Frank Field was recently dubbed the government’s ‘poverty tsar’ after the PM asked him to produce a report on inequality, particularly concerning the effects of childhood development on adult life. Today he came out in favour of a 1950s-style ‘tough love’ approach to parenting as a way to shrink inequalities at school. The remedy for the often [...]
At around six this morning I joined the picket line at Finsbury Park station. It was still dark, and the men and women on strike were gossiping about who might scab. I asked a slightly official looking woman if she was in charge. “We’re all in charge she replied, we’re all RMT.” In fact both [...]
“Of course, people who are disabled, people who are vulnerable, people who need protection will get our protection” George Osbourne said today, as he announced £4b worth of benefit cuts, “but people who think it’s a lifestyle choice to just sit on out-of-work benefits – that lifestyle choice is going to come to an end.” [...]
In the last month we’ve all heard about David Cameron’s proposed crackdown on benefit frauds. Lots has been said around the left about how these proposals are completely missing the mark in terms of where the government can be saving money if need be, but there hasn’t been much of a defense of the benefit [...]
Nine years after Oldham burned in horrific race-riots, we’re finally getting round to the only workable solution to racial segregation. The report into the incident concluded that de facto segregation in the community was a root cause of the incident, and a more recent report stated that “Segregation and divisions between Oldham’s communities is still [...]
There was a lot that was horrible about the emergency budget. The pay of all public sector employees on 21k a year or more wasa frozen for two years. With prices expected to rise by over 7.3 per cent over the next biennium, this represents an enormous real terms pay cut – equivalent to taking [...]
I have a confession to make. In my youth I made some rash decisions, fell in with a bad crowd…and ended up taking GCSE Media Studies. It wasn’t entirely my fault – I was to some extent pushed into it by the limited options open to me when picking subjects – but ultimately I have [...]
The key headlines of the past few weeks have focused on pre-election measures and proposals aimed at trying to square the multitudinous circles of simultaneously getting the UK’s spiralling debt under control, creating a more equitable system, not cutting key public services, and reforming the financial system in a meaningful way in the midst of [...]
Working class universalism is not enough. Labour does not deserve our unwavering loyalty It’s Friday evening. I should be out partying or down the pub. Instead I’m sitting in front of my computer, wondering what wondrous topic to opine upon for my column. I’ve scoured the news. David Cameron’s doing God and Boris, hopes for [...]
For all of you unionists out there, there’s an interesting-looking free conference on in London this Saturday called by SOAS UCU, SOAS Unison, and SOAS Students’ Union. “Hands off my Workmate Conference School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Saturday 17th October 2009 10am to 5.30pm On the 12th June this year, the [...]
