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A freebie for Sir Keir from a Tory – politicalbetting.com
A freebie for Sir Keir from a Tory – politicalbetting.com
Harold Wilson said in 1964, “The Labour party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.” By 2015 the focus was rather on what was moral about a crusade: which in many ways epitomises Labour’s problems all too neatly. In a recent thread, it was suggested that Labour needed some policies to attract attention and get voters motivated once again. My response was a Workers Charter. I suggested the following policies.
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I know it’s a complicated issue, but if the self-employed are to be treated as employees, then their employers need to be paying national insurance.
And that's what Labour needs right now - the specifics can come later.
But we're not all equally dependent upon the gig economy.
Its predominantly an urban thing with the urban working class being the exploited providers and the urban middle class being the exploiting recipients.
And who do the urban middle class vote for ?
What constitutes an employee is at the root of the question.
- many studies show that increasing the cost of labour does indeed reduce the demand for it, though some do not.
- there's not much evidence that those that are self-employed actually want these protections, rather than, say, higher pay, however much the legal establishment want them to have them. 90% of those for whom the gig economy is their main source of income are satisfied with it (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/687553/The_characteristics_of_those_in_the_gig_economy.pdf) Many value the flexibility of the gig economy.
- in any case, I doubt it would do anything to boost Labour support as most (56%) of these workers are 16-34, and they disproportionately live in big cities where Labour already has gigantic leads.
I'm afraid Sir Keir will have to look elsewhere to beat Boris.
If you start working for yourself, you’re classed as a sole trader. This means you’re self-employed - even if you haven’t yet told HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
You’re probably self-employed if you:
run your business for yourself and take responsibility for its success or failure
have several customers at the same time
can decide how, where and when you do your work
can hire other people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you
provide the main items of equipment to do your work
are responsible for finishing any unsatisfactory work in your own time
charge an agreed fixed price for your work
sell goods or services to make a profit
As a self-employed person you pay a lower rate of National Insurance and so you do not get statutory sick pay or unemployment pay. Also, by definition there is no Employer to pay the Employer's contribution. Similarly, there is no Employer to pay you Sick Pay or Holiday Pay. In short, if you do not work you do not get paid.
If it looks like a duck ...
In response to your points I fully recognise that our very flexible employment market is a major factor in the significant increase in employment since 2010 and I would not want to lose that. I recognise that many who work in the gig economy welcome that flexibility and find it advantageous for them whether this is a second job, being done around their studies etc. But as our economy changes more people are being trapped in this sector finding it hard to get conventional employment. We need to do better by them.
So why doesn't Kinder Scout get bought by the National Trust or something like that in order to protect it? Oh wait, its already owned by the National Trust.
National Parks and the National Trust are one thing, but privately owned land - that should be on the owner. Its their possession to do with as they please, within the law.
We tax externalities that we try to reduce, like pollution and alcohol etc - but then we tax employment which perversely encourages businesses not to employ people. Or to lie about how much they pay people. The tax system means it is in both an employee and employers interests for someone to eg have a contract saying they're paid £300 per week, while the employer actually gives them £400, cutting out tax and NI for both employee and employer.
As a nation we have piled burden on top of burden on top of tax for honest employers: Employers NI, Pensions, SSP, Holiday Pay etc - that dodgy employers in the same industry manage to escape from all of. Allowing them to undercut the honest employers.
We should not be taxing employment like its an externality. Quite the opposite.
First dose 124,858
Second dose 478,008
Total doses 602,866
Third highest day on record.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, a close political ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, claimed that the UK’s success had been built on driving forward with first jabs without having secured the second doses necessary for full vaccination.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/26/france-uk-struggle-source-second-covid-jabs-eu-blackmail
If the national minimum wage is say £10 per hour, then honest employers need to accrue for Holiday Pay, SSP, Pensions and more - bringing it to more like £15 per hour once you accrue for all other costs.
So how about saying that self-employment can continue, but if you are hiring someone self-employed then you need to pay a £15 per hour minimum wage. The self-employed person can then pay their own taxes, holidays, pensions and set money aside for when sick from that.
Level playing field.
Newark Police officers did not fire a single shot during the calendar year 2020, and the city didn’t pay a single dime to settle police brutality cases. That’s never happened, at least in the city’s modern history.
Oh, and crime is dropping.
https://twitter.com/markmobility/status/1386297356195450881
It might be the right thing to do, but why should the politicians (of any colour) get involved? All the media will do is focus on the downsides (employees are second class citizens, etc. etc.).
Far easier to leave things as they are and let nature take its course.
A man who spent 17 years in prison for rape and maintained his innocence is a step closer to clearing his name after a fresh DNA breakthrough in his case.
Andrew Malkinson was convicted of raping a 33-year-old mother left for dead on a Manchester roadside in the middle of the night in July 2003.
There was never any forensic evidence against him and his conviction depended on an identity parade and testimony from witnesses whose criminal pasts were hidden from the court.
Malkinson, 55, who was 37 when he went to jail, was released from prison last December for good behaviour. He was locked up for ten years beyond his tariff because he refused to admit to the crime.
Greater Manchester police (GMP) have now admitted that they misled the court by presenting two key witnesses, a couple, as honest. In fact, they had 16 convictions for 38 offences between them. They claimed they were able to identify Malkinson having seen him on a dark street in the middle of the night.
Despite this, GMP continue to spend public money fighting Malkinson’s lawyers in the courts to prevent more information being revealed about the witnesses and their interaction with police. The couple came forward to say they were witnesses shortly after police put out a call to their sources, raising the possibility that they were police informants.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-served-17-years-in-jail-but-dna-proves-real-rapist-is-still-at-large-0rcjmrwfz
As someone who uses the gig economy a fair bit I do have to admit the more I read about the guiltier I feel.
I live in mid-Hants and am starting to get pb vaccine envy!
And those people are far more likely to use Uber or Deliveroo than work for them.
The key point for me is this: Labour used to be a mass movement representing the interests of the average worker; today, Labour is a niche movement representing only special interests of minority groups that are often at odds with those of the average worker.
That's why it isn't going anywhere.
Paternalism at its most patronising and half-baked.
I find myself longing for the ludicrously privacy busting detail of American early voting stats
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/elections-and-referendums/past-elections-and-referendums/scottish-parliamentary-elections/report-how-2016-scottish-parliament-election-was-run
If however you think that I bad you should see the impact IR35 is having on sectors of the economy even I didn't know we're party to the changes. Self employed delivery and lorry drivers are seeing their pay drop 20% as employer and employee NI is deducted in an industry where price is everything.
When pay parity rules for agency workers kicks in ( after 13 weeks so end of June) it's going to be a nightmare as many firms were using agency drivers because they were cheaper than permanent staff - unless they start playing games by swapping end client every 12 weeks there are going to be problems come July.
If you are in that age bracket might be worth giving the NHS covid vaccination website a cheeky ping over the next few days. Shhhh, don't tell anybody, but previously despite it saying not available to the next cohort, often the backend appears to get updated a few days before the public announcement is made and it is possible to book one.
I think Boris has definitely moved out of the "answer" category and into the "problem" category now.
If you're so stupid and incompetent that you need others to do all the planning and execution for you, then you at least need to be capable of retaining their loyalty. Otherwise what have you got to offer?
Can you give an example of a potential Labour policy that would tick this box?
Just console yourself with the fact that us oldies would swap with you any day. My thirties was my happiest time I think.
If a local takeaway does its own delivery I will use that otherwise I will get in the car and collect.
Prices are usually cheaper as well
Philip's proposal works well for people who are "intermittently employed" - typically people engaged at times of peak demand, with a spillover into the deceitful category of people who are in reality full-time staff but whose employer wants to avoid giving them holidays etc. These people are vulnerable and need the kind of protection that DavidL's or Philip's solutions would help.
It's not relevant for people who are self-employed in the sense of doing some work when they want to. My evening job is translation for numerous agencies - I do some when I have the time, and I pick and choose which texts I'm comfortable with translation (Euro-legislation yes, engineering manuals no). I don't feel they're exploiting me in any way - they are taking a commission to find possible jobs for me. The key difference from Uber is that I'm in control - I take work when I want it, and no employer can tell me to hang about without pay waiting for it to turn up.
I mean Amazon screw they drivers and suppliers, but you they ain't losing £100 million of quid every year just existing.
Four weeks prior to the attack, he was stopped by police officers in Little Hulton while riding pillion on an off-road motorbike.
Both Malkinson and the driver had their details taken.
A month later, when an E-fit of the man who committed the rape and his description was circulated among police, the officers said they were reminded of Malkinson.
I'm not sure if proximity makes a difference. It can depend on the practice at which you are registered, and its approach to its lists.
"Yesterday we marched again. And we won’t stop until we get out freedom back in it’s entirety."
To give him his due, he does seem to inspire paternal devotion. Many fathers would be on the phone to Harrow asking for a refund!
I am still waiting for my second Pfizer jab. I now have a link to the vaccination centre in Barrow and keep checking every day but no appointments are available. A waiting game I guess. I do hope the government has secured enough Pfizer doses for second jabs.
I suppose it could have been that they picked him out by chance. But presumably the suggestion is that this bloke was properly fitted up. That is, the police went to their informants and told them who to pick.
If so, that's incredibly serious.
Otherwise, I'm not sure their records or who they are is especially relevant.
EDIT: though, that really ought to be for the judge to decide, so if the police didn't disclose it, then that is bad in its own right.
https://covid.joinzoe.com/data
The victim said the man who raped her was 5ft 8in at most but Malkinson is 5ft 11in. She said she left a “deep scratch” on her attacker’s cheek but Malkinson was not seen with one. She also said he had a local Bolton accent “with a tinge of something else” but Malkinson grew up in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and had just arrived in the area.
"Four weeks prior to the attack, he was stopped by police officers in Little Hulton while riding pillion on an off-road motorbike.
Both Malkinson and the driver had their details taken.
A month later, when an E-fit of the man who committed the rape and his description was circulated among police, the officers said they were reminded of Malkinson."
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/man-jailed-life-16-years-19454105
This sounds pretty bad.
As in, if correct those involved are still alive they should be facing criminal charges and long prison sentences, while Malkinson is clearly entitled to substantial compensation.
Sloooow progress....
So why was he picked out?
GRÜNE: 28% (+6)
CDU/CSU: 27% (-2)
SPD: 13% (-2)
AfD: 10% (-1)
FDP: 9%
LINKE: 7% (-1)
+/- vs. 8-14 April 2021
Fieldwork: 15-21 April 2021
Sample size: 1,225"
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1386065566377680897
on topic.
Excellent policy suggestions from @DavidL
The opposition to these come from the osbornites/cameroons who are basically in exile at this point. Liz truss and similar might make a few noises, but can be ignored.
A few middle class ppl might get mildly pissed off, but they aren’t important.
The tories should go for it. Outlabour labour.
She also told police she left a 'deep scratch' on her attacker's cheek - however Malkinson was not seen with one when arrested.
It also would have meant that DNA from his skin would have likely been under her nails - though the DNA was last year found not to be a match with Malkinson.
I know science moves on, but was it really not possible to check this at the time?
This sounds conspiracy rather than cock-up.
Obviously the point is that he was on the parade only because he resembled the description, and that he was picked out because the witnesses thought they resembled the man they'd seen.
In other negotiations, Pfizer went further. The company required some Latin American governments to put up sovereign assets, including federal bank reserves, embassy buildings or military bases — as a guarantee against indemnifying the cost of future legal cases.
Unredacted draft contracts between Pfizer and the Dominican Republic, Albania and Peru show that the company sought to be indemnified against problems at any step of the supply chain — including packaging, manufacturing and storage. Experts told the Bureau it was “unreasonable” to require governments to pick up the bill for any negligence by Pfizer.
Assuming his conviction is overturned, compensation from the Ministry of Justice is not taken for granted. Since a change to the law in 2014, applicants must demonstrate innocence “beyond reasonable doubt” to qualify.
Victor Nealon, whose case was similar to Malkinson’s, was not paid compensation. Nealon spent 17 years in prison for attempted rape and his conviction was overturned in 2013 after new DNA evidence pointed to another attacker. After losing a case in the Supreme Court over compensation, he is taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Nealon has not received a penny so far.
The biggest gesture - a veritable Grand Projet - will be Mons. Macaron's riposte to the EU circling the wagons around a 20 billion Euro vaccine factory in Germany.
What do you suppose he will do?
And yet he was picked out.
So there are two possibilities:
1) The original description was wrong - which frequently happens, e.g. in the Hanratty case where the initial report of the attacker’s eye colour was wrong due to a transcription error;
2) Or, the witnesses (on whom material information was withheld) and the victim were given guidance on who to pick.
The first is not a significant issue, and would not therefore invalidate the conviction.
The second, however...
Edit - and I would point out he seems to have resembled the Identikit, not the description.
Or, at least, they should be.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/28/house-looks-like-gop-lock-2022-senate-will-be-much-harder/
"How dare these uppity rustics want a pay rise, have them flogged and transported and replace them with some cheap migrants"
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
I still can't work out what the strategy is on Scottish first doses, though they have picked up very slightly recently, but still seems like they are finishing off a group rather than starting a new cohort.