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The former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has written to the home secretary to complain after a group of long-term unemployed were forced to watch Gary Barlow and Cliff Richard in the rain and had to spend the night sleeping in a royal palace during the diamond jubilee celebrations.
Two of them, Lizzie and William – they did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits – said they had to camp in Buckingham Palace the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into expensive gear in front of several handmaids and servants, had no access to butlers for 3 hours, and had to sit through a dire concert of old has-beens in the pouring rain after enduring a 2-hour boat ride down the Thames, as part of the government’s Work Programme.
One elderly royal on state handouts said she was on…
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Contraception
Volunteering whilst on Benefits
An excellent report about an excellent event. As always, superb photos by Geoff Dexter. This year seemed, to me, to be the best attended parade ever. The official site is quoting ‘50,000 spectators and participants.”
As I have posted elsewhere, Wow!
So we have yet another protest to build toward October. A powerful message to the Coalition. A powerful message to the post-2015 government – whoever they may be.
Hundreds of students and workers linked together to ensure Pride is a Protest! in Birmingham, on Saturday 2nd June 2012.
As thousands of onlookers lined the streets they were filled with chants of “No ifs, no buts – No LGBT cuts” – Pride is Protest! – Pride not Profit!” – “We’re here, we’re queer – we can’t afford next year!” and “They say cut back – we say fight back!”
The delegations from university and college student unions and trade unions politicised the parade with placards highlighting the disproportional impact of the cuts on LGBT people.
Over 4000 leaflets were taken by protesters, LGBT organisations and community groups and the public.
A public meeting will be held on Monday 11th June at 6:30pm in the Birmingham UNISON offices to continue the campaign. For more details click here.
Thanks to Geoff Dexter for the images, more pictures from Geoff of…
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Hundreds of students and workers linked together to ensure Pride is a Protest! in Birmingham, on Saturday 2nd June 2012.
As thousands of onlookers lined the streets they were filled with chants of “No ifs, no buts – No LGBT cuts” – Pride is Protest! – Pride not Profit!” – “We’re here, we’re queer – we can’t afford next year!” and “They say cut back – we say fight back!”
The delegations from university and college student unions and trade unions politicised the parade with placards highlighting the disproportional impact of the cuts on LGBT people.
Over 4000 leaflets were taken by protesters, LGBT organisations and community groups and the public.
A public meeting will be held on Monday 11th June at 6:30pm in the Birmingham UNISON offices to continue the campaign. For more details click here.
Thanks to Geoff Dexter for the images, more pictures from Geoff of…
View original post 12 more words
The procession on Saturday was a fun, friendly and entertaining event. Fantastically well supported by those who lined the route as it snaked from Victoria Square to Hurst Street, well supported by those who came out from their workplaces to wave and cheer. This in spite of poor weather. The PM says we are all in this together. Those present for Birmingham Pride recognised the real truth of Cameron’s words for those on the receiving end of the cuts.
This weekend is Birmingham Pride and LGBT activists, community groups and trade unions will be joining the march to say that Pride is a Protest! – See the report and photos from the event
There will be a focus on how the cuts and austerity agenda of the ConDem coalition are affecting LGBT people, and we are asking anyone who can to come along and help us – join the parade, help on a stall or talk to members of the public and Pride attendees about the cuts and how they are affecting LGBT people.
There will be a focus on how the cuts and austerity agenda of the ConDem coalition are affecting LGBT people, and we are asking anyone who can to come along and help us – join the parade, help on a stall or talk to members of the public and Pride attendees about the cuts and how they are affecting LGBT people.
Our next meeting, at 6:30pm on Monday 11th June, will be about how cuts are affecting LGBT people, with a speaker and discussion for the 45 minutes of the meeting followed by planning and organisational items for the second half. Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting, and Pride is an excellent opportunity for…
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“Many people don’t use Twitter so, if the last paragraph seems like a foreign language, you might like to share comments here about events or personal experiences of volunteering with the WEA or its impact (and / or request a course in social media!).”
And it is the parenthetical clause ending that quote (above) which exemplifies the impact, importance and “can do” attitude of WEA and those who support it’s activities.
It’s Volunteers’ Week from 1-7 June and the WEA is joining in the annual celebration organised by Volunteering England. It has been estimated that volunteers contribute approximately 84,000 hours per year to the WEA and Ruth Spellman, our Chief Executive, has paid tribute to WEA volunteers on our website at:
http://www.wea.org.uk/News/volunteersweekmessage.aspx
Ruth points out that volunteers contribute to the work of the WEA in a staggering variety of roles including:
• Acting as Community Learning Champions to promote the value of adult learning, particularly in disadvantaged communities
• Acting as a conduit for feedback from students as Class Secretaries and Learner Representatives
• Arranging and promoting local courses through WEA branches
• Voluntary Education Advisers (VEAs) working on the WEA/ Unison Return to Learn courses.
• Running promotional and fundraising events
• Providing classroom support by helping with skills development such as literacy, language, numeracy and IT
• Supporting individuals with specific physical or learning difficulties
• Working in…
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“It is up to us to demand change – and we cannot wait for the next election in 2015 and the hope that Labour policy evolves into a true alternative to cuts.”
Not only is this ongoing action an attempt to apply a braking force upon the current Government’s ransacking of our public services, it also serves notice to the post-2015 government of the need to rebuild all that has been lost.
UPDATE: Free coaches are available from Birmingham for unwaged and low paid people, and there are spaces available on union coaches for ununionised people. Click here for details.
Does austerity work? It would appear that if you are already very rich, it does. The Sunday Times rich list for 2012 it shows that last year, the richest 1,000 people got richer, taking their wealth to a record £414bn. In the past 3 years this tiny group of people have amassed an additional £155bn in wealth – enough to cover the annual deficit with some £30bn to spare. In Birmingham, the Birmingham Post does a local rich list of 50 people, and the 2012 list also showed them getting richer – by £3.37bn in the past year alone..
Meanwhile, austerity has put the economy back into recession, public sector pay has been frozen and overall average pay rose by just…
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Halliburton? KBR?
Enough said!
How to sell the £1.5bn privatisation of Police services to the public was the main subject of discussion by members of West Midlands Police Authority when they met yesterday. Chris Sims, the Chief Constable said ‘when we start to talk about the offer we will excite the public, what fills the vacuum is negative views.’
This extensive and lucrative privatisation commenced in January when the OJEU notice was published and a bidders’ conference took place on 13th March. The Business Partnering for Police is a partnership with Surrey Police Authority and has the close involvement of the Home Office.
It was reported that the need to manage public criticism of the privatisation proposals was discussed at the Joint Police Board with Surrey Police Authority on Friday which agreed to commit to a joint public engagement strategy.
The meeting decided to extend the procurement timetable for the BPP to enable the…
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