Category: Economy

Boris Johnson has rejected a level playing field with the EU in relation to workers’ rights and other standards. This position makes it increasingly likely that there will not be a trade deal with the EU.

Working in the Performing Arts is not a career but a way of life. It’s not what you do, but what you are.

Virtually every day, fresh job loss announcements are made: some national such as EasyJet, Boots, Marks & Spencer and Intu, some local like Nissan and De La Rue.

Remember what the Leave campaign, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and others promised us to win their referendum four years ago? How are these promises turning out?

Even before the transition period comes to an end, the free access to Europe’s services market that Britons currently enjoy across over 30 other countries, is being rapidly curtailed.

Before Covid, I might have been out of a job, but I was secure in the knowledge that the industry supporting me was carrying on existing, producing wonderful work, contributing almost £13 million to the UK economy every hour. I could expect future work. In short, I had hope.

Residents made cardboard cut-out body shapes, each one representing a company or number of jobs at stake in the event of ‘No Deal’.

The North East would likely have been net recipients in the new EU budget framework as opposed to the Tory government’s that seems to be targeted at seats they want to win rather than need.

I grew up from around the corner of this factory and can just about remember the excitement of it being built here to save the area from economic disaster after the pits closed.

The North East Covid-19 Economic Response Group (or ERG), could shift to put wellbeing, tackling inequalities and climate change at our core.

It started in March. As lockdown started and panic began to take hold, I could not get flour anywhere. Every supermarket had been stripped clean, no wholemeal, no rye, no plain white, nothing. I have always made bread for my family in a bread machine (which, by the way, is awesome and nothing to be ashamed of […]

In December 2018, after a period of failed negotiations with the EU, Theresa May’s government issued a press release which confirmed that the UK would not use the European global positioning system ‘Galileo’ for defence or critical national infrastructure after Brexit. Instead, it would explore options to build its own satellite system which would help […]

Brexit era brings rise in holiday insurance costs among many other things.

A group of concerned local residents from the North East are planning a socially distanced protest outside the Nissan factory in Sunderland (Washington). The group will call on the government to reject a No Deal Brexit as members are worried that this would risk jobs and seriously damage the economy. The protest will take place […]

A report published by Tell MAMA, UK Islamophobia Hate Crime Service, and Newcastle University has concluded that the community spirit shown throughout lockdown needs to be retained to improve relations between different groups in the North East. ‘Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim hatred in the North East’ surveyed 111 people of various faiths and backgrounds from the […]

A nation state and its international relations are in many ways as complicated as the workings of our modern mobile phone, perhaps even more so. The interactions of one policy may have far-reaching consequences for other branches of government not directly related to the original policy.

Divergence from Boris Johnson appears to have reduced the number of infections in Scotland As from the 10 July 2020 the wearing of face covering inside shops is mandatory in Scotland. The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has not refrained from being seen wearing a face mask, unlike the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson […]

If someone had told me four months ago that Absolute Cabaret would be putting a show together without actually seeing each other in person until the day of the show, rehearsing everything online and then not being able to get closer than two metres to each other on the day of the show, I would […]

The beginning of lockdown saw a huge number of Covid-19 Mutual Aid groups spring up around the country. One of the first such groups to get started in Newcastle was Byker, an area close to the city centre. I talked to Silvie Fisch, local resident and group member to find out more. “The group was initiated […]

Prior to the 2016 referendum, the National Farmers Union (NFU) recommended their members vote to remain in the European Union. In spite of this, 53% of farmers were more swayed by the Leave campaign and voted to leave the EU. No one really knew exactly what ‘Leave’ meant at that stage.  The talk of complete separation […]

Redcar and Cleveland MP tweets out a joke about his new haircut, and gets back more than he bargained for. It’s turning out to be an entertaining week for Redcar MP Jacob Young. It started last Saturday with him getting his first bought haircut in three months. He was so pleased with it that he […]

The NHS came to life on 5th July 1948. This year’s birthday celebration occurred at a difficult time, just after the first wave of coronavirus. Things are not going to get easier: there is already a huge backlog of elective and cancer care, as well as the risk of a second wave of coronavirus in […]

The Westminster government has announced the reopening of more venues, the end of shielding for vulnerable individuals and the reduction of the safe distance from two metres to ‘one metre plus’. Are these the right measures and is this the right time? A recently published study (The Lancet, 1st June 2020) has shown that reducing the […]

The manufacturing regions of the north of England are particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of the COVID19 lockdown, with thousands of jobs at stake. These very same regions would also suffer the most in the event of failure by the Westminster government to secure a post Brexit deal with the EU before the end of the year. Two simultaneous economic […]

Lockdown exit must consider the lives lost through fatal domestic abuse Lockdown is a relatively new concept in modern pandemic management; it is largely untested, and its implications and unintended negative consequences unplanned for. As the government debated and delayed the inevitable, a significant proportion of the female population, one in four of us, living […]

North East voices heard loud and clear at the Gates of Parliament  The stark reality of the consequences of a No Deal Brexit was laid bare by demonstrators from the North East, who took their message to the gates of Parliament on a sweltering Wednesday 24 June, as MPs gathered for Prime Minister’s questions.  The […]

An interview with an activist If you take a walk in the centre of the pretty market town of Alnwick, Northumberland, you may stumble upon a community larder, in an old BT phone box…. It is clean and tidy, there is a good supply of well organised and presented food, and you can find hand […]

Boris is trying to cheer us all up. There are announcements that we can go back to things we used to do, and most importantly for many people, go on holiday. But we have also had some gloomy news lately. Health professionals are laying into the government about their mishandling of the pandemic. The editor […]

Building on failure Boris Johnson has just revealed his equivalent to Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal, except that there is no ‘new’ money and, ‘What is the Deal’? Many have pointed out that renovating the Sandwell Bridge is not the same as building the Hoover Dam, see above! However, like the promise to build forty new hospitals, things are […]

I’m an actor, writer and director. How has the coronavirus pandemic affected me? I lost two national tours and four productions at a local theatre. I was worried about my financial situation; I think like most self-employed creative people, my whole life has been living from job to job with nothing much in the savings […]