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The serious threat to trade union freedom: in your parliament this week
Last week the TUC expressed serious concerns about the far – reaching consequences of the government’s Transparency of Lobbying, Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, due for a...
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Blacklist beaten – Frank Morris reinstated on Crossrail
Blacklisted UNITE union shop steward Frank Morris is returning to work on the Crossrail project on 9 September. This is a massive victory, not just for UNITE but the whole of the trade union movement....
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Raquel Rolnik has hit the government on a sore point, and it really shows
I must start with a confession. I really don’t like Grant Shapps who for some reason is the Tory party chair. He comes across as a haughty up-market barrow boy who’d tread on his mother’s face if he...
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Who can you trust in Britain today?
The latest evidence that GCHQ in their systematic electronic harvesting of information went far beyond what the law allowed, and were acutely well aware of this, is certainly troubling, but perhaps not...
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New minister for disabled must be made to face the cruelty of ATOS & bedroom tax
With a new minister in DWP dealing with disability and a government increasingly riled by persistent reports of the mishandling of work capability assessments by ATOS, now is the time for a renewed...
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The defend-the-security-services-right-or-wrong mob get bollocking in Commons...
On every count the platitudinous apologists for mass surveillance took a kicking in yesterday’s Commons debate. Julian Smith, the previously unknown Tory MP who tried to get the Guardian prosecuted for...
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How far is too far when it comes to the freedom of the press?
I believe in freedom of the press. It’s a seemingly obvious statement for the vast majority of people in this country. And yet it’s a caveat many opposed to the Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch position...
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This week’s spooks hearing proves urgent need for independent inquiry
To call it a grilling would be unfair to fried fish. It was a soft-centre velvet-glove exchange between decent establishment chaps which only confirmed just how feeble and inadequate the present system...
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It’s not just austerity, it’s deliberately punitive
It’s called ‘sanctioning’, and it’s part of the Tory armoury designed to brutalise the poor. DWP figures, just released after being withheld for months, show that in the last year, after the Tories...
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Uncomfortable similarities to a police state
The latest revelation that the police have been trying to recruit informants about the political activities of university students produces an unpleasant and disturbing reaction that Britain is...
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Watch: an idiot’s guide to free speech
This emerged from a Twitter spat on the subject of the Stop the War Coalition conference, from which Owen Jones announced he would withdraw if Syrian nun Mother Agnes remained on the platform. But it...
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The British state is rapidly alienating a whole new generation
Seven days ago, the Guardian revealed that Cambridgeshire Constabulary had attempted to infiltrate activist and student groups through the recruitment of informers. The news prompted outcry from...
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Who gave away access for US surveillance of all British citizens?
The revelations from Edward Snowden’s documents get ever more breathtaking. It had always previously been thought that under the so-called Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing arrangements (established under...
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Pat Finucane and the Smithwick Inquiry report
Eight years after it was established, the report of the Smithwick Tribunal was finally published on Tuesday evening. I want to commend Justice Smithwick for his hard work of many years. I am very...
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When protests hit the news bulletins, the victim becomes the aggressor
Our media portrays a strikingly Orwellian picture of dissent. The images on our TV screens betray only immediate physical violence; memorably, that of students launching themselves at the Treasury in...
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Britain’s involvement in rendition is being swept under the carpet
In the last week or two before Xmas, always a good time to bury bad news, the government has repeatedly exploited its prerogative to prevent the serious misdeeds of several sections of the established...
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Cameron claims transparency, but constantly blocks Establishment being held...
Why if you can’t get a job and are 5 minutes late for a job interview or work programme do you get ‘sanctioned’ and have all your benefit (for which you’ve contributed all though your working life via...
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The Tories must not be allowed to dismantle the Human Rights Act
The Tories, helped by their lickspittle Tory tabloids, are building up a huge wave of hysteria not only against Romanian and Bulgarian immigramts, but also against the European Court of Human Rights...
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Political Scandal and Indifference
Let’s look at what you would’ve won. No more privatisations. No market fundamentalism. An extension of trade union rights. A thriving mining industry using the most advanced technology in the world. A...
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Australian “Gagging Law” thrown out by High Court
As the Transparency of Lobbying Bill – the more appropriately named Gagging Bill – continues its passage through the UK Parliament, Keith Ewing highlights how similar proposals introduced in New South...
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