Category: Politics

The Grim Reaper held a scythe which read “No Deal will be the death of us.”

Our regulations are so complex and they change so frequently that many are confused. Not even the Prime Minister could recollect the correct details of the restrictions when interviewed.

A minimalist deal would be a bad deal. Anything that reduces our access to the single market for our exports and our supply chains (including for food and medicine), to Europol and police co-operation, to EU research programmes (especially medical research), to cross-border road haulage permits, to the EHIC health insurance card for travellers, to the ERASMUS student exchange scheme, and to much else, would be damaging to Britain, destroying jobs, reducing security, and inflicting red tape and bureaucracy on businesses and citizens alike.

Till recently NEET young adults at the bottom of the skills employment spectrum have ‘churned’ or moved backwards and forwards between badly paid, insecure and precarious jobs – some in the informal economy and being out of work without the underlying causes being addressed.

The CBI and 71 trade associations and professional bodies representing 190,000 businesses and seven million employees are calling for politicians on both sides to carve a path towards a deal. Sectors from automotive to aviation, chemicals to creative industries, and farming and food to pharmaceuticals – are united: securing a quick agreement matters greatly for jobs and livelihoods

Despite the publication of the Augar Review, the last decade has seen adult and community education being starved of resources with the virtual disappearance of ‘night-classes’. Day-time opportunities for older adults to update their skills to become plumbers or electricians have been cut to the bone. Yet, these are things that could help the older unemployed worker get back onto the jobs ladder.

People with DLD experience lifelong difficulties and it is not yet known exactly what causes it. It is likely to stem from a number of factors, however, including genetic and biological influences. A referral can be made to Speech and Language Therapy services for assessment and diagnosis. Speech and Language Therapists can then provide support for the difficulties DLD causes to enable those with the condition to be successful in work, study and everyday life.

Tynedale Transformed is a platform for social change and a conduit for the amazing potential and disparate groups and individuals who work to make Tynedale a good place to live

Justice for Pavlos I visited Athens several times in the summer of 2019 as part of Greek Solidarity missions. On one occasion I was introduced to Magda Fyssas, the mother of the murdered left-wing rapper Pavlos Fyssas, otherwise known as Killah P (loosely translated as killer of the past). Magda was tired. Ever since her […]

But the children of Albion
are English to their bones,

A CETA deal would not stop border checks of tariffs on some goods. There would still be checks at borders. If you want to see what this is like, travel to the southern border between Montenegro and Croatia south of Dubrovnik. The queue of lorries being checked, not just for what goods they are carrying but also whether they harbour illegal immigrants, is enormous.

Critics pointed out that relatively prosperous towns such as Glastonbury (low-priority listing) were chosen for inclusion in the Towns Fund publication, but relatively poor towns such as Tynemouth (medium priority listing) were not. For medium-priority towns in the North East like Tynemouth, Sunderland, Seaham and many others, the chance of access to the Towns Fund has not just diminished, it has gone. They have been erased by a centralist, elitist government which focusses solely on the rich and powerful.

A pop-up placard display on Brexit is happening today at 1pm in Brussels. The Brussels hub for pro-European UK grassroots networks, Pro-Europa is holding an event outside the European Council in support of a good outcome from EU-UK negotiations. They also plan to warn the UK Government against breaking their promises and ignoring the needs […]

People who live north of the Tyne are being invited to help shape the future of health research in the North East by taking part in a new interactive, online experience called Multiverse Lab which aims to gather the opinions of 2,000 people about what matters to them when it comes to their health. Visitors […]

If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy.

Are we heading back to the 1950s when it comes to gender equality in the home and work? Research by the independent think tank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, in conjunction with Sussex University found that three-quarters of mothers, of whom 67% were still working in paid jobs, described themselves as the ”default” parent for […]

Being asked to ‘trust’ the government simply beggars belief. The government would be seen to be trustworthy if it simply implemented the safeguards put forward in the amendment! Parliament is made up of elected honourable servants. It is their duty of care to protect the people’s interests and respect their wishes. The Agricultural Bill is unacceptable in its unamended form. It is not good enough to argue if the bill passes in the form Boris Johnson and the unelected advisor Mr. Cummings want, that it does not necessarily mean that chlorinated cheap chicken and all the host of other things may not be sacrificed. We have been lied to on too many occasions.

Back in May, Richard Holden failed to support a rebel Tory amendment to the Agriculture Bill, if passed, the amendment would have banned US imports of food produced to lower welfare, food safety and environmental standards than those required of British farmers.

The protests are being supported by Save British Farming. The group’s North Yorkshire organiser, Richard Sadler, said: “We want to shine the spotlight on Rishi Sunak and other North Yorkshire MPs who claim to support farmers but who have been quietly voting against their best interests.”

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists people with no history of mental ill-health are developing serious psychological problems for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Many are worried over job insecurity, social isolation and relationship breakdown. One in 10 children has a diagnosable mental health problem. There’s a compelling moral and economic case for dealing with mental ill-health among teenagers.

Fight For The Future has amassed an impressive list of speakers who have now embarked on a virtual tour of the UK, focusing on national and regional issues, whilst also aiming to mobilise ongoing resistance to the unfolding tragedy of Brexit. The tour arrives in Yorkshire and the North East on Saturday October 10th.

Cummings followed the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) with two easy, false arguments: the money spent on more politicians could be spent on doctors; and the Assembly would raise Council Tax. In hindsight it could be Brexit: The Prequel.

Speed of vaccination in Western countries may depend on whether access to an initially limited supply of vaccine is restricted to a few countries or whether there would be a wider and more equitable distribution of the vaccine from the outset. An initial high price for the vaccines would also be a barrier for lower income countries.

Social care should be about meeting the needs of people as best we can; not reducing personal interactions to financially viable, fully costed impersonal transactions. People are not cost units.

The billionaire hedge fund managers who paid for Johnson, Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove’s Vote Leave campaign are also intent on the UK crashing out of Europe because they have made very large ‘shorts’, or ‘bets’ against the UK economy worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Maconie argues that, 80 -years on, we’re going back to 1930s depression, deepening inequality in material condition and the growth of radical-right populism. It can’t be denied that we’re seeing a widening gulf between the north and south of England. Just as disturbing, we appear to be witnessing a big gap opening up between the cosmopolitan core cities of Manchester and Newcastle and nearby urban post-industrial and coastal towns where’s there much discussion about the ‘white working-class’ becoming marginalised, angry, left out and left-behind.

We may compensate with a coffee and croissant, or biscuits at 11am, or eat more for lunch as hunger pangs set in, but imagine if you are a primary or secondary school student and this option was not available. Can you learn while hungry? Can you sleep if you are hungry?

I’m also beginning to think that I am suffering from some bizarre form of Stockholm Syndrome. I put my shoes on this morning (first time I’ve worn shoes or socks for months) and went out to start the car. Guess what? The battery is flat, not the teeniest, weeniest, tiniest suggestion of the smallest scintilla of a little sparklet, and, you know, I feel almost relieved at finding another reason not to go out.

To prohibit learning about anti-capitalism is like trying to teach the history of the Civil War without mentioning Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads.

Is this acceptable behaviour from a man elected to serve his country? The use of the word speaks volumes and does have at least a hint of feudalism. It demonstrates exactly how some of the elite, public school educated, think of the general public.