Sue Konzelmann and Frank Wilkinson

16 August 2015

Tony Blair’s assertion that the Labour Party faces “annihilation” if Jeremy Corbyn is elected leader, is little short of astonishing. Just three months ago in Scotland, Labour actually was annihilated – by the rise of the SNP, a left-of-centre party, opposed to austerity and strongly supported by young people. Currently, the Scottish Labour Party is being rejuvenated by the prospects of Corbyn as leader. It is clearly fanciful to suppose that Labour faces crushing defeat simply because opposing austerity will make it look too left wing.

17 August 2015

By Marc Fovargue-Davies, Sue Konzelmann and Frank Wilkinson

This blog first appeared as an article in Saturday’s Morning star.

Many members of the Parliamentary Labour Party fear that the election of Jeremy Corbyn would damage the party and make it unelectable in a General Election. It is, of course, possible that they’re right – after all, their last choice of leader did exactly that. But if Corbyn does win, and his opponents’ worst fears are then confirmed, the position wouldn’t be that different from what it is now. On the other hand, acquiring a track record of interfering very publicly with the democratic process, in order to influence the result of an election, would haunt the party for a lot longer – probably permanently. And that would make Labour far less electable.

13 August 2015

By John Christensen from the Tax Justice Network

Why did the vibrant social democratic traditions of Europe and North America collapse so swiftly in the face of the pervasive propaganda of the neoliberal project? Was it because the post-war golden age of Capitalism – les trentes glorieuses as the French call the period of record growth and stability between the 1940s and 1970s – imploded in the face of its internal contradictions? Or was it because a series of Big Lies had been propagated by leading economists and corporate-funded thinktanks, and subsequently lapped up by a grateful business community and by politicians? This blogger tends towards the latter view.

3 August 2015

By Sarah Veale. Head of the TUC Equality and Employment Rights Department

The Tory Government’s Trade Union Bill, which had its first reading in the House of Commons on 22nd July, is the nastiest piece of trade union legislation since the days of Norman Tebbit and Margaret Thatcher. That is saying something, as it was they who introduced endless regulations to make it more and more difficult for unions to organise a legally compliant strike or to represent their members.

3 August 2015

By Andrew Moretta, World of Work PhD student, Liverpool University

Truck drivers are highly skilled professionals. A moment’s inattention when driving a 26 ton vehicle can have catastrophic consequences. Despite this, general haulage drivers are very badly paid – many are on the minimum wage and many more are required to work extraordinarily long hours. Twelve to fifteen hour days, five to six days a week are the norm in a great many firms.

31 July 2015

By David Whyte, Professor of socio-legal studies, University of Liverpool.

If there is one thing that business organisations are particular good at, it is deceiving us into thinking that they are indispensible to a healthy and developed society. But the social contributions that businesses make are always surrounded by propaganda claims and myths that are swallowed too easily by politicians and repeated ad nauseum in the press.