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No such thing as “politically homeless” on this woman’s agenda
Gill Knight has been a political activist since she retired some 18 years ago, and the chaos that has been UK party politics in recent years has not had the power to change that at all. She was actively involved in anti-austerity, anti-benefit sanctions and housing campaigns with Unite Community before the Labour Party started…
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The failed ideology of “keep the change”
Picture this: a hard-pressed mum, busy trying to manage the budget for the family, gives her kid a £50 note and says “go buy a carton of milk and keep the change.” The kid comes back with the milk, and two carrier bags stuffed with £47.50worth of sweets, biscuits and cakes and some friends, then…
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Has anything changed?
This last week in parliament has been pretty awful and, by coincidence, while the MPs were playing with helmets etc, I was helping some students prepare for AQA GCSEs which, among other things, involve developing opinions about The Charge of the Light Brigade. It’s not far off 200 years ago now, but — well, the…
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Did *you* know about Dinky Gordon?
***Long read*** Subtle radicalism escapes me — here though, is a salute to them as can do it, and an analysis of the huge myth-busting task feminists still face… I can be a clod-hopper in all these big and passionately fought-over issues. How on earth do you go about being polite, subtle, and yet effective…
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It is a lie…
It is a lie when they tell us we can’t afford our National Health Service any more. The money they are pouring into the pockets of private profiteers, to make up the lack their cuts created is enough to pay our NHS staff and emergency response workers properly. It is a lie, to say that…
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What we owe Harry
No, not that Harry … or that one, we owe this Harry… This is an article about how to save our NHS. For some years now, we’ve all seen the issuing of a crime number as a sign that the police don’t have the staff or the funds to actually pursue a crime. It seems…
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What do we want…?
Today, 1st February 2023, the NEU teachers join in the #CostOfLivingCrisis wave of strikes, and this morning in Hastings, all the trade unions and other groups who answered the call #HastingsDemandsBetter gathered in support. Himself and I looked in at Hastings Station, where there was an ASLEF picket line, passed the government buildings where the…
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Why compassionate women should not compromise
People will never forgive you for their mistakes. It feels warm and magnanimous to forgive others for their mistakes but it takes a real grown-up to forgive people who spot one’s own mistakes. That’s why the words “compassion” and “compromise” are constantly flying at women wishing to discuss the state of their sex-based rights, when…
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The Purity Spiral and the House on Fire
Some of the worst atrocities in our history have been committed by ideologues, people so wedded to a political idea-set that they do their politics by the book, and never actually look at what’s happening in the world. In country after country, vast numbers of people have suffered and died whilst state administrations plough on…
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Imagine a different world
Imagine a health service where our top-quality, highly trained A&E nurses and medical practitioners are well paid, and have shorter working hours than average, because of the exceptionally high mental and physical demands of the job, and because we have plenty of them, and we value them all. Imagine a health service where consultants don’t…
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