Category: economics
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Place the blame, move on

Last night, I posted a Jonathan Pie rant on my social media feed, because his traditional five-minute rant had managed to include more of the salient points in our current affairs than the entire week’s output from the BBC. Tory MPs are lining up to say yes, they too have realised Boris Johnson is irresponsible,…
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What is the difference between work and slavery?

Freedom of association – that is, the right to organise. The right to join a union. 2. Freedom to withdraw your labour – that is, the right to strike, and 3. An administration that treats the unemployed with respect, and provides for their basic needs. We have already lost the last one – the DWP…
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Let’s try the Alien trick again…

Just landed from Mars. First up, I looked for somewhere to live. Ye gods, rents are expensive! Found out about jobs, and went to look for one – which was puzzling. Most jobs require the applicant to have a car and a mobile phone. Looked at the prices and running costs of cars and mobile…
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Victory to the RMT – Victory for all

Hastings Demands Better 25th June 2022 At Hastings Station Plaza, at midday on 25th June, the RMT rally was mc’ed by Simon Hester of Hastings TUC. He said that, like all privatised industries, the railway companies have money. They have plenty. They have millions for bosses, and for profits. He said that, due to the…
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Dear Morrisons, Customers do not ‘have to’ anything.

Dear Morrisons, This morning, as I walked away from your unstaffed kiosk to find somewhere I could actually do what I wanted to do, I stopped to ask the man on the door to please tell the manager they are losing customers. I told him it was around the third time I’ve done that in…
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We have got what we need

We wanted a Corbyn government. The others wanted a ‘more electable leader’. No matter. Meanwhile, the Tories wanted to stay in charge, despite not having anyone remotely suitable, so the nation got Boris the Liar, Boris the evil clown who let his friends run away with anything that wasn’t nailed down, then literally sat there…
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Train cleaners deserve better

Last week, I went to the Hastings Demands Better TUC meeting, and learned a lot about what various local community groups and industrial unions were doing about the cost-of-living crisis. One of the speakers, Bella Fashola, told us about the Churchill train cleaners’ dispute. The overarching issue is clear: how are people who clean trains,…
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Abort! Abort! Abort!

Yes, I had an abortion once. Another time, I had what was a more or less deliberate miscarriage. Even that was safer and more efficient than the life-threatening exertions of a relative of mine a couple of generations back with no access to abortion who, desperate not to have another child in their overflowing home,…
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We must rebuild trust – Ha ha ha!

***Long read for the weekend*** I’m writing this as I anxiously await the results of local council elections. It’s been a strange one for me, because it’s the first election since I foreswore party allegiance (I maintain that I didn’t leave Labour, Labour left me) – but the result still matters to me, because I…
