COMPETITION used to be a dirty word to socialist politicians back in the 1980s in the days of Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government, GP fundholding, and the split between purchasers and providers in the National Health Service.
Archive for February, 2009
Jill Palmer: Competition and co-operation make very uneasy bedfellows
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, February 28th, 2009‘Scandal’ of UK rail fares much higher than Europe
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, February 27th, 2009ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman says it is “a scandal” that rail fares in Britain cost 50 per cent more than they do on the continent. “It is not enough for Andrew Adonis to say the only way to reduce fares is to raise taxes. The Government doesn’t say this when it doles out money to the banks so why should passengers be treated differently from the financial elite? The only difference I see is that passengers – unlike bankers – have done no wrong.”
India – a future of guaranteed uncertainty
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009Kailash Chand says uncertainty is a safe prediction as the world’s biggest democracy approaches an election
IoD accuses Harman of backtracking over gender pay gap
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009A row has erupted between the Government’s equalities office and the Institute of Directors after the latter announced that equalities minister Harriet Harman had rowed back on a promise to make private companies more transparent about the gender pay gap.
Labour and unions on collision course over Royal Mail sale
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009THE Government’s proposals to part-privatise the Royal Mail this week collided with a campaign supported by the TUC, its member unions and other activists to stop the plans, which could tear the Labour-union link apart.
Time to unite, act and stop the BNP before Euro poll in June
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009THE fight against the far right in Britain has never been harder – or more important. That is the message that came over loud and clear at the Unite Against Fascism national conference at Congress House in London on Saturday.
Uribe fingered as heads roll in wiretap scandal
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009PRESIDENT Alvaro Uribe of Colombia has been accused of ordering his intelligence agency to engage in illegal wiretapping of opposition politicians, members of the government, judges and journalists in a scandal that has rocked Colombia’s law enforcement apparatus.
Agency workers policy to be scrapped – Unite
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009UNITE the union has promised to “rip up” an agreement on the use of agency workers at BMW’s Mini factory in Cowley after the company sacked 850 temporary staff last week.
Labour decides to organise in Northern Ireland for 2011 polls
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, February 26th, 2009THE Labour Party has finally organised itself as an official political party in Northern Ireland, ending decades of hard campaigning by socialists on both sides of the Irish Sea. The inaugural meeting was held in Belfast on Monday night, but the first electoral outing is not expected until the new Northern Ireland “super council” and Assembly polls in 2011 although some activists want the party to be ready for a general election next year – when there are 18 seats at Westminster up for grabs.