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No depressionSo Maria Miller, the DWP Minister, says there are loads of jobs out there if people just looked a little bit harder. And here’s the debunking of that argument from the Guardian (with kudos to James Ball, who is doing increasingly excellent work. His columns and Channel 4′s Fact Check are a must if you want to keep tabs on whether you’re... |
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Health and Social Care Bill risk register
The post below goes some way towards explaining why I haven’t signed the EDM that a few people have been urging me, via Twitter, to sign. It’s EDM 2659 and was only tabled on 30th January so, apart from anything else, I didn’t actually realise it existed. We have a couple of months...
Health and Social Care Bill risk register
The post below goes some way towards explaining why I haven’t signed the EDM that a few people have been urging me, via Twitter, to sign. It’s EDM 2659 and was only tabled on 30th January so, apart from anything else, I didn’t actually realise it existed. We have a couple of months...
On Early Day Motions
There’s an adjournment debate tonight at close of play (ie 10pm) on whether EDMs should be abolished. I go through phases of signing them and not signing them, or signing some and not others even though I agree with them, but then it gets very difficult explaining why I haven’t. Basically...
“Bankrolled”
Yesterday there was a bit of a flurry on Twitter about Andrew Lansley’s office being funded by a private health care company. I thought it was ‘new’ news but everyone seemed to be tweeting (or ‘tweetering’ as Paul Dacre would have it) a link to a two year old Telegraph article,...
Countering the Tory unfairness agenda
It is a sad and uncomfortable fact that the Tory-led government has been able to dictate the terms of reference and dominate the debate on welfare. The coalition government has made a concerted effort to garner public support for a national cap on benefits and it has been allowed to lead the argument. No-one...
Top Totty
On Thursday we had “Top Totty”, one of those 24-hour news stories so beloved by the media, trivial in some respects but capable of endless discussion and debate. I RT’d a pic of the offending beer pump, complete with Playboy bunny, which meant I then got asked to comment for Huffington...
The week in Westminster
So I’m on the train to London. As usual I am easing into the week by listening to my “Country, etc” Spotify playlist: it starts with Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash, cranks up a notch with Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo and Calexico, and ends with a god blasting from early Lemonheads and...
Stop vandalising NHS
Today's tweets Campaign to stop Tories vandalising NHS must be immense. Health and fairness will win over greed and privilege. LibDems confusion certain. Perfect victory for Wales showing strength, skills and character. Fighting back fiercely with a man down will give them mega...
A Eurozone bust is not far away, certainly in 2012
As if the woes of decade-long austerity, pay freeze, and demolition of the NHS and Welfare State were not enough, the signs of a final showdown in the Eurozone are becoming more ominous, at three simultaneous levels. True, huge efforts, and money, have been poured into finding...
Time to stop over-reacting, Newport.
In the past there was exaggerated optimism about the beneficial effects of city status and the location of the Ryder Cup. Now there is exaggerated pessimism about current problems. The city centre is going through a very rough patch. A debate in parliament recently proved that almost every city...
DECC run by the energy companies?
One of the unnoticed offsets from the Huhne resignation is that the grip on the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) held by the Big Six energy companies may intensify in the hiatus created before a new minister is sufficiently in harness to take effective charge. Already,...
David Miliband’s right about a debate, but it cannot ignore the most fundamental problems
There is much to welcome in David Miliband’s call for a ‘comradely and serious debate’ about the future for the Labour Party, as prompted by Roy Hattersley’s recent article in the Political Quarterly on social democracy. He is certainly right about the spirit...
Will we be treble-crossed?
Tweeting today There is no conceivable British interests threatened by Iran. But vast profits beckon for the international war profiteers. Ever thus. 179 British lives lost in Iraq after Commons was bribed, baffled and bamboozled with lies on on non-existent WMDs. New Iran lie is being spread Afghan...
It’s time to end exploitative payday loans
Last week I was out campaigning along with fellow Labour MPs Stephen Twigg and Steve Rotheram, against sky high loan interest rates. With more and more people struggling to meet the cost of higher bills, it’s hardly surprising then that many households now have to rely on payday loans just to get by...
