I read today on the BBC News website that Michael Gove, the Tory Education Secretary, has put the idea forward that the nation should buy a new Royal Yacht as a gift to the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee!
What recession? What deficit? What crisis?
We are told that we are all in it together. We are told that cuts and job losses are the only way out of this financial nightmare (that’s cuts and job losses to ordinary people – not to the people who really did cause the financial crisis obviously).
Public Services suffer, public sector workers lose jobs, unemployment rises, pay freezes!
All that pious preaching about thrift and blame, and then some idiot comes up with this!
What world do they live in? What planet are they on?
I can answer the first question. They live in a world of wealth and privilege. They live in a world were they never go short of anything, and they live in a world were the wealth they have is produced by the very workers they despise from inside the safety of their class bubble.
In fact what Michael Gove is quoted as saying is “In spite, and perhaps because of the austere times,the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents.”
“Events such as proms and the party at the palace organised for the diamond jubilee, and street parties, although excellent, are transient.”
“It would be appropriate to do something that will mark the significance of this occasion with fitting ceremony.”
Time and time again the distraction of choice for governments who want to avert the eyes and minds of working people away from what is actually happening, is to play the monarchy card!
It cannot be coincidence as it happens too often: and time and time again, the monarchy obliges. As they live in the same bubble, it would be rude not too!
Who am I to blame people who embrace the distraction to get them away from the struggles within their own lives, if even for one day, but we should all rise above the insult of being ‘subjects’ and demand that we are ‘citizens’ of our country in the true sense.
A more fitting ceremony to mark the occasion ‘in spite, and perhaps because of the austere times’ would be to make sure that our public services are second to none, decent pensions are guaranteed so that there is dignity in retirement, manufacturing is brought back to this country, capitalist chancers and opportunists are shown the door, houses are built, young people get jobs, Liverpool win the Premiership and there is a statue of Oliver Cromwell on every street corner! Oh, and get rid of people like Michael Gove.
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Talks are continuing between the health unions and government regarding the future of public sector pensions after the ‘Heads of Agreement’ (link to this in last blog posting) was accepted as a basis for more negotiations.
The 30th November 2011 Day of Action changed things. It brought the government back to the negotiating table.
Let us not forget that this was the table they said they were leaving and that we could take or leave what was on it at that time. Well they left, but soon scurried back for seconds! Talk of a damp squib was soon jettisoned.
It may be true to say that things are not better than before the reforms were announced (our pensions are changing), but they are far less worse than they were (or what the government first wanted) because of the pressure that we have exercised over the last few months.
Time will tell whether the continued negotiations will be a help or a hindrance. I hope, of course, that they will be seen as a help. A negotiated settlement is better than an imposed diktat.
There is no doubt that pensions are personal, and everyone has a different situation regarding work, age, and years in Service, but, this has to be dealt with collectively.
Like all proposals there will be a mix of good and bad I suspect. The tipping point, of course, is that in the long run, the good outweighs the bad.
After the negotiations are completed then it is only right that we, as members, have the last say once we have seen all the information, all the figures and all the proposals regarding any changes (good and bad).
Important also to know the honest answer to the question: what is the alternative?
Once we have that, then we can make our own minds up. We are angry regarding pensions, but we are not stupid.
The negotiations are set to be completed at the at the end of this month (January). The UNISON Health Executive will meet early in February and a ballot of all members arranged soon after.
I will keep you updated.
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I wrote about Boris Johnson in my last posting on the blog regarding what I believe is his obsession with taking control of the London Ambulance Service.
I depicted Boris as a little boy dressed in Lederhosen  and playing with his toy ambulances and fire engines on his living room carpet, dreaming of the day when his destiny would become reality.
I received an email a day or two later which I thought, and hoped was tongue in cheek, accusing me of xenophobia!
The complaint was that I was “trying to demonise the Mayor of London as some kind of wealthy Germanic invader”! I was informed moreover that Boris and his family are from ancient Cornish stock.
Leaving aside the fact that I did not mention Germany or her people in the posting it worried me that someone could think that. It was not my intention to disrespect the German people, or for that matter, bring leather breeches into disrepute. The article was a lighthearted comment upon a serious issue.
However, a few days later I was watching a repeat of the ancestor finder programme ‘Who do you think you are’ on television. By coincidence Boris Johnson was the guest. Very interesting to.
And guess what?
Yes, you have guessed it!
Boris does indeed have German ancestors in the far and distant past!
And I swear that in one of the old, faded, cracked photographs they showed on screen, one of his ancestors was wearing Ledenhosen!
I didn’t see a toy ambulance, but I bet it wasn’t very far away, next to the plan of Waterloo Headquarters!
(PS. This is a lighthearted comment upon a serious issue).
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 Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.
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