Construction crisis looms
An ageing workforce and an industry dependent on EU labour add up to an imminent crisis for construction.
West Midlands renaissance
The West Midlands is undergoing a rebirth, with more jobs created than in any other region, a trade surplus with China, and businesses like HSBC UK relocating to the region.
Ballot on Total rigs
Unite is balloting workers at three of Total’s North Sea oil rigs for industrial action following the company’s refusal to reduce the number of unpaid working days.
Child health: teachers helping out
The hygiene levels of a growing number of primary schoolchildren are so bad that teachers are having to provide basic items of personal hygiene to large numbers of them, says a charity.
'Right to buy' - but no money
The demand for housing continues to rise, with continuing uncontrolled migration into Britain playing a significant part.
Universal credit: Losing out
The Charity Gingerbread has warned that single parents, particularly those who are working, are losing out under Universal Credit.
Europe's workers in call for repeal of EU treaties
24 June 2018
A conference in Paris that brought together workers from across Europe has called for the repeal of all EU treaties and directives.
The EU’s Italy debacle
14 June 2018
The crisis over the makeup of Italy’s government shows that the EU is desperate to assert itself as the master in the country – and that it is afraid of the anger of the Italian people.
Unison accepts NHS pay agreement
Members of Unison, the largest union in the NHS, have voted overwhelmingly to accept the latest pay agreement.
EU flounders over R&D and Brexit
9 June 2018
In research and development (as in so many other things) the European Union desperately needs to cooperate with Britain. It’s time we realised its weakness.
Myth and manoeuvring over the Irish border
8 June 2018
The whole issue, “backstop” or none, is being used as a backdoor way of delaying and perhaps denying Brexit.
Fears hyped over US steel tariffs
8 June 2018
Remain-backing MP Stephen Kinnock is trying to use new US steel tarrifs to damage Brexit – but the real danger to Britain’s steel comes from Brussels.
Scandal of EU fishing discards ban
7 June 2018
The EU is enforcing a discard ban during the proposed Brexit transition period that could bankrupt most of the UK fishing fleet.
Choral revival for Marx's bicentenary
A major contribution to the current celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth – and the 170th of the Communist Manifesto – has been the remarkable revival of a long-forgotten choral setting of passages from the book itself.
The disadvantage of being British
The vicious treatment of the Windrush Britons – who arrived from the Caribbean as children from 1948 to 1971 – contrasts starkly with the position of EU nationals under the Brexit transition agreement.
Foreign firms line up to plunder rail network
As parts of the rail network fail and the government’s Whitehall farce leads to ever more absurdities, the campaign to bring railways back into public ownership is gathering momentum around Britain…
Outsourcing: the vultures feeding off billions
The tsunami of outsourcing over the past decade has led to a culture of rotten business practices. When the merry-go-round finally comes to an end, it’s the workers and the public who are left to pay the bill…
Hands off Syria
With an opinion poll indicating that only 22 per cent of people in Britain support military action against Syria, Theresa May ordered the RAF to launch strikes – pre-empting debate in parliament.
We can make food safer: the responsibility is ours
Food safety and animal welfare concern or even alarm many of us. But the public debate is misleading at times. The EU has no more interest in animals than it does in workers…
Skills and education for the future of Britain
One of the consequences of Brexit must be that employers will no longer be allowed to dodge their responsibility to invest in training…
RMT in Westminster rally over guards
26 April 2018
A national protest against Driver Only Operation outside Parliament on 25 April drew rail workers and union banners from many towns and regions across the country.
Brightest and best?
A focus on importing skilled labour denies skill here – and damages foreign countries…
British trade unions: early origins
The British working class was the first proletariat in the world to emerge out of the land. It had to make a stand or go under…
Populism and reaction
Despite the supposed threat to democracy from populism, the anti-populist reaction is worse…
Stop the EU war machine!
During the 2016 referendum those who warned that the EU was developing its own army were dismissed as fantasists. Instead, we were told the EU had kept the peace in Europe. The truth is totally different…
Small can be beautiful
Britain could take a world lead in a new nuclear technology, and boost its energy self-sufficiency too…
NHS staff consider pay offer
It’s bad enough that the NHS has been lagging behind inflation for seven years but take the rise in travel costs, accommodation and food into account and the gap between the pay “rise” and RPI becomes even starker.
Boats 'transition' protest
Fishermen brought about 200 fishing vessels to six ports around the coast on Sunday 8 April to stage mass demonstrations against the government’s “transition” arrangements allowing the EU to control British waters until 2020.