Recent Articles

Where’s the evidence Aaron Porter was racially abused?

Protests took place yesterday against the Tory led coalitions higher education cuts and fee hikes.

Throughout the campaign against the cuts, Aaron Porter has been a poor representative of the student body politic. Somewhat dithering, sometimes anonymous and something of an establishment lackey he is not a popular man.
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MigrationWatch distorts statistics on immigration via students

contribution by Sarah Mulley

A MigrationWatch report published earlier this week (widely reported in the right-wing press) claimed that the Points-Based System (PBS) introduced by the previous government had been ineffective at controlling immigration.

MigrationWatch’s key piece of evidence for this claim is analysis suggesting that immigration for work and study increased rapidly in the PBS’s first year of operation (2008-2009). But this claim doesn’t stand up.
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Why Labour’s Movement for Change matters

This week I read the best bit of Labour news I’d seen for months – that Movement for Change lives on!

It was easy to be cynical, but meetings were run by ordinary members and chaired by activists. Politicians might be allowed to speak, but it was a movement for the people. Rallies were energetic, electric even.

There seemed to be an enormous untapped need for something that gave people the tools to bring politics back to their own communities.
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How do lefties prevent people like Boris getting a tax cut?

The Daily Telegraph secured an interview in Davos with the newspaper’s own columnist Boris Johnson, who also works as the Mayor of London.

His political prescriptions are often rather vague. He wants the government to show a bit of Thatcher and Tebbit – taking on the unions – but rather more Heseltine too, in having a proper plan for growth.
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Introducing Sukey – a new online tool to help protesters evade kettles

contribution by Tim Hardy

A couple of nights ago, I had the honour to meet the team who put Godzilla in the Thames during the student protests.

Making use of freely available internet tools, they maintained a live map of central London throughout the demonstrations showing the location of police kettles and blocked roads so protesters could stay safe and move freely on the streets of the capital.

Their next project takes this to a whole new level.
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Hundreds of SureStart centres to close

contribution by Anjum Klair

Both Children and Young People and Community Care report today that a survey has revealed that up to 7% (250) of Sure Start children’s centres could close within a year, while thousands are cutting back services and issuing redundancy risk notices.

A nationwide survey of Sure Start children’s centre managers across England, carried out by 4Children and Daycare Trust, found that 250 children’s centres are at risk of closure, a further 2,000 are cutting back the services they offer to families and 1,000 are issuing “at risk of redundancy notices” to staff. As many as 3,100 centres (86%) will have a decreased budget.

Anand Shukla, acting Chief Executive of Daycare Trust, said communities will be devastated if children’s centres close.

Behind every children’s centre facing closure is a community of families devastated at losing one of their most valued local services.

Anne Longfield, Chief Executive of 4Children, said:

Families across the country, particularly the most vulnerable, depend on Sure Start children’s centres to help get their children off to the best start in life. We know that local authorities have some extremely difficult spending decisions to make but investment now will lead to real savings in the long term.

Frank Field MP, the government’s adviser on child poverty and life chances, said:

It is inconceivable that we can make the foundation years effective if Sure Start children’s centres are being slaughtered. Local authorities must seek to employ innovative methods to ensure families – especially the poorest families – do not lose the vital support they need.

The survey findings provide the first national data on the impact of public spending cuts to Sure Start children’s centres, and show us that children and families are being hit hard.

As many as 60,000 families could lose their local centre.

Is Toby Young really the right person to run a school?

contribution by Terence Dickens

The debate over free schools continues. There are many good arguments against them: for one, they transfer money from underfunded local schools into untested ideological experiments.

But an argument that has been neglected is the kind of people that want to set up free schools. If you take over a football team you undergo a “fit and proper” test. A footie team is less socially impactful than getting wodges of cash set up your own school, but the Government certainly doesn’t seem to see it that way.
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NHS waiting times now up by a quarter

Pulse Magazine reports:

The proportion of people who fail to receive treatment at hospital outpatient clinics within 18 weeks of referral has risen by more than a quarter since the Government abandoned its target last summer, new figures show.

A Pulse analysis last month revealed that waiting times had jumped since ministers abandoned performance management of the 18-week referral-to-treatment target, which had been strictly enforced until last June. The latest figures published show hospital waits increased further from September to November last year.

Since July, the proportion of non-admitted patients who missed the target has risen from 1.9% to 2.4%, with 22,078 non-admitted patients missing out in November.

The proportion of admitted patients who did not receive treatment within 18 weeks has risen by a fifth – from 6.7% to 8% – with 23,826 missing out.

More on their website. Thanks Tories!

‘Biggest ever’ UKuncut protest on Sunday

The decentralised protest group UKuncut are holding their ‘biggest ever’ day of protest on Sunday Jan 30th.

They have also listed more targets, with dozens of actions listed across the country for the big day.

Alongside Vodafone and Topshop, Boots and Tesco have also been added to the list. Protesters are free to choose whoever they want to protest against.

The increasing profile of UKuncut has also put pressure on the HMRC over the way it audits companies.

The Financial Times reported earlier this month:

I learn that HMRC has stepped up its inquiries into alleged leaks by its own officials following complaints about the private financial details of groups such as Vodafone appearing in the press. Five officials have been taken off long-standing corporate investigations and given other work. So great is the concern that the National Audit Office is now launching an inquiry into the way that HMRC reaches tax settlements with major clients. When the NAO report comes out, top tax officials can expect a grilling from MPs on the public accounts committee.

The FT also reported that there were concerns within the HMRC at the approach being taken towards companies.

Hartnett loyalists defend his stance but other officials accuse him of high-handedly ignoring proper procedures and overriding their inquiries at an advanced stage.

Harnett reportedly negotiated the easy settlement with Vodafone.

By taking the protests to Vodafone and Topshop, the UKuncut protests have forced the issue even within the HMRC.

Facebook event for Sunday // UKuncut website

Top policeman has audacity to compare protesting with theft

contribution by Steven Sumpter

The Guardian yesterday reported that Prospect Magazine (£) had interviewed Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

I remind you that the ACPO is a private for-profit company that seems to have a say in the way that we are policed, without being subject to the Freedom of Information Act or any democratic oversight. The interview was very revealing about police perception of social media as a method of organising protests and about their attitude to protesters’ rights.
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