loss of dignity between equals. A right established by law, such as that to an old age pension, is less galling than an allowance made by a rich man to a poor one, dependent on his view of the recipient’s character, and terminable at his caprice.”- The Social Worker 1920

TUC New Year message – 2015 must bring living standards boost as average wage fell £500 in 2014

"In her New Year message, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady reveals that the real value of the average full-time wage fell by £487 in 2014 (from new TUC analysis – full details below). This means that the average full-time employee wage has fallen in real terms by £2,509 since 2010 – about £50 a week".

Read the rest of this depressing but true press release here  - but Frances does point to a solution "

In 2015 we need a fresh start. Employers are beginning to recognise that a low wage economy is holding back growth. It is time to turn their words into action because businesses need customers with money in their pockets. Government, employers and unions must work together to promote wage led growth.

“This means increasing pay for those at the bottom with a higher minimum wage and spreading the living wage.

“But it also means better pay for those in the middle, and a real drive to create secure, skilled jobs on decent pay rather than relying on zero-hours, involuntary part-time work and low-paid self-employment to keep the jobless figures down. This needs active industrial policies that help create good jobs and investment in infrastructure we need to underpin success.

Election Address for Greater London UNISON Regional Finance Convenor

The Labour movement election season is about to start. My first election of 2015 will be for the UNISON London Regional council elections at our AGM in February.  I have at least a dozen possible contests, if not more, in the coming year for various trade union, party and pension positions. 

I will post further on the slate for the forces of light and reason in London UNISON. Below is my election statement. Please note reference to fighting union busting and anti human rights employers such as Ealing based Catalyst Housing Association.

"I am currently the Regional Finance Convenor, and firmly believe that strong management of our member’s money is the foundation to organising campaigns that deliver for our members. In the best of times this is true but now in the worst of times it is even more important than ever.

If re-elected as the Regional Finance Convenor I will continue to ensure that the member’s money is used to support branches focusing on real issues for real members such as:

•        Resisting the Tory Coalition Cuts

•        Defending the NHS and Pensions

•        Campaigning for directly provided services and to defend our public services

•        Recruitment & building branch organisation

•        Campaigning for equalities

•        Strengthening our influence in all areas but in particular Community & Voluntary, Education and in Private Contractors. Standing up to anti-trade union employers and union busters.

Open & transparent

Financial decisions need to be open and transparent and be easily understood by activists.  We have a  responsibility to our members to be diligent and ensure probity in our financial matters.

I want to make sure that activists better understand the financial support that is available to branches and ensure that the money gets to them to support recruitment and organising campaigns.

I am an experienced branch officer and regional activist for many years.  I am currently the Branch Secretary of the Housing Associations branch, member nominated representative on Pension panel and Chair of London Labour Link. I am also the elected National Executive Council member for Community. 

As part of the current lay leadership team, working in partnership with the regional office, we have had significant success in the past 9 years in strengthening our union in London by bringing greater unity, building participation across the differing service and self organised groups, and building a union to be proud of.  I hope to be re-elected to continue the work we have started. In these difficult and demanding times we need a team that can deliver.

If anyone wishes to discuss my statement with me they could email me at johndotgray2012ATbtinternet.com

Today is ‘Let’s remember the Daily Mail supported Hitler’ day!

"It has been announced that December 28th is from now on to be the day when we should all remember that just prior to the Second World War, English newspaper the Daily Mail was actively supporting the Nazi dictator Hitler.....

The decision to have a special day to remind people that behind the Mail’s paper-thin facade of middle class respectability lurks a creepingly foul fascist cesspit has been in the pipeline for a while, but finally came to fruition following the paper’s story today about the Queen’s correspondence with former nutter and cannibal Idi Amin.

The Daily Mail sees fit to be critical of Queen Elizabeth’s official communications with Amin in the seventies, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a mere 40 years before they were themselves sucking at the bitter Aryan teat of the man who sent millions to the gas chambers.

In case anyone has forgotten, the Mail’s owner Lord Rothermere published a famous editorial titled “Hurrah for the Blackshirts” in the early thirties, and in 1934 flew to Germany to offer Hitler his support. Incredibly, this sort of thing is hardly ever mentioned in the Daily Mail these days.

Based on the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Daily Mail in just about everything it does, it seems appropriate to choose a special day when the paper’s previous support for fascism can be remembered, commented upon and widely used to annoy current readers.

It is expected that this day will henceforth be a festival of national celebration of tolerance, understanding and ridicule of shit journalism. Schoolchildren are to be encouraged to produce their own spoof newspapers attacking immigrants, gays and cancer, and there will be bunting.

In conclusion, please join with us, readers, in celebrating December 28th as “International the Daily Mail supported Hitler” day!"

British Foreign Policy in the Middle East - Newham Compass

Advance notice of the next Newham Compass event on Tuesday 17th February

"British Foreign Policy in the Middle East"

with Mike Gapes, MP for Ilford South.

I have a clash (my UNISON branch AGM) so will not be able to make it. Which is a shame not least since Mike is a former chair of the foreign affairs select committee.

I'll post more details when I get them.