Today, bus drivers at Go North West in Manchester go on strike in protest at the ‘fire and re-hire’ policy that has seen them forced to accept new contracts with worse conditions. How did we get from transport workers being heroes to villains, in ten short months?
England’s adult social care system has long been in need of reform but successive governments have struggled with how to design and in particular fund a system that provides quality care, is fair and is palatable to the electorate.
Natalie Bennett discusses the importance of having a ‘good’ financial sector, not just a ‘big’ one. She points out that competition usually means someone loses, and instead suggests that a strong, secure financial sector means that everyone wins.
We’ve been patient, as the numbers of disenfranchised voters have grown. We’ve watched from a distance as major decisions about the future of the UK have been made without our involvement. Decisions that affect us deeply. It’s time to give us the voice we’ve so long been promised, and in time for the next general election. Even if the government might not like what we have to say.
As the pandemic continues to inflict untold misery on families and communities in this country, the true cost and scale of the economic impact is becoming more apparent. It comes on the back of years of austerity, and decades during which the welfare state has been gradually eroded. Perhaps it’s now time to revisit the aims and principles that led to its creation, and look again at the Beveridge Report.
The Church of England should lead by example, including delivering more truly affordable homes on its own land, to help solve the housing crisis, says a landmark report published today by the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community.
One other sinister and covert weapon used against trade unionists is now getting some attention: the extent to which the police and security services have mounted surveillance and undercover operations against trade unionists and political activists since the 1960s.
Jake Berry’s new plan is just Thatcherism 2.0, and won’t help the Northern Research Group keep their seats. Thatcher is still broadly hated in the North – is Berry heading for the same fate?
Digital identity cards are supposed to confirm who we say we are in specific contexts. Now the government wants to revise its guides and link up our personal information in ways that allow information to be shared by various organisations wanting to check our personal details.
Isabel Ralphs unpacks the gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and talks to one new mother who is helping to fight for much-needed change.
Full marks to Hancock for deciding to try and tackle these problems for the future when the focus on day-to-day survival is dominating life so dramatically. And yet … there are a couple of tiny but rather important things to consider that haven’t been making the headlines
People who have done all things that Conservatives traditionally value, have been put in an impossible position by a series of government decisions. Most of these people have worked hard, saved their money and after years of struggle finally got to the point in life where they can afford to buy a small place at the bottom of the property market. Only to find that their bills for insurance and for repairs have gone through the roof and the value of their home has collapsed.
The government’s scheme to provide green grants to home owners and landlords has got off to a shaky start. With 65 percent of homeowners applying in the first 2 months alone, the scheme has already run out of money. To make matters worse, contractors who will carry out the improvement work are reluctant to sign […]
John Cole calls into question how genuine libertarians have been, particularly during this crisis, when they have done more harm than good. Encouraging more open economies and taking the blame from the shoulders of government and putting it on the people, they have done nothing except exacerbate the situation.
The owners of Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) are pushing ahead with their planning application that would allow them to almost double their passenger numbers in the next 10 years. Well, that’s the plan, but we all know that Covid-19 has other ideas about the future of aviation. Currently, there’s only one flight a day taking […]
Little has been done to prevent another Grenfell tower fire, research from the Labour party revealed as they pressured the government to act. With millions of people still living in blocks with unsafe cladding, more needs to be done to make these fit for habitation, Alex Toal writes.
Marcus Cain explores the world of proportional voting, and what can be done to make it a reality in the parliamentary system. There are several ways to make our system more proportional, with each having its advantages and disadvantages.
To demonstrate the urgency of the government action, the new border implementation has even been given its own codename: ‘Operation Close Stable Door And By The Way Has Anyone Seen My Horse, I’m Sure I Left It In Here Somewhere’.
Dr Hywel Ceri Jones, who helped found Erasmus, explains why abandoning it was such a mistake in the government’s pursuit of a global Britain. “With its global interests in view, the closest UK involvement in Horizon and Erasmus is an obvious and necessary investment. It makes little economic or policy sense to join one but not the other.”
Buried away in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto in 2019 was a promise to “make intentional trespass a criminal offence”. And now, in the middle of a grossly mismanaged pandemic, when a need for the big outdoors has arguably never been more important, the government is beginning to act on this particular pledge, meaning even less of the UK’s land could be available to us than is currently available.
The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the film industry into decline. With fewer films being made for big screen release, will the independent cinemas we know and love financially recover from the pandemic? In December 2020, the government offered over £16m in grants, as part of their Cultural Recovery Fund, to more than 200 independent cinemas […]
The 1984 film ‘Threads’ is artistic activism, a campaign for nuclear disarmament and a warning against individualism. As we celebrate a step towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, we remember why these measures are necessary.
With tough on crime Trump gone, and Biden’s justice reform on the agenda, might Priti Patel temper her focus on the death penalty? Dr Stella Perrott looks at the similarities between Patel’s and Trump’s views on justice, and how the home secretary may change under Biden.
University of Leeds student Annabelle Levins looks at how students have been let down by both the government and their universities during the pandemic.
As Craven District Green councillor, Andy Brown notes that we’re all suffering from the consequences of neglecting our environment. With deregulation in China causing deaths in Yorkshire, we need to treat our globe as a unified whole in our response to climate change, not to ignore it.
Brian McHugh discusses how climate change is already impacting Yorkshire, and what is being done by local organisers to counter it.
As Alex Toal writes, the people of Yorkshire need economic support more than ever, but their first Chancellor from the region in 45 years ignores their need. Is Rishi Sunak’s stance on Universal Credit a play to the backbenches, that “a vote for Sunak is a vote for fiscal orthodoxy”?
Jenrick must have solved looming crises in housing, local government debt, and cladding, Alex Toal writes, given his obsession with statues. The minister has been borrowing tactics from one of his predecessors, Eric Pickles, in preventing communities in having a voice about their public space.
Jane Thomas looks at how scrapping the universal credit uplift of £20 a week would have the biggest impact in the poorest towns in England. “The promise of levelling up is receding not growing – and unless the chancellor changes tack, the opportunities for our poorest will be swept away.”
Emily Horner talks to Nidderdale residents to uncover how mobile signal problems have led to people missing crucial vaccine information. “Nidderdale provides just one example of the difference broadband access and signal boosts would make for vulnerable people – whether it’s for children remote learning, adults working from home, or the clinically vulnerable waiting for their Covid-19 vaccines.”