Newlyn sets out new plans
Whatever the short-term issues with the EU blocking British fish and shellfish exports, Newlyn in Cornwall is planning for the long term.
Seafood: New names from Cornwall
In the face of EU obstruction of British seafood exports, the Cornish Fish Producers Association is working to encourage more fish consumption in the home market.
Eurostar: Unions campaign
Rail unions RMT and Aslef are calling on the government to provide urgent support for Eurostar after the company said it was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Gig economy: Defeat for Uber
The GMB union is claiming a “historic win” after the Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers are not self-employed but are workers.
Workers’ health and safety in South Wales
23 February 2021
Before the Second World War there was no comprehensive healthcare system, and workplace safety was ineffective. Miners in South Wales showed the way to improve both.
Bad faith from Brussels [updated]
Whatever the limitations of the final Brexit agreement negotiated by Britain with the EU – and there are certainly a good few – it is now blindingly obvious that the EU has never been happy with it.
Sense about steel
Outline proposals for a new interventionist era for Britain by replacing EU state aid regulations with a home-grown subsidy scheme must benefit basic industries such as steel.
The return of breast screening units
20 February 2021
Most breast screening programmes in Britain were paused in March 2020 because of Covid-19. Screening has since restarted, but there’s much to be done as almost a million women have missed mammograms.
Government to ditch disastrous NHS ‘reforms’
11 February 2021
The government is to reverse the central thrust of the 2012 NHS reforms. Central planning is back on the agenda, finally.
A bad week for Project Fear
9 February 2021
It’s been a lousy few days for the doomsday merchants, the ones who said that companies would flee Britain once Brexit bit.
Steep cost of separatism revealed
9 February 2021
A new analysis of the prospects for Scotland should the SNP succeed in detaching it from the rest of Britain makes grim reading for the separatists.
Chocolate’s coming home
9 February 2021
International food giant Mondelez is shifting the bulk of its Cadbury’s Dairy Milk production back to Britain. This reverses much of the outsourcing that took place in 2017.
Ireland and the EU: a bad marriage
9 February 2021
The former Irish Ambassador to Canada describes his country's entanglement with the European Union and makes the case for Irish independence.
Covid-19: Russian lessons for British schools
7 February 2021
Russia’s main opposition party is campaigning for the “natural right” of children to go to school in the face of widespread closures.
Thousands write to contest universities pensions valuation
2 February 2021
Universities staff have had enough of being forced to pay exorbitant pensions contributions solely because their scheme is making unrealistic assumptions about the future.
How the EU created a vaccines disaster
30 January 2021
Remember the warnings? Poor Britain, too small to go it alone in the big bad world. Now look at the EU’s vaccines debacle…
No to the ‘Asian NATO’!
29 January 2021
The government needs to be reminded that we didn’t vote for independence only to join in attempts to carve up the globe in the interests of imperialsm.
Long-term commitment to Barnoldswick site confirmed
24 January 2021
Rolls-Royce has confirmed its commitment to the long-term future of the Barnoldswick site by guaranteeing that it will remain as a manufacturing facility for the next ten years.
SNP in bid to stop test case for unilateral referendum
23 January 2021
Scotland’s Attorney General told its highest court on Friday 21 January that the pro-separatist campaigner seeking a ruling that the Scottish parliament can lawfully hold a second “independence” referendum unilaterally lacks the legal standing to bring his case.
Vaccines: progress all round
18 January 2021
The government's plan to manufacture and deliver Covid-19 vaccine shows the remarkable progress made in finding a way out of the pandemic.
Deep mining again in Cumbria
17 January 2021
The first new deep coalmine in Britain for over 30 years will go ahead in Cumbria. It will supplying coking coal for steelmaking.
PPE: local firms step up
17 January 2021
A Yorkshire company has developed new production facilities for personal protective equipment, one of many innovations from British firms in the face of the pandemic.
The ‘left’: fear and loathing of workers
16 January 2021
This useful book analyses and criticises the anti-working class attitudes of all too many in the labour movement.
British Gas: no to fire and rehire
12 January 2021
British Gas engineers were on strike for 5 days in defence of their pay and conditions. More action will follow unless the company withdraws the threat of firing and rehiring workers on worse conditions.
Brexit dividend as government consults on gene editing
10 January 2021
Taking advantage of Brexit, the government has launched a consultation on whether to change the law on genetically modified organisms to allow companies and researchers to use gene editing more freely.
Call to double medical school places
10 January 2021
The Royal College of Physicians has set out plans to double the number of medical school places, planning for Britain’s needs for the next ten years and beyond.
Barnoldswick strike yields 'landmark deal'
10 January 2021
Nine weeks of strike action at the Rolls-Royce factory in Barnoldswick have been suspended as the workforce considered what their union calls a “landmark deal” to secure the future of the site.
Society and the Sun
7 January 2021
Steve Jones’ most recent and excellent book, Here Comes the Sun, uses Karl Marx as a starting point for useful digressions on the relationship between the power behind the solar system and the political economy of our planet.
Cargo handlers strike at Heathrow
29 December 2020
Cargo workers belonging to the Unite union began a nine-day strike on Christmas Day in a dispute with employer BA over its attempts to use fire and rehire tactics to impose new deep cuts in pay and conditions.
Slashed investment threatens switch to rail freight
29 December 2020
The rail freight sector’s slow recovery during the summer from the impact of Covid-19 has prompted calls for a national programme of investment in freight infrastructure.