USA and Israel are the pariah states which should be before the International Court of Justice.
Welfare Reform CUTS and CAPS equals massive taxpayer INCREASES!
It is not only the Conservatives who are complicate, in this attack on the least able in society, while claiming to have saved money. 100% Labour controlled Manchester City Council, has rid itself of council housing and did no checks, whilst imposing the ‘bedroom tax’. All the council has done, is demolished perfectly habitable council homes, to replace them with ‘homes-to-buy’. Benefitting house builders and developers, liike failed Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash. It is time, the 80% +/_, who do not vote, to go out on mass and vote anything but Labour or Conservatives.
Labour Party – the biggest bedroom tax incompetents – IT COSTS MORE you idiots!!
Both main political parties, Labour and Conservative have only one mandate, to enrich the already rich. Both parties have shown their incompetence in office, their failures to address climate change, tax avoidance and evasion, and of course the continuing failure of our banks. It is time, those who do not vote, got out their and vote for any other (preferably the Green Party), to rid us of these fools. Your vote (which people died for) is totally useless, if you do not use it. This coming General Election, get out there, encourage family, friends and neighbours to vote, anything but Labour and Conservative. Labour = Conservative = A continual cycle of failure.
Does the Upper Tribunal says EVERY bedroom tax decision was unlawful? Yes!
Iain Duncan Smith, has been a failure and a liar, most of his life. Despite this, he has been put in charge of a department, and pursues a draconian regime against the less fortunate of the UK’s population. This is only possible, because we do not have a true democracy in the UK.
Austerity is a scam but green growth isn’t the answer either.
There is a Global movement calling for the end of ecocide: https://www.endecocide.org/en/. Something I think Mark Burton is striving for with Steady State Manchester. Manchester City Council, under Richard Leese and Howard Bernstein, have been pushing a policy of build, build and build more. This is offices, retail units, hotels and home-to-buy, when what is needed, is investment in front-line services and council housing. And as Mark points out, there are those, who are supposed to be ‘Green’, also wanting to follow the policy of build, build and more build. Which would would only drive climate change and inequality.
That is why I was to come across the European Trade Union Institute pursuing: Social innovation and equality keys to social ecological transition. At the bottom is a link to a presentation, showing how austerity has driven inequality. One change I would make to the presentation, is slide 5. I would change the box with ‘Inclusive Growth’ in it, to ‘Inclusive Prosperity’.
Yesterday, 3rd December, 2014, The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, made his autumn statement in which he set out the government’s plans on the economy.
He confirmed that a Tory government will continue to cut public spending in the years to come. Indeed it turns out, “you ain’t seen nothing yet”. As the Office of Budget Responsibility puts it, the government’s plans mean that
Between 2009-10 and 2019-20, spending on public services, administration and grants by central government is projected to fall from 21.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent of GDP and from £5,650 to £3,880 per head in 2014-15 prices. Around 40 per cent of these cuts would have been delivered during this Parliament, with around 60 per cent to come during the next. The implied squeeze on local authority spending is similarly severe.
http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/December_2014_EFO-web513.pdf
For a sound analysis of where these cuts will fall, see Richard Murphy’s piece, accurately…
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Pat Burke, Ancoats, Manchester
It was with sadness that I heard Pat Burke had died on the 26th November 2014. Pat Burke had been active in Ancoats for many years, recently supporting Ancoats Dispensary Trust, in its efforts to save Ancoats Dispenary.
She was involved, with other Ancoats residents in the occupation of Ancoats Casualty, which took place between February 1987 and March 1989. They were fighting to stop the closure of the casualty department, which the local Health authority had decided, had to close. The story of the sit-in, is told in ‘Stitched Up! – Action for Health in Ancoats’ (Dunne, M.C., 1993). Pat was one of the editorial group, along with Phil Burke, Joe Cromer, Jean Grey, Cathy Jackson and Craig Russell, which met regularly between 1991 to 1993. There were two copies of ‘Stitched Up!’ available in the reference section of Central Library.
The last of years, she has been supportive of the Save Ancoats Dispensary Group, now Ancoats Dispensary Trust, in their efforts to save the old building from demolition. Pat Burke’s Health Profile from ‘Stitched Up!, is below;
Dunne, M.C. (1993) Stitched Up! – Action for Health in Ancoats, Rochdale Alternative Press. 1993 Church Action on Poverty.
Climate Change, the musical!! (cartoon)
A Living Wage, a Viable Economy, a Liveable City Region
Whilst Manchester has some of the worst deprivation, all Richard Leese does, is blame others. He has been behind the push to get rid of council services, by outsourcing them. This is especially true of council housing and the council’s housing staff. One social housing provider in Manchester, Places for People, has the highest paid CEO in the sector. The council outsourced a number of services to G4S, which is renown for paying less than the minimum wage
The difference between the NMW and the Living wage is around £50 per week and £2’000 per year. Which has something to do with why over 50% of those in poverty are in-work.
This week was Living Wage Week. The new Living Wage rate, uprated in accordance with increases in the cost of living, of £7.85ph outside London was announced. At least 21.8% of people in Greater Manchester currently earn less than it, and this is similar across the UK. To mark the event SSM, along with signatories from other Campaign groups including GMB Union, the GM Living Wage Campaign and the Green Party sent an open letter to the leaders (and city mayor) of the Greater Manchester Local Authorities.
The letter urged them to take action on in-work poverty and inequality and demonstrate a commitment to the Living Wage and principles of Fair Pay. It’s below:
Dear Leaders of…
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Global tax evasion, equality and quantitative easing…
I would disagree with comment that UKIP has grown considerably. The media and especially the BBC, have given Farage and UKIP, disproportionately more publicity than they deserve. Whilst the Green Party, with an MP since 2010, a number of MEPs, control of Brighton and considerable influence in some other councils. Does not get the media response it deserves, even being denied again, a place at a leaders debate on BBC TV. It is not just Murdoch’s media empire that is an obstacle to true democracy.
The Group of twenty (G20) committed to finding a global solution for tax evasion after the financial crisis, and in 2009 it agreed to make arrangements for the exchanging of tax information between tax administrations around the world. In October this year the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 officially endorsed the automatic exchange of tax information between all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres that participate in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. A status report on committed and not committed countries or jurisdictions and whether they will start reporting information in 2017 or 2018, is to be presented to G20 leaders during the annual summit held in Brisbane in less than two weeks. Australia along with thirty-eight other countries that include China, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong have…
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Was Plebgate linked to corruption in Mitchell’s foreign aid dept?
It is a pity no one has fully investigated Manchester City Council’s inability to properly account for the millions of EU grant money it received? Especially as local communities have been torn apart, simply to allow property developers to enrich themselves, whilst not delivering what they had been contracted to deliver. It does not help, that the EU left Neil Kinnock (former leader of the Labour Party) in charge of the anti-corruption department, despite he, himself being implicated in corruption. The chief investigator in the department did produce a report into the corruption in the EU, to be only sacked.
Very interesting reading, this article – backed by testimony to both the UK and European parliaments.
Mitchell is apparently spending huge amounts of money trying to whitewash himself of the abuse of police officers that led to the ‘plebgate’ scandal (which may not be what you think). But what’s underneath doesn’t wash.
patricktsudlow 