Delivering Insecurity – the Boom in Online Retail and its Impact on Workers
There’s been a bit of interest recently in the poor service and exploitative working conditions offered up by delivery companies. Yodel and Hermes are in the frame right now, courtesy of C4 Dispatches, The Times and The Guardian, which have put undercover reporters...
Towards an end to absentee landlords
An open letter to Andrew Allner, chairman of the Go Ahead Group, ultimately responsible for the Southern Railways franchise. Dear Mr Allner I live in Sussex, the ancient kingdom of the South Saxons. I am hoping that this rings some bells in your mind. Because we...
Why the Southern rail crisis matters for all public services
Only a fortnight ago, and so much has happened since. I wrote an open letter to the chief executive of train operators Govia Thameslink Railway, Charles Horton, on this very website. It was read, along with another blog elsewhere, by over 100,000 people (picture above...
And in other developments…
This has been a bit lost in the Brexit aftermath. But it is an important guide to the right-wing agenda which triumphed on 23rd June and has been gathering speed since 2010. The Land Registry, the public body which is effectively the state guarantor of land ownership...
What will happen when Leave voters see their problems getting worse?
Lindsay Mackie writes: The vote has happened. And, many millions of people voted to Leave for what they believed were good reasons, from knowledge that they, their families and neighbours and communities, were living precarious lives, subject to economic and social...
We are all in this together: Vote In
The picture in the window of this small, independent shop keeps the referendum message simple. We may each have different reasons for voting to remain in the EU, and that itself is the point. From the perspective of the New Weather Institute, whether you care about...
Europe IN 250 words: What would Mrs Thatcher do?
On immigration Brexit is like an advertising campaign promoting national, political body dysmorphia
On the subject of immigration Brexit is like an advertising campaign to promote the national equivalent of body dysmorphia (anxiety related to a distorted view of the self). When it comes to handling influxes of people, much poorer countries like Ethiopia, the Lebanon...
Europe IN 250 Words – The Last Gasp of Fleet Street
Today Michael White, all-seeing political commentator on The Guardian, writes about the last gasp of Fleet St as the old media try to influence the Europe debate. Of the many things which have changed in Britain since the first European Referendum in 1975, cleaner...
Europe IN 250 words: ‘Bigger, faster & more’ for the few, or a better world for all? New Weather argues on the BBC the need for European coordination
From returning finance to useful economic and social purpose, to tackling climate change and reversing inequality, European-wide coordination is vital. The New Weather Institute argues the case here on the future of Europe on the BBC's World Business Report. The first...