I can see that accuing rights on the basis of average hours worked over 13 weeks would run the risk of service companies reducing hours on a regular basis, or hiring and firing regularly to prevent to prevent those rights being accrued.
If Labour want to regain votes that have been leaking to NOTA in its variations then a clear manifesto commitment to ending these abuses would be a vote winner. Even Orange Bookers like me would see the justice of a rule change.
Alternatively, put MPs on zero hours contracts and see how they like it. It would save a bundle on Gordon Browns salary.
I have spoken out against zero hour contracts on here before. They are an abuse of a dominant market position and they undermine employment law in a way that is completely unacceptable.
The problem is how you can effectively legislate against them without completely undermining freedom of contract and interfering with part time work.
I suggest a starting point should be that rights should accrue on the basis of the hours actually worked over the last 4 or 13 weeks regardless of what the contract says; that those employed for more than, say, a month, will be deemed to have the right to the number of hours worked in that month (or at least a proportion of them) and those that work exclusively for one organisation for a qualifying period should be deemed to be employees of that organisation whether they technically work for an agency or not.
This has been an increasing problem for the best part of 10 years now and it is shameful that the last government did not seek to address the gross unfairness that results. I can only conclude that they were frightened of looking to be in the hands of the unions.
I was involved in the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill, originally a PMB backed by, cough, UNITE, which tried to address this. The whips did indeed lean on us to oppose it (I was a PPS at the time) but I supported it anyway, not because UNITE asked me to but because it seemed a genuine problem for the reasons DavidL and Fox identify. The government eventually conceded it and we got the Bill. I must admit I've lost track of what happened next, since I've been less close to politics for the last three years. Did it prove ineffective, or was it watered down by the new government?
"The Washington Post has got sniffy in its report on the National Security Agency’s bugging row, calling The Guardian, which broke the story about Edward Snowden, “small and underweight, roughly the size of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette”. Perhaps the Post, once called “Pravda on the Potomac”, is still smarting about The Guardian’s anti-Bush letter-writing campaign in 2004, which irritated so many voters on the margins in Ohio that the election swung to the sitting Republican President.
Addendum: Labour would be much improved by having a few more horny-handed sons and daughters of toil in Parliament. Union entryism is to be encouraged if it would have that result.
Unions probably have their sons and daughters...and they are also married to Harriet Harman. And the office manager of a shadow cabinet minister (the candidate they pushed in Falkirk) is so typical in terms of new candidates profile, isn't it?
@DavidL Perhaps we need to glance back at Militant and see what was going on back then/compare-contrast to now. Len is certainly as far left as they were back then, and now runs the biggest union in the country. .
Len was the "right wing" candidate in Unite election....the opponent was from Socialist Workers Party
How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter? As to the infra red signature, aren't a lot of them going smaller scale to get round it. IIRC from a single 1000w light you can nett 0.8kg every 12/13 weeks or so Not often that I agree with Tim, but legalise and tax it.
Piece on R4 about Ofgem calling for a crackdown on electricity theft. Primarily cannabis farms, which is generally done by stealing and bypassing before it gets to the meter. Is Ofgem just howling at the moon? If utility co's could stop it they would.
Why would they stop it voluntarily if it increases usage and therefore their income? Many unfortunate saps pay the enhanced bill for months before realising.
Whether the utilities can do anything about this depends on the data that they collect. I'm not sure they'll have the data to do this.
Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well.
"How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter?"
Yep, you are right in that circumstance. Others have been arrested for using their own electricity, or stealing neighbours' power after the meter, which increases their bills.
Small scale growing is less efficient and more costly. Do you have any evidence that they are going smaller-scale?
What do you think those police helicopters with infra red cameras are doing during the night all over the country?
Did you miss the bit where I said: "Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well."
This does not mean that there is increased small-scale use.
Addendum: Labour would be much improved by having a few more horny-handed sons and daughters of toil in Parliament. Union entryism is to be encouraged if it would have that result.
But where would they come from ? Increasingly there is a smaller base for shoopfloor candidates to come from. Labour's union base is more and more public sector.
Mark Seddon is the former editor of Tribune, a former left wing NEC member who went to NY to work for Al Jazeera. He also usually complains about being left out by the NEC panels for every late selection he wants to contest.
I must be half-asleep. I can't see this is a problem for Miliband.
How many people are aware of how Miliband was elected, apart from us daft anoraks? How many people care?
The tories have no chance of causing him any damage with the claim: 'Miliband in hoc to the unions'. Its what the ordinary Joe thinks anyway (if he thinks about it all).
I very much doubt 99% of voters could spot Lord Ashcroft in a line-up or find Belize on a map, but by mentioning 'Ashcrofts Millions' several thousand times - voters were led to believe that he was some James Bond Baddy who bankrolled the last election alng with Uncle Rupert.
Anyone who actually knew the facts - knew it was rubbish, but that's the whole point of the rhetoric and Labour are usually much more ruthless when deploying misinformation than the Tories.
Utility companies probably find it more efficient to put up with the losses and then recharge the rest of us for the lost revenue. Hence the thieves are stealing from all of us, and the power companies have little incentive to do anything about it.
It's the job of the unions to represent their members (which is why Bob Crow is a successful union leader: Tube staff do pretty well)
Nick am really not convinced here.
The Tube drivers do well because the RMT/ASLEF are controlling unions with a monopoly position in a public service where withdrawal of labour can cause significant disruption.
I suspect that a more constructive union leader than Bob Crow could obtain a better result for his members at less disruption for the public. The impression I get - only from press reports - is that he blows up and threatens to strike at virtually any opportunity, which doesn't seem a viable long-term negotiating stance.
From Peter Kellner in the Times - this warmed the cockles of my heart. The pendulum has swung.
" We asked people about their ideal society. Would the government do less and tax less, do more and tax more, or keep the current balance? In the three countries with centre-right governments — Britain, Germany and Sweden — big majorities want the status quo or smaller government.
In Britain and Germany, support for more tax-and-spend is remarkably low: 13 per cent and 11 respectively. No wonder Britain’s Labour Party and Germany’s Social Democrats now emphasise financial prudence more than social ambition. But it’s not just their policy they have to get right: it’s their broader reputation. As long as voters think that their heart is still set on higher taxes and greater spending, they will struggle to return to power.
Parties seldom plan more than one election ahead. Our findings suggest that centre-left parties in all four countries — and, by extension, across the developed world — need to rethink their long-term vision as well as their short-term tactics. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article3806422.ece
Unions are quite popular when they stick up for their members terms and conditions, much less so when they get bored of this and only take interest in politics. This is as true of the BMA as it is of UNITE.
I am not directly involved with the zero hours issue in my hospital, but work with these staff every day. Their lives are being blighted by this, with the conscietious ones hardest hit. The "Cant be arsed" will be the only ones left, doing the bare minimum or even less. It is very hard to run an operating list efficiently when the porters go AWOL, but this does not affect the service companys profits.
Nothing wrong with Unions when they stick to their day job. I have no problem with the unions role in the Labour party, though with the weakness of them outside the public sector they do have distorting effects on policy. Trade Unions started in the private sector and need a revival there, but bosses prefer to keep unemployment and immigration high than treat their workers properly.
I can see that accuing rights on the basis of average hours worked over 13 weeks would run the risk of service companies reducing hours on a regular basis, or hiring and firing regularly to prevent to prevent those rights being accrued.
If Labour want to regain votes that have been leaking to NOTA in its variations then a clear manifesto commitment to ending these abuses would be a vote winner. Even Orange Bookers like me would see the justice of a rule change.
Alternatively, put MPs on zero hours contracts and see how they like it. It would save a bundle on Gordon Browns salary.
I have spoken out against zero hour contracts on here before. They are an abuse of a dominant market position and they undermine employment law in a way that is completely unacceptable.
The problem is how you can effectively legislate against them without completely undermining freedom of contract and interfering with part time work.
I suggest a starting point should be that rights should accrue on the basis of the hours actually worked over the last 4 or 13 weeks regardless of what the contract says; that those employed for more than, say, a month, will be deemed to have the right to the number of hours worked in that month (or at least a proportion of them) and those that work exclusively for one organisation for a qualifying period should be deemed to be employees of that organisation whether they technically work for an agency or not.
This has been an increasing problem for the best part of 10 years now and it is shameful that the last government did not seek to address the gross unfairness that results. I can only conclude that they were frightened of looking to be in the hands of the unions.
I was involved in the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill, originally a PMB backed by, cough, UNITE, which tried to address this. The whips did indeed lean on us to oppose it (I was a PPS at the time) but I supported it anyway, not because UNITE asked me to but because it seemed a genuine problem for the reasons DavidL and Fox identify. The government eventually conceded it and we got the Bill. I must admit I've lost track of what happened next, since I've been less close to politics for the last three years. Did it prove ineffective, or was it watered down by the new government?
It's the job of the unions to represent their members (which is why Bob Crow is a successful union leader: Tube staff do pretty well)
Nick am really not convinced here.
The Tube drivers do well because the RMT/ASLEF are controlling unions with a monopoly position in a public service where withdrawal of labour can cause significant disruption.
I suspect that a more constructive union leader than Bob Crow could obtain a better result for his members at less disruption for the public. The impression I get - only from press reports - is that he blows up and threatens to strike at virtually any opportunity, which doesn't seem a viable long-term negotiating stance.
Bob Crow has done an enormous amount to benefit his current members - and driverless train manufacturers...
Mark Seddon is the former editor of Tribune, a former left wing NEC member who went to NY to work for Al Jazeera. He also usually complains about being left out by the NEC panels for every late selection he wants to contest.
I recognize that launching Ed Balls into the heart of the sun is a project of national importance and was giving some thought to the Red Mist problem. I think I have a solution: There are two related problems.
1. Excessive G forces in the barrel, reducing Balls to a pool of red sludge before he even exits the muzzle; and 2. Excessive muzzle velocity in the atmospshere, so that an even intact Balls would explode spectacularly upon leaving the muzzle.
What you need is to construct the Space Cannon as a very, very long barreled supergun, with the muzzle at an altitude of over 100,000 feet. The Balls projectile could be more gradually accelerated up to the needed 30 or 40 km/s and, if prior deep frozen, would not experience G forces high enough to cause ‘sludging’. A normal rifle bullet accelerates at about 62,000G – but the Balls iceblock could be accelerated at a brisk but survivable few tens of Gs. And since the muzzle is at high altitude the Balls bullet would only suffer minimal hypersonic shock waves as it fully exited the upper reaches of the atmosphere on its way to the sun.
Ben Nevis is our highest mountain, the government is looking for ‘shovel ready’ investment projects, Scotland needs a boost and we all need cheering up - so it is manifestly obvious that the Queen’s Speech should have included a section on the construction of a supergun up the side of Ben Nevis and beyond from which we could do the necessary. It would, of course, be reusable and indeed the entire PLP could be lined up for launch and the greater national benefit.
Mr. Patrick, I appreciate your commitment and insight for this important work.
Sadly, when the Coalition came to power the plan for a small fleet of Death Stars was not approved due to budget constraints. I rather like the idea of a mountain-based space cannon, although I would prefer construction to wait until after the Scots vote to remain British (I will not risk such my man cannon falling into Scottish hands).
Bethnal Green and Poplar will surely be in it. They are under special measurers by ages. I wouldn't be surprised to see something else from that area
Stoke Central was under special measures. Warley too (and it's more surprising. It's not clear what the problem was there). Obviously, many Birmingham CLPs like Ladywood, Hall Green, Hodge Hill...they can barely run Cllr selections without the NEC being called in some of the wards there...you know the Khans and the Hussains battling it out with all the extended family in hands.
The preview of the article also mentioned both Oldham CLPs. Unsurprising too.
Slough was put into special measures last year. They were deselecting the council leader and other leading cabinet members.
Mr. Patrick, I appreciate your commitment and insight for this important work.
Sadly, when the Coalition came to power the plan for a small fleet of Death Stars was not approved due to budget constraints. I rather like the idea of a mountain-based space cannon, although I would prefer construction to wait until after the Scots vote to remain British (I will not risk such my man cannon falling into Scottish hands).
Mountain based? This is surely the best location - sadly though in the UK it was just a set!
Take a butchers on Ebay at the amount of hydroponic led kits (which produce less heat) on sale. Why pay £20 for a 2 gram bag when you can grow more than even a heavy user can smoke in a 1 square metre grow tent in your spare bedroom? And you can flog your surplus to a few mates. I don't do this, but know a few peeps that do.
How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter? As to the infra red signature, aren't a lot of them going smaller scale to get round it. IIRC from a single 1000w light you can nett 0.8kg every 12/13 weeks or so Not often that I agree with Tim, but legalise and tax it.
Piece on R4 about Ofgem calling for a crackdown on electricity theft. Primarily cannabis farms, which is generally done by stealing and bypassing before it gets to the meter. Is Ofgem just howling at the moon? If utility co's could stop it they would.
Why would they stop it voluntarily if it increases usage and therefore their income? Many unfortunate saps pay the enhanced bill for months before realising.
Whether the utilities can do anything about this depends on the data that they collect. I'm not sure they'll have the data to do this.
Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well.
"How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter?"
Yep, you are right in that circumstance. Others have been arrested for using their own electricity, or stealing neighbours' power after the meter, which increases their bills.
Small scale growing is less efficient and more costly. Do you have any evidence that they are going smaller-scale?
What do you think those police helicopters with infra red cameras are doing during the night all over the country?
Did you miss the bit where I said: "Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well."
This does not mean that there is increased small-scale use.
Bethnal Green and Poplar will surely be in it. They are under special measurers by ages. I wouldn't be surprised to see something else from that area
Stoke Central was under special measures. Warley too (and it's more surprising. It's not clear what the problem was there). Obviously, many Birmingham CLPs like Ladywood, Hall Green, Hodge Hill...they can barely run Cllr selections without the NEC being called in some of the wards there...you know the Khans and the Hussains battling it out with all the extended family in hands.
The preview of the article also mentioned both Oldham CLPs. Unsurprising too.
Slough was put into special measures last year. They were deselecting the council leader and other leading cabinet members.
Many Unite candidates are not really left wing. For ex in Hampstead they apparently wanted to back Fiona Millar (Campbell) before she pulled out. In some cases, also because the regional committee (which is the body usually making the nomination) is often less left wing than the national leadership. In some selections you could see some unions nominating candidate X while the national leader of said union being listed in the endorsement page of candidate Y. It happened in Croydon North with GMB nominating Steve Reed while the Gen Sec was backing Shawcross.
Have the Times published a complete list of CLPs under special measures? Or was it just a tease? I would really like to have it.
No, I guess because some of it goes back over a decade. I see that the Tories think Labours candidate in Hastings is an entryist Militant. Currently in deep cover working as a business adviser to Lord Sugar.
It is of course usually easier to subvert another similar organisation and take control, than start a new organisation.
However, Unite and its associates could: withdraw all funding from Labour, form a new party (like SWP) and try its luck at the ballot box. This would probably split Labour and most likely fail for many of the reasons that the post-WW2 UK Communist party failed.
It's the job of the unions to represent their members (which is why Bob Crow is a successful union leader: Tube staff do pretty well)
Nick am really not convinced here.
The Tube drivers do well because the RMT/ASLEF are controlling unions with a monopoly position in a public service where withdrawal of labour can cause significant disruption.
I suspect that a more constructive union leader than Bob Crow could obtain a better result for his members at less disruption for the public. The impression I get - only from press reports - is that he blows up and threatens to strike at virtually any opportunity, which doesn't seem a viable long-term negotiating stance.
Bob Crow has done an enormous amount to benefit his current members - and driverless train manufacturers...
Except that Boris has quietly dropped the idea of driverless trains for the forseeable future - hadn't you noticed?
I'm not really in favour of monopolies throwing their weight about in any context, but my point was that Crow has got his members unusually high pay and job security (you have to have a really, really good reason to sack a Tube driver or they'll sue the pants off you and/or strike forever) while showing a marked indifference to what the public thinks. That's obviously a different role to running a national political party, and both arms of the Labour movement are more or less aware of it even though we grumble about each other.
Charles could be right that a mild and reasonable union leader would get better results, but it's not obvious to me that in today's dog-eat-dog world it pays off for workers to be mild and reasonable all the time.
When looking for a lost kitty a year or two ago - I was door-knocking on an estate in Worthing and one house had all the curtains closed mid-afternoon and the smell of cannabis was knocker even from outside the front door. How anyone missed a semi like this is beyond me - I assume locals were also customers!
Take a butchers on Ebay at the amount of hydroponic led kits (which produce less heat) on sale. Why pay £20 for a 2 gram bag when you can grow more than even a heavy user can smoke in a 1 square metre grow tent in your spare bedroom? And you can flog your surplus to a few mates. I don't do this, but know a few peeps that do.
How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter? As to the infra red signature, aren't a lot of them going smaller scale to get round it. IIRC from a single 1000w light you can nett 0.8kg every 12/13 weeks or so Not often that I agree with Tim, but legalise and tax it.
Piece on R4 about Ofgem calling for a crackdown on electricity theft. Primarily cannabis farms, which is generally done by stealing and bypassing before it gets to the meter. Is Ofgem just howling at the moon? If utility co's could stop it they would.
Why would they stop it voluntarily if it increases usage and therefore their income? Many unfortunate saps pay the enhanced bill for months before realising.
Whether the utilities can do anything about this depends on the data that they collect. I'm not sure they'll have the data to do this.
Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well.
"How can it increase their income if it's nicked from in front of the meter?"
Yep, you are right in that circumstance. Others have been arrested for using their own electricity, or stealing neighbours' power after the meter, which increases their bills.
Small scale growing is less efficient and more costly. Do you have any evidence that they are going smaller-scale?
What do you think those police helicopters with infra red cameras are doing during the night all over the country?
Did you miss the bit where I said: "Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well."
This does not mean that there is increased small-scale use.
Miss Plato, I don't think they've ever bettered the villainous hideout of a hollowed-out volcano.
Scafell Pike is one of the dreariest peaks in the Lake District. It really does not have much to commend it aside fro a few feet over its neighbour. The same can be said for Ben Nevis: one of the Highland's worse mountains, although the ridge walk looks fun - I want to do it one day.
I've always enjoyed Snowdon, though. There're so many different routes up it, all with their own character, and you can have a cup of tea at the top.
Please despoil the Ben or Scafell Pike with your mammoth erection!
“If the Conservative party had a single donor called UnitePLC that provided 40% of its donations, provided the CEO of the Conservative party, had its Head of PR setup websites for the Conservatives, hired people like Derek McPoison to run smear campaigns, unfairly influenced the process whereby many of its UnitePLC employees become Conservative MPs through donations and Uniteplc block votes in CLPs….. we would all be outraged at the infiltration of the Conservative party by a single company. But if we just changed the word Conservative to Labour in the above and deleted “plc” we arrive at the state of the Labour party.”
"You just wonder if they got a lucky bag and picked some names out. The Lions won the first Test and made eight changes to their squad. The Wallabies won the second and probably won't make any changes. The Lions lose by one point and there are six changes in the team and three guys on the bench who were nowhere near the team for the second Test. I was convinced Brian O'Driscoll should have been named as captain. It's catastrophic leaving him out. He's still one of the top centres in world rugby. He's a fantastic guy and has been on four tours and knows it all inside out. It's a massive mistake."
If people want to grow a "bit of personal" and pay the leccy bill then frankly on balance it should be decriminalised. Stops funds to the bigger dealers.
However an entire house full of plants staffed by illegal Vietnamese and powered by ripped off electricity is not on frankly - to the gallows.
If people want to grow a "bit of personal" and pay the leccy bill then frankly on balance it should be decriminalised. Stops funds to the bigger dealers.
However an entire house full of plants staffed by illegal Vietnamese and powered by ripped off electricity is not on frankly - to the gallows.
How many plants legal and how many plants illegal?
Er - if you have 9 plants that would be more than enough - I'd imagine you'd end up giving some away...
Charles could be right that a mild and reasonable union leader would get better results, but it's not obvious to me that in today's dog-eat-dog world it pays off for workers to be mild and reasonable all the time.
It's a balance.
The power of the union comes from a credible threat to strike, not from strikes themselves.
If management form the view that 'they are going to strike anyway' then they have no incentive to be generous in the initial proposal.
Service PMI hit out of the park - 56.9 v 54.6 expected and 54.9 previous
"UK service sector growth accelerated to its highest level since March 2011 during June as incoming new business rose at a rate unmatched for six years. The sharp increase in new business led to a marked rise in backlogs of work, and encouraged companies to take on additional staff to the strongest degree since August 2007...
“The buoyant picture for June means the economy is on course to expand by at least 0.5% in the second quarter, with more growth to come. New orders and job creation across all sectors are now rising at the fastest rates for almost six years, led by the vast services economy, boding well for robust growth momentum to be sustained as we move into the second half of the year"
It's the job of the unions to represent their members (which is why Bob Crow is a successful union leader: Tube staff do pretty well)
Nick am really not convinced here.
The Tube drivers do well because the RMT/ASLEF are controlling unions with a monopoly position in a public service where withdrawal of labour can cause significant disruption.
I suspect that a more constructive union leader than Bob Crow could obtain a better result for his members at less disruption for the public. The impression I get - only from press reports - is that he blows up and threatens to strike at virtually any opportunity, which doesn't seem a viable long-term negotiating stance.
Bob Crow has done an enormous amount to benefit his current members - and driverless train manufacturers...
Except that Boris has quietly dropped the idea of driverless trains for the forseeable future - hadn't you noticed?
I'm not really in favour of monopolies throwing their weight about in any context, but my point was that Crow has got his members unusually high pay and job security (you have to have a really, really good reason to sack a Tube driver or they'll sue the pants off you and/or strike forever) while showing a marked indifference to what the public thinks. That's obviously a different role to running a national political party, and both arms of the Labour movement are more or less aware of it even though we grumble about each other.
Charles could be right that a mild and reasonable union leader would get better results, but it's not obvious to me that in today's dog-eat-dog world it pays off for workers to be mild and reasonable all the time.
Bob Crow certainly gets results, certainly I'd look very hard into driverless trains if I was in Boris' position.
I suppose he doesn't want a fight with Crow though given how important the tube is to London as a whole. It is not a good position to be in however, cowed to a union baron. This is precisely why Thatcher had to destroy Red Robbo and Scargill.
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Surging services growth pushes UK all-sector PMI to highest since March 2011. UK GDP set for at least +0.5% in Q2 twitpic.com/d0jq20
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Surging services growth pushes UK all-sector PMI to highest since March 2011. UK GDP set for at least +0.5% in Q2 twitpic.com/d0jq20
"European stock markets have taken a tumble as the survival of Portugal's government is thrown into doubt.
Portuguese share prices plummeted 6% in early trading on Wednesday and other major bourses, including the FTSE 100, fell sharply amid growing uncertainty that the recession-hit country's bailout reform agenda can remain on track.
Foreign Minister Paulo Portas resigned on Tuesday night, a day after the shock departure of Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar."
We have probably entered a new era of methods of employment. If we look back to the Middle Ages, most people were self-employed or owed service (often military) to the landowners whose land they farmed or were retainers.
The coming of the Guilds (and apprenticeships with contracts) created a newish middle class and then the industrial revolution required permanent staff with specific skills who became employed.
Nowadays, with the advance of globalisation and fast-moving technology, the number of non-skilled employment opportunities has diminished, whilst people with the right skill-sets and experience have become increasingly valuable.
At the same time countries with employment flexibility are advancing whilst others (like France) with restrictive and costly employment laws and practices are diminishing in the global context.
In the UK, I have seen a large rise in the use of specialist contractors by many industries and the consultancy with which I am associated now has very few employees. As we serve many 'industries', it is not economic to employ all the specialists we require only at certain times. So (like using solicitors and accountants) we contract in specialists as required. In return they earn a higher hourly rate than when they were employed and our employment costs are reduced (little employer's NI)- at present it is a win-win situation. The major part of our employees are now our R&D people.
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Surging services growth pushes UK all-sector PMI to highest since March 2011. UK GDP set for at least +0.5% in Q2 twitpic.com/d0jq20
Thanks to BenM for the tweet.
I blame Osborne...
Whilst not wishing to count chickens before they hatch - things do seem to be on a gentle trend upwards. Those who have rubbished Osborne will no doubt complain it'd all be so much better if blah blah pet subject was implemented sooner.
Frankly - I'm just relieved things are picking up quietly - inflation isn't going gang-busters and interest rates remain tiny. Slow and steady suits me having endured massive boom-and-bust too many times before.
"Nowadays, with the advance of globalisation and fast-moving technology, the number of non-skilled employment opportunities has diminished, whilst people with the right skill-sets and experience have become increasingly valuable."
Profit making schools will bring chaos and cut standards
Yes, just like all those profit-making airlines, aircraft manufacturers, outsourcing companies, bus companies, GP practices, pathology labs, Edison schools in the US...
Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick 1m Labour's Falkirk report says contender Gregor Poynton, husb of front-bencher Gemma Doyle, recruited 11 members Jun 2012 on single £130 chque
Profit making schools will bring chaos and cut standards
Yes, just like all those profit-making airlines, aircraft manufacturers, outsourcing companies, bus companies, GP practices, pathology labs, Edison schools in the US...
I guess if you work for the BBC, Guardian or the Indy then profit making is an alien concept.
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Surging services growth pushes UK all-sector PMI to highest since March 2011. UK GDP set for at least +0.5% in Q2 twitpic.com/d0jq20
Thanks to BenM for the tweet.
I blame Osborne...
And the prospects of Mrs Ed purchasing a new tape measure seem to become an ever more distant memory. Do you know I fear :
Profit making schools will bring chaos and cut standards
Yes, just like all those profit-making airlines, aircraft manufacturers, outsourcing companies, bus companies, GP practices, pathology labs, Edison schools in the US...
As someone who worked for BT who was still undergoing the transition from monopoly mindset to market player in the mid 90s - the change in attitude from 'you'll get what you're given when we get around to it' to 'what can we offer to get your custom' is mind-blowing.
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes - its impossible to imagine the transformation - and it took at least a decade to begin to even touch 10% of the organisation, and another decade to change it fundamentally.
It takes generational management turnover to make big steps in any direction.
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Near 6-yr highs: UK all sector PMI shows new business growth fastest since Sep'07. Jobs growth best since Oct'07 twitpic.com/d0jsgz
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris Near 6-yr highs: UK all sector PMI shows new business growth fastest since Sep'07. Jobs growth best since Oct'07 twitpic.com/d0jsgz
Any news on the job prospects of underemployed Cheshire farmers ?
On topic: I think Mike is looking at this through too narrow a prism. I agree with those who say this doesn't really impact much on the public consciousness; the unions aren't the bogeymen they used to be (Maggie be praised). Anyway, voters expect Labour to be the party of the unions (that's kinda the idea, right?), and if anything they tend to over-estimate the degree to which unions run the party. They're also not in the least bit interested in the way Ed M got elected, except in respect of him knifing his brother.
However, that doesn't mean the shenanigans in Falkirk and elsewhere are without significance. That significance is internal to the Labour Party, and is about the battle within the party between those who want to make at least a nominal attempt to face up to the need for reform in the public sector and control of the deficit, and those who want to ensure they have indeed 'got their party back' by ditching the New Labour approach and returning to being unashamedly the party of vested interests. The weakness of Ed Miliband is not that he doesn't face down his opponents - as some have already pointed out, he does have a ruthless streak - but that he can't himself decide which side he is on in that battle. In the absence of any decisive, or even discernible, policy lead from the top, the unions (effectively Unite) are taking matters into their own hands.
It's their influence on strategic direction, not the public perception of that influence, which matters.
Here are some idiotic PB-Tory, always-wrong thoughts from me:
- The Union influence of the likes of McCluskey is the biggest barrier to me voting Labour (my issue with unions is personal). Without that influence I'd consider it. - Ed Miliband's decision to tack to Tory economic plans will serve him well around GE2015 - Jon Cruddas puts a bit of fear in me, and I suspect his policy agenda will be good - I don't think Cameron has been weak. Balancing the right wing of your party in power with a left wing coalition partner was always going to be difficult. I believe he has done well - Ed can't be RED and have a sensible economic plan. Fair enough. But the UNITE influence is significant because the impression is that McCluskey and co will try to hijack the economic plans if Labour gain power. Voters won't like this. If the McCluskey/Owen Jones lefty plans were popular and workable I'm sure EdM would go that way. They aren't, and he isn't. Holding this line, along with Ed Balls, will be a hard, hard slog between now and GE2015 - I don't think EdM is weak. Kim Howells knocked it on the head talking of Labour impossibilism. EdM needs to deal with that aspect of what the Unions crave, but can't sensibly get.
As someone who worked for BT who was still undergoing the transition from monopoly mindset to market player in the mid 90s - the change in attitude from 'you'll get what you're given when we get around to it' to 'what can we offer to get your custom' is mind-blowing.
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes - its impossible to imagine the transformation - and it took at least a decade to begin to even touch 10% of the organisation, and another decade to change it fundamentally.
I saw it as a customer, working in industry at the time. It was indeed quite spectacular. Of course, exactly the same arguments as are used to oppose choice and profit-making organisations in education, almost word-for-word, were deployed by the left at the time to oppose BT privatisation.
But surely the point is that UNITE is not UNITE PLC - it is a voluntary organisation with over a million members. Tory donors consist largely of a few very wealthy individuals. Labours funding might come largely from a handful of unions but there are still over 7 million union members in UK (which actually increased this year). If you include family members etc that is one huge group of people, a fact the Tories fail to grasp when they embark on another spate of union bashing. Wealthy donors provide only money - unions provide money and thousands of foot soldiers on the ground
I realise that not every union member votes Labour and that the criticism of the way some unions act is justified but insulting union members is pretty counter-productive in my opinion.
We have probably entered a new era of methods of employment. If we look back to the Middle Ages, most people were self-employed or owed service (often military) to the landowners whose land they farmed or were retainers.
The coming of the Guilds (and apprenticeships with contracts) created a newish middle class and then the industrial revolution required permanent staff with specific skills who became employed.
Nowadays, with the advance of globalisation and fast-moving technology, the number of non-skilled employment opportunities has diminished, whilst people with the right skill-sets and experience have become increasingly valuable.
At the same time countries with employment flexibility are advancing whilst others (like France) with restrictive and costly employment laws and practices are diminishing in the global context.
In the UK, I have seen a large rise in the use of specialist contractors by many industries and the consultancy with which I am associated now has very few employees. As we serve many 'industries', it is not economic to employ all the specialists we require only at certain times. So (like using solicitors and accountants) we contract in specialists as required. In return they earn a higher hourly rate than when they were employed and our employment costs are reduced (little employer's NI)- at present it is a win-win situation. The major part of our employees are now our R&D people.
On a personal level, I find these pernicious. Until recently my son had a standard contract with a local company. Due to a drop off in orders, he was put on a zero hours contract. I regard this as little more than now employing him as casual labour but with the hook that if business improves, he could be given a standard contract once again. This inhibits him from looking for another employer as there is still a sense of loyalty to the old one and he regards himself as still 'employed' even though he gets no benefits from this 'employment'.
I see the increasing use of these contracts as a means of effectively handcuffing an employee with useful skills to a company especially in a job poor market that exists at present.
We have probably entered a new era of methods of employment. If we look back to the Middle Ages, most people were self-employed or owed service (often military) to the landowners whose land they farmed or were retainers.
The coming of the Guilds (and apprenticeships with contracts) created a newish middle class and then the industrial revolution required permanent staff with specific skills who became employed.
Nowadays, with the advance of globalisation and fast-moving technology, the number of non-skilled employment opportunities has diminished, whilst people with the right skill-sets and experience have become increasingly valuable.
At the same time countries with employment flexibility are advancing whilst others (like France) with restrictive and costly employment laws and practices are diminishing in the global context.
In the UK, I have seen a large rise in the use of specialist contractors by many industries and the consultancy with which I am associated now has very few employees. As we serve many 'industries', it is not economic to employ all the specialists we require only at certain times. So (like using solicitors and accountants) we contract in specialists as required. In return they earn a higher hourly rate than when they were employed and our employment costs are reduced (little employer's NI)- at present it is a win-win situation. The major part of our employees are now our R&D people.
On a personal level, I find these pernicious. Until recently my son had a standard contract with a local company. Due to a drop off in orders, he was put on a zero hours contract. I regard this as little more than now employing him as casual labour but with the hook that if business improves, he could be given a standard contract once again. This inhibits him from looking for another employer as there is still a sense of loyalty to the old one and he regards himself as still 'employed' even though he gets no benefits from this 'employment'.
I see the increasing use of these contracts as a means of effectively handcuffing an employee with useful skills to a company especially in a job poor market that exists at present.
Precisely my point - loyalty is the only commodity not measured by the bean-counters who too frequently end up in charge of strategy.
I've seen it dozens of times - treating people like widgets doesn't work for long, invariably it takes just one person in a group to leave and the majority of the rest [usually the best workers] see that the grass can be greener and follow suit.
Any manager who fails to spot the rot when a good employee leaves/their silent influence on others is stupid.
"The increasing scrutiny of Labour’s relationship with militant unions is becoming a serious problem for Ed. The Times splashes on Labour taking control of 14 constituency parties after internal concerns about attempts to manipulate selections, with Unite caught red-handed trying to stitch up Ilford East. Miliband is still refusing to publish Labour’s report into Unite’s plotting in Falkirk. Until he does this story is just going to snowball…
Eric Joyce has come out swinging, accusing Unite of threatening to sue him for talking about the allegations:
“Unite’s middle-class political officer, Jennie Formby, has argued that Unite is desperate to hear what allegations are being made. Odd, then, that I have been for weeks receiving letters from Unite’s middle-class lawyers threatening to sue me for defamation because I’ve been doing just that. No proceedings have actually been initiated yet, mind you. I wonder why?”
Perhaps most awkwardly of all, the unions are now pointing to this video of Miliband himself defending the right of unions to buy party membership. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9MpCoUqHM
I fully empathise with your son's predicament. In his shoes I would be wondering whether his employer is market-savvy and should have been able to predict a downturn which could have been due to price or technology. Either way, the employer should have been already developing the next 'product/s.'
Perhaps your son may need to improve his skill sets and so increase his market value and thus his options internationally.
Bethnal Green and Bow Poplar and Limehouse Brentford & Isleworth Ealing Southall Falkirk West Feltham & Heston Oldham East and Saddleworth Oldham West and Royton Birmingham Hall Green Birmingham Hodge Hill Birmingham Ladywood Birmingham Perry Barr Warley Slough
"That said, the news that a dozen CLPs have been placed on what effectively amounts to administrative detention for 8 years – one as long as 18 – shows us the real flaw of the “special measures” system. If it actually worked, these CLPs would have been able to exit “special measures” by now and return to normal membership processes. Yet instead they’ve spent the best party of a decade being forced to jump through byzantine hoops by the party in order to recruit members.
Every CLP – including Falkirk West – should be asking the following questions of the party:
- Why was my CLP placed under “special measures”? If a report was prepared by the party as part of this process, will it be made public or shared with the CLP?
- How long has my CLP been under “special measures”?
- How can my CLP leave “special measures”?
Because until we know the answers to these questions, it’s impossible to know whether or not “special measures” is a proportionate response to any allegations or wrongdoing. And unless a CLP knows how to leave “special measures”, the party in these areas – finding it harder to recruit new members – could just wither and die..."
I've been watching S1 of the X-Files and this is just perfect - I saw the story but missed the video of the Labour councillor who is having an affair with an alien.
£ soaaars against the Euro whilst the FTSE plummets 1.3% - funny old game.
PMQs today ? What health topic will rEd go with today ?
Good morning. Yes Markets are suddenly on the downslope. Worries about Egypt and the rise of oil at over $100 per barrel has sounding the alarms today.
Question of the day: Is President Obamas brain about to go into a senile stage? His antics of late are more than a little irrational.
One is in a rather chipper mood this morning, so much so I'm minded to donate a few shillings to the Distressed Former Broxtowe Gentlemens Parliamentary Restoration Fund.
I can see that accuing rights on the basis of average hours worked over 13 weeks would run the risk of service companies reducing hours on a regular basis, or hiring and firing regularly to prevent to prevent those rights being accrued.
If Labour want to regain votes that have been leaking to NOTA in its variations then a clear manifesto commitment to ending these abuses would be a vote winner. Even Orange Bookers like me would see the justice of a rule change.
Alternatively, put MPs on zero hours contracts and see how they like it. It would save a bundle on Gordon Browns salary.
I have spoken out against zero hour contracts on here before. They are an abuse of a dominant market position and they undermine employment law in a way that is completely unacceptable.
The problem is how you can effectively legislate against them without completely undermining freedom of contract and interfering with part time work.
I suggest a starting point should be that rights should accrue on the basis of the hours actually worked over the last 4 or 13 weeks regardless of what the contract says; that those employed for more than, say, a month, will be deemed to have the right to the number of hours worked in that month (or at least a proportion of them) and those that work exclusively for one organisation for a qualifying period should be deemed to be employees of that organisation whether they technically work for an agency or not.
This has been an increasing problem for the best part of 10 years now and it is shameful that the last government did not seek to address the gross unfairness that results. I can only conclude that they were frightened of looking to be in the hands of the unions.
I was involved in the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill, originally a PMB backed by, cough, UNITE, which tried to address this. The whips did indeed lean on us to oppose it (I was a PPS at the time) but I supported it anyway, not because UNITE asked me to but because it seemed a genuine problem for the reasons DavidL and Fox identify. The government eventually conceded it and we got the Bill. I must admit I've lost track of what happened next, since I've been less close to politics for the last three years. Did it prove ineffective, or was it watered down by the new government?
Do you mean the Agency Workers regulations 2010? They are still in force. They do not address the question of zero hours contracts although they do give the agency worker the same rights as if he had been employed direct after a qualifying period of 12 weeks provided they stay in the same role. Of course if you have a contractual entitlement to zero hours this really doesn't help you if you are simply offered no work.
Comments
@LabourList: "Time to show the anti trade union brigade the door", says Mark Seddon http://labli.st/14MSPfv
"The Washington Post has got sniffy in its report on the National Security Agency’s bugging row, calling The Guardian, which broke the story about Edward Snowden, “small and underweight, roughly the size of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette”. Perhaps the Post, once called “Pravda on the Potomac”, is still smarting about The Guardian’s anti-Bush letter-writing campaign in 2004, which irritated so many voters on the margins in Ohio that the election swung to the sitting Republican President.
diary@thetimes.co.uk | @timesdiary
And the office manager of a shadow cabinet minister (the candidate they pushed in Falkirk) is so typical in terms of new candidates profile, isn't it? Len was the "right wing" candidate in Unite election....the opponent was from Socialist Workers Party
"Much better is the approach of using infra-red cameras from cars and spotter helicopters / planes - the increased heat shows up particularly well."
This does not mean that there is increased small-scale use.
Con: 26
Lab: 51
Opposition party 25 points AHEAD.....
Anyone who actually knew the facts - knew it was rubbish, but that's the whole point of the rhetoric and Labour are usually much more ruthless when deploying misinformation than the Tories.
The Tube drivers do well because the RMT/ASLEF are controlling unions with a monopoly position in a public service where withdrawal of labour can cause significant disruption.
I suspect that a more constructive union leader than Bob Crow could obtain a better result for his members at less disruption for the public. The impression I get - only from press reports - is that he blows up and threatens to strike at virtually any opportunity, which doesn't seem a viable long-term negotiating stance.
" We asked people about their ideal society. Would the government do less and tax less, do more and tax more, or keep the current balance? In the three countries with centre-right governments — Britain, Germany and Sweden — big majorities want the status quo or smaller government.
In Britain and Germany, support for more tax-and-spend is remarkably low: 13 per cent and 11 respectively. No wonder Britain’s Labour Party and Germany’s Social Democrats now emphasise financial prudence more than social ambition. But it’s not just their policy they have to get right: it’s their broader reputation. As long as voters think that their heart is still set on higher taxes and greater spending, they will struggle to return to power.
Parties seldom plan more than one election ahead. Our findings suggest that centre-left parties in all four countries — and, by extension, across the developed world — need to rethink their long-term vision as well as their short-term tactics. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article3806422.ece
Unions are quite popular when they stick up for their members terms and conditions, much less so when they get bored of this and only take interest in politics. This is as true of the BMA as it is of UNITE.
I am not directly involved with the zero hours issue in my hospital, but work with these staff every day. Their lives are being blighted by this, with the conscietious ones hardest hit. The "Cant be arsed" will be the only ones left, doing the bare minimum or even less. It is very hard to run an operating list efficiently when the porters go AWOL, but this does not affect the service companys profits.
Nothing wrong with Unions when they stick to their day job. I have no problem with the unions role in the Labour party, though with the weakness of them outside the public sector they do have distorting effects on policy. Trade Unions started in the private sector and need a revival there, but bosses prefer to keep unemployment and immigration high than treat their workers properly.
I recognize that launching Ed Balls into the heart of the sun is a project of national importance and was giving some thought to the Red Mist problem. I think I have a solution:
There are two related problems.
1. Excessive G forces in the barrel, reducing Balls to a pool of red sludge before he even exits the muzzle; and
2. Excessive muzzle velocity in the atmospshere, so that an even intact Balls would explode spectacularly upon leaving the muzzle.
What you need is to construct the Space Cannon as a very, very long barreled supergun, with the muzzle at an altitude of over 100,000 feet. The Balls projectile could be more gradually accelerated up to the needed 30 or 40 km/s and, if prior deep frozen, would not experience G forces high enough to cause ‘sludging’. A normal rifle bullet accelerates at about 62,000G – but the Balls iceblock could be accelerated at a brisk but survivable few tens of Gs. And since the muzzle is at high altitude the Balls bullet would only suffer minimal hypersonic shock waves as it fully exited the upper reaches of the atmosphere on its way to the sun.
Ben Nevis is our highest mountain, the government is looking for ‘shovel ready’ investment projects, Scotland needs a boost and we all need cheering up - so it is manifestly obvious that the Queen’s Speech should have included a section on the construction of a supergun up the side of Ben Nevis and beyond from which we could do the necessary. It would, of course, be reusable and indeed the entire PLP could be lined up for launch and the greater national benefit.
What’s not to like?
10 Welsh, 3 Irish, 2 English.
Sadly, when the Coalition came to power the plan for a small fleet of Death Stars was not approved due to budget constraints. I rather like the idea of a mountain-based space cannon, although I would prefer construction to wait until after the Scots vote to remain British (I will not risk such my man cannon falling into Scottish hands).
Bethnal Green and Poplar will surely be in it. They are under special measurers by ages. I wouldn't be surprised to see something else from that area
Stoke Central was under special measures. Warley too (and it's more surprising. It's not clear what the problem was there).
Obviously, many Birmingham CLPs like Ladywood, Hall Green, Hodge Hill...they can barely run Cllr selections without the NEC being called in some of the wards there...you know the Khans and the Hussains battling it out with all the extended family in hands.
The preview of the article also mentioned both Oldham CLPs. Unsurprising too.
Slough was put into special measures last year. They were deselecting the council leader and other leading cabinet members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2RoBN930ZY
Why pay £20 for a 2 gram bag when you can grow more than even a heavy user can smoke in a 1 square metre grow tent in your spare bedroom? And you can flog your surplus to a few mates. I don't do this, but know a few peeps that do.
http://politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2009/04/21/is-truelabour-right-to-worry-about-unite/#comments
In some selections you could see some unions nominating candidate X while the national leader of said union being listed in the endorsement page of candidate Y.
It happened in Croydon North with GMB nominating Steve Reed while the Gen Sec was backing Shawcross.
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/7744
It is of course usually easier to subvert another similar organisation and take control, than start a new organisation.
However, Unite and its associates could: withdraw all funding from Labour, form a new party (like SWP) and try its luck at the ballot box. This would probably split Labour and most likely fail for many of the reasons that the post-WW2 UK Communist party failed.
Are Welsh Labour also under the same rules as the English CLP?
I'm not really in favour of monopolies throwing their weight about in any context, but my point was that Crow has got his members unusually high pay and job security (you have to have a really, really good reason to sack a Tube driver or they'll sue the pants off you and/or strike forever) while showing a marked indifference to what the public thinks. That's obviously a different role to running a national political party, and both arms of the Labour movement are more or less aware of it even though we grumble about each other.
Charles could be right that a mild and reasonable union leader would get better results, but it's not obvious to me that in today's dog-eat-dog world it pays off for workers to be mild and reasonable all the time.
Miss Plato, I don't think they've ever bettered the villainous hideout of a hollowed-out volcano.
I've always enjoyed Snowdon, though. There're so many different routes up it, all with their own character, and you can have a cup of tea at the top.
Please despoil the Ben or Scafell Pike with your mammoth erection!
“If the Conservative party had a single donor called UnitePLC that provided 40% of its donations, provided the CEO of the Conservative party, had its Head of PR setup websites for the Conservatives, hired people like Derek McPoison to run smear campaigns, unfairly influenced the process whereby many of its UnitePLC employees become Conservative MPs through donations and Uniteplc block votes in CLPs….. we would all be outraged at the infiltration of the Conservative party by a single company. But if we just changed the word Conservative to Labour in the above and deleted “plc” we arrive at the state of the Labour party.”
"You just wonder if they got a lucky bag and picked some names out. The Lions won the first Test and made eight changes to their squad. The Wallabies won the second and probably won't make any changes. The Lions lose by one point and there are six changes in the team and three guys on the bench who were nowhere near the team for the second Test. I was convinced Brian O'Driscoll should have been named as captain. It's catastrophic leaving him out. He's still one of the top centres in world rugby. He's a fantastic guy and has been on four tours and knows it all inside out. It's a massive mistake."
However an entire house full of plants staffed by illegal Vietnamese and powered by ripped off electricity is not on frankly - to the gallows.
"Except that Boris has quietly dropped the idea of driverless trains for the forseeable future - hadn't you noticed?"
Perhaps we should ask Sunil if the driverless train seems a more than adequate metaphor for the present Labour party ?
Well done to Mrs May and Co for this one.
The power of the union comes from a credible threat to strike, not from strikes themselves.
If management form the view that 'they are going to strike anyway' then they have no incentive to be generous in the initial proposal.
"UK service sector growth accelerated to its highest level since March 2011 during June as incoming new business rose at a rate unmatched for six years. The sharp increase in new business led to a marked rise in backlogs of work, and encouraged companies to take on additional staff to the strongest degree since August 2007...
“The buoyant picture for June means the economy is on course to expand by at least 0.5% in the second quarter, with more growth to come. New orders and job creation across all sectors are now rising at the fastest rates for almost six years, led by the vast services economy, boding well for robust growth momentum to be sustained as we move into the second half of the year"
http://www.markiteconomics.com/Survey/PressRelease.mvc/d8b5be871614424e84c8dcd2e5573427
I suppose he doesn't want a fight with Crow though given how important the tube is to London as a whole. It is not a good position to be in however, cowed to a union baron.
This is precisely why Thatcher had to destroy Red Robbo and Scargill.
Surging services growth pushes UK all-sector PMI to highest since March 2011. UK GDP set for at least +0.5% in Q2 twitpic.com/d0jq20
Thanks to BenM for the tweet.
"Egyptian president will resign or be sacked":
http://news.sky.com/story/1110850/egyptian-president-will-resign-or-be-sacked
Portuguese share prices plummeted 6% in early trading on Wednesday and other major bourses, including the FTSE 100, fell sharply amid growing uncertainty that the recession-hit country's bailout reform agenda can remain on track.
Foreign Minister Paulo Portas resigned on Tuesday night, a day after the shock departure of Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar."
http://news.sky.com/story/1110946/markets-fall-amid-portugal-political-crisis
We have probably entered a new era of methods of employment. If we look back to the Middle Ages, most people were self-employed or owed service (often military) to the landowners whose land they farmed or were retainers.
The coming of the Guilds (and apprenticeships with contracts) created a newish middle class and then the industrial revolution required permanent staff with specific skills who became employed.
Nowadays, with the advance of globalisation and fast-moving technology, the number of non-skilled employment opportunities has diminished, whilst people with the right skill-sets and experience have become increasingly valuable.
At the same time countries with employment flexibility are advancing whilst others (like France) with restrictive and costly employment laws and practices are diminishing in the global context.
In the UK, I have seen a large rise in the use of specialist contractors by many industries and the consultancy with which I am associated now has very few employees. As we serve many 'industries', it is not economic to employ all the specialists we require only at certain times. So (like using solicitors and accountants) we contract in specialists as required. In return they earn a higher hourly rate than when they were employed and our employment costs are reduced (little employer's NI)- at present it is a win-win situation. The major part of our employees are now our R&D people.
Frankly - I'm just relieved things are picking up quietly - inflation isn't going gang-busters and interest rates remain tiny. Slow and steady suits me having endured massive boom-and-bust too many times before.
Explains why inequality is rising.
Labour's Falkirk report says contender Gregor Poynton, husb of front-bencher Gemma Doyle, recruited 11 members Jun 2012 on single £130 chque
oooooh dear...
'You make the big mistake to assume that Ed is weak.
Just compare him with Dave who always capitulates to his right wing at the slightest sign of bother.
Dave shouting "weak, weak weak" at EdM is a sign of his own weaknesses.'
If capitulating and u-turning on all the key issues you've been banging on about for three years isn't weak,then I don't know what is.
Ed Miliband will never be Prime Minister
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes - its impossible to imagine the transformation - and it took at least a decade to begin to even touch 10% of the organisation, and another decade to change it fundamentally.
It takes generational management turnover to make big steps in any direction.
I expect society to become a lot nastier in the future as a result, regrettably.
Chris Williamson @WilliamsonChris
Near 6-yr highs: UK all sector PMI shows new business growth fastest since Sep'07. Jobs growth best since Oct'07 twitpic.com/d0jsgz
I reckon ONS will be more cautious on the first estimate though.
"Things can only get better ...."
However, that doesn't mean the shenanigans in Falkirk and elsewhere are without significance. That significance is internal to the Labour Party, and is about the battle within the party between those who want to make at least a nominal attempt to face up to the need for reform in the public sector and control of the deficit, and those who want to ensure they have indeed 'got their party back' by ditching the New Labour approach and returning to being unashamedly the party of vested interests. The weakness of Ed Miliband is not that he doesn't face down his opponents - as some have already pointed out, he does have a ruthless streak - but that he can't himself decide which side he is on in that battle. In the absence of any decisive, or even discernible, policy lead from the top, the unions (effectively Unite) are taking matters into their own hands.
It's their influence on strategic direction, not the public perception of that influence, which matters.
- The Union influence of the likes of McCluskey is the biggest barrier to me voting Labour (my issue with unions is personal). Without that influence I'd consider it.
- Ed Miliband's decision to tack to Tory economic plans will serve him well around GE2015
- Jon Cruddas puts a bit of fear in me, and I suspect his policy agenda will be good
- I don't think Cameron has been weak. Balancing the right wing of your party in power with a left wing coalition partner was always going to be difficult. I believe he has done well
- Ed can't be RED and have a sensible economic plan. Fair enough. But the UNITE influence is significant because the impression is that McCluskey and co will try to hijack the economic plans if Labour gain power. Voters won't like this. If the McCluskey/Owen Jones lefty plans were popular and workable I'm sure EdM would go that way. They aren't, and he isn't. Holding this line, along with Ed Balls, will be a hard, hard slog between now and GE2015
- I don't think EdM is weak. Kim Howells knocked it on the head talking of Labour impossibilism. EdM needs to deal with that aspect of what the Unions crave, but can't sensibly get.
' his Free Schools have yet to produce one outstanding school'
Can you tell us which Academies were outstanding two years after they had been set up?
Lol.
But surely the point is that UNITE is not UNITE PLC - it is a voluntary organisation with over a million members. Tory donors consist largely of a few very wealthy individuals. Labours funding might come largely from a handful of unions but there are still over 7 million union members in UK (which actually increased this year). If you include family members etc that is one huge group of people, a fact the Tories fail to grasp when they embark on another spate of union bashing. Wealthy donors provide only money - unions provide money and thousands of foot soldiers on the ground
I realise that not every union member votes Labour and that the criticism of the way some unions act is justified but insulting union members is pretty counter-productive in my opinion.
I see the increasing use of these contracts as a means of effectively handcuffing an employee with useful skills to a company especially in a job poor market that exists at present.
http://www.markit.com/assets/en/docs/commentary/markit-economics/2013/jul/UK_PMI_13_07_03.pdf
New orders across the private sector highest since 2007.
Economists are going to have to revise their revised estimates of GDP growth.
I've seen it dozens of times - treating people like widgets doesn't work for long, invariably it takes just one person in a group to leave and the majority of the rest [usually the best workers] see that the grass can be greener and follow suit.
Any manager who fails to spot the rot when a good employee leaves/their silent influence on others is stupid.
"The increasing scrutiny of Labour’s relationship with militant unions is becoming a serious problem for Ed. The Times splashes on Labour taking control of 14 constituency parties after internal concerns about attempts to manipulate selections, with Unite caught red-handed trying to stitch up Ilford East. Miliband is still refusing to publish Labour’s report into Unite’s plotting in Falkirk. Until he does this story is just going to snowball…
Eric Joyce has come out swinging, accusing Unite of threatening to sue him for talking about the allegations:
“Unite’s middle-class political officer, Jennie Formby, has argued that Unite is desperate to hear what allegations are being made. Odd, then, that I have been for weeks receiving letters from Unite’s middle-class lawyers threatening to sue me for defamation because I’ve been doing just that. No proceedings have actually been initiated yet, mind you. I wonder why?”
Perhaps most awkwardly of all, the unions are now pointing to this video of Miliband himself defending the right of unions to buy party membership. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9MpCoUqHM
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BOPPqgOCYAAE9OM.jpg:large
I fully empathise with your son's predicament.
In his shoes I would be wondering whether his employer is market-savvy and should have been able to predict a downturn which could have been due to price or technology. Either way, the employer should have been already developing the next 'product/s.'
Perhaps your son may need to improve his skill sets and so increase his market value and thus his options internationally.
PMQs today ? What health topic will rEd go with today ?
Life imitating PB.
Hums jauntily .... Things can only get better ....
Bethnal Green and Bow
Poplar and Limehouse
Brentford & Isleworth
Ealing Southall
Falkirk West
Feltham & Heston
Oldham East and Saddleworth
Oldham West and Royton
Birmingham Hall Green
Birmingham Hodge Hill
Birmingham Ladywood
Birmingham Perry Barr
Warley
Slough
"That said, the news that a dozen CLPs have been placed on what effectively amounts to administrative detention for 8 years – one as long as 18 – shows us the real flaw of the “special measures” system. If it actually worked, these CLPs would have been able to exit “special measures” by now and return to normal membership processes. Yet instead they’ve spent the best party of a decade being forced to jump through byzantine hoops by the party in order to recruit members.
Every CLP – including Falkirk West – should be asking the following questions of the party:
- Why was my CLP placed under “special measures”? If a report was prepared by the party as part of this process, will it be made public or shared with the CLP?
- How long has my CLP been under “special measures”?
- How can my CLP leave “special measures”?
Because until we know the answers to these questions, it’s impossible to know whether or not “special measures” is a proportionate response to any allegations or wrongdoing. And unless a CLP knows how to leave “special measures”, the party in these areas – finding it harder to recruit new members – could just wither and die..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzvCYderVH0
Question of the day: Is President Obamas brain about to go into a senile stage? His antics of late are more than a little irrational.
Ah .... is it tax deductable though ?!?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2354424/English-swear-word-s--storm-enters-German-dictionary-gaining-popularity-eurozone-crisis.html
The public generally won't care about the story itself.
But it could have implications for the strategic direction of Labour, which the public will care about.
Two more Portuguese ministers expected to resign http://bit.ly/14PIeQz
Surprised not to see Stoke in it