@djr@union.place
@djr@union.place avatar

djr

@djr@union.place

Resident Putney - economist, trade unionist, internationalist/traveller. former activist

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Sherifazuhur, to palestine
@Sherifazuhur@sfba.social avatar

Cambridge becomes first UK council to call for Gaza ceasefire @palestine

https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/27696

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@Sherifazuhur @palestine

has once more outdone ! On a related matter one of the parliamentary bills lost because of the is the one introduced to prevent boycotts of goods from particular jurisdictions by .

djr, to uk
@djr@union.place avatar

The last time a was held in July it resulted in a resounding victory for - that was in 1945!

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

The HoC Public Accounts Comm. has concluded the civil service lack both skills & capacity to property oversee infrastructure projects contributing both to the evident delays & budgeting problems.

Civil servants have become too reliant on outsourced expertise (consultants & the contractors) for evaluation, with the state no longer able to act as an 'intelligent client'.

The Tory attrition and politicisation of the civil service has (and is having) sigficant detrimental impact.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

Effectively the development of 'learned helplessness' at institutional level. In the end it gives the the honest but wholly incompetent - arguably even more of a problem that the traditional corrupt grifters!

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Andy Burnham (still Mayor of Manchester) on social housing:

'One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right-to-buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply & quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in'!

Yup, that's about it!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 And over time 'right to buy' has spawned 'buy to let' and the expansion of the private rented sector! Even if it were to remain politically impossible to end 'right to buy' entirely in then the qualifying period could be lengthened and the discount reduced substantially - also there could be a power to suspend it entirely in local authority areas with a demonstrable shortage of housing - say for five years.

ChrisMayLA6, to geopolitics
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

While Nesrine Malik makes a lot of good points here about Britain's diminishing influence in the world (due to the problems we confront at home) by citing nominal GDP figures to say we're the 6th largest economy in the world, she misses the key indicator of our real economic status.

By not using GDP per capita - where we are ranked in the mid-to-low 20s - she misses a much more convincing & consistent economic context for her argument!


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/22/austerity-brexit-britain-foreign-office-politicians?CMP=fb_cif

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

I have also looked tentatively at real GDP per capita in 2019 implied by the same source. Just two of the six economies definitely larger than the in 2019 had higher GDP per capita - and the . A further three in the 'top twenty' are in that category - , and . Among smaller economies I have found , , , , , , , , and .

QasimRashid, to random
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social avatar

Literally took one 20 min phone call in which Biden demanded immediate ceasefire & threatened to cut off aid, & magically a border opens providing critical humanitarian aid to Gaza.

USA always had this leverage. Meanwhile 32K Palestinians killed. smh

Now let's enforce this ceasefire and ensure unlimited aid reaches starving Gazans.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/israel-reopen-erez-crossing-gaza-biden-warning-war-netanyahu-palestine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@QasimRashid

This is good news as far as it goes. However it remains to be seen how far will go to implement what has been agreed and how quickly. Will the customs authorities in - who report to - actually allow shipments through or will some way - no doubt entirely coincidental and inadvertent - be found to delay or even block them? Assuming that they do get through to the crossing points will they be able to enter or will demonstrators block them?

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

I wouldn't normally turn to British Vogue for a strident defence of Diane Abbott, but...

''none of this parliamentary rhetoric about extremism & MP safety has been mobilised to protect Diane Abbott after the Conservative’s biggest donor said he wanted to shoot her. Quite the opposite; the system has moved to shield Frank Hester, a poor man who made a little mistake & needs to be given grace and compassion'!

A (rightly) angry piece

h/t @Karenawokekaren

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/diane-abbott-racist-frank-hester-british-politics

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @Karenawokekaren

Much of Diane Abbott's career can and should be seen as a British success story. She was able to go to from a background that was by any standards seriously underprivileged, accepted by the and served as a member of parliament for more than thirty years including a stint on the front bench. It is a matter of shame for that she has experienced not just overt racism and sexism but treatment as well!

Geri, to random
@Geri@mastodon.online avatar

Mark Francois talks about Neville Chamberlain "denuding the British forces of funding until it was too late."

This is wrong. Even while Chamberlain was signing the Munich Agreement in 1938, he was agreeing to a huge increase in spending to increase Britain’s armament in preparation for war.

Mark knows fuck'all

Know your History

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/chamberlain-and-hitler/

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@Geri

This is absolutely right. Furthermore in 1932 - even before came to power but after invaded - abandoned the 'ten year rule' - under which no major war was expected for ten years - shortly after becoming . A previous had brought in the rule in during the second government - a chap called !

TCatInReality, to random
@TCatInReality@mastodon.social avatar

Someone needed to say it:

The vast majority of Muslims are NOT extremists.

Shame on and radical right talking heads for demonising Muslims and those who support their causes.

BBC News - Attack victims hit out at extremism in open letter
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68526577

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@TCatInReality

This is all about the in on 2nd May 2024. It is about the targeting now hat previous claims about have been disproved. A bit more subtle than and but still singing from the same hymn book !

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Probably the strongest words I've heard from a mainstream UK politician (I don't mean the ones who attend the protests or were suspended)

Guardian: "Former UK foreign secretary William Hague called for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu. He said: 'The long shot of building trust and a two state solution has little chance without the removal of Netanyah'."

#UKPolitics #SaveGaza #IsraeliWarCrimes

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@fkamiah17

Worth remembering that the #UKGovernment imposed a ban on the export of weapons to #israel in 1982 which lasted until 1994. Whatever else #MargaretThatcher may have been she was no #antisemite !

Latter day admirers please note!

ChrisMayLA6, to DadBin
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

's under the :

  • over 20% of five year olds are obese or overweight.

  • around 25% have problems with tooth decay

  • Children's levels are falling.

Prof.Helen Minnis (GlasgowU) & co-chair of a new Academy of Medical Sciences report, says:

'The science is clear — we are betraying our children. Unless the health of babies & young children is urgently prioritised, we condemn many to a life of poorer health & lost potential. The time to act is now'!

h/t FT

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

Meanwhile has been told to cut the budget for 's services by £ 25 million p.a. Cognitive dissonance rules OK!

simon_brooke, to Israel
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

So let me see if I've got this right. There is an "International Rules-Based Order". The key institution which underpins this order is the . The ICJ has ruled that must take action to prevent in . The main agency succouring those at risk of genocide in Gaza is . In an apparently-coordinated demonstration of contempt for the ICJ ruling, a number of key nations have withdrawn financial support for UNWRA, citing unproven allegations against some staff. >>>

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@simon_brooke

It does begin to look rather like conscious complicity in a potential genocide through famine. What price a "humanitarian pause" now!

ChrisMayLA6, to technology
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

thinks (by which he seems to mean digital technologies) will make the more efficient & means we can stop pouring money into a 'leaky bucket'.

Quite apart the vacuity of such techno-boosterism, you would have thought in the wake of the disaster, anyone thinking deploying technology is the answer, might want to be more careful.

Many people are watching Mr Streeting & are getting worried about how he thinks about NHS reform!

I'm one of them!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

Some of us can remember the disaster of the IT system that formed part of the "NHS Plan" announced with a fanfare in 2000.

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@etchedpixels @simon_brooke @ChrisMayLA6

A very fair and helpful point. The proposed system was centralised to a remarkable extent. Sadly only too typical of

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

John Pullinger (of Electoral Commission) has told FT that he thinks that the have 'opened themselves' up to the charge that a new voter identification scheme is designed to benefit the Tory party, having examined the results of the 'pilot' use in local elections.

has resisted a widening of the forms of identification that can be used (proposed by David Willets), and so the 'very, very strict' rules are likely to disenfranchise many potentially Labour .

No surprise!

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@ChrisMayLA6

There has been a further change - made by means of secondary legislation - which in theory at any rate could add up to two million voters by allowing UK citizens who have been non-resident for more than fifteen years to vote by proxy where they were last resident in the . It has been billed as giving a further advantage to the . I shall consider how much effect this would have and how far its introduction may affect the timing of the .

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"unless something changes, the world faces the prospect of almost a quarter of ’s 2 million population - close to half- a million human beings - dying within a year. These would be largely deaths from preventable health causes" – Professor @devisridhar

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/29/health-organisations-disease-gaza-population-outbreaks-conflict

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@simon_brooke @devisridhar
This is based on a credible projection. The outcome is avoidable but only if the population in question is fed and housed as a matter of urgency. There were populations in occupied during the second world war which were not so lucky - the in the winter of 1944-5 is a classic example. Technically the loss of a quarter of a population through disease coupled with starvation is worse than but may not quite constitute as such.

inquiline, (edited ) to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Story about the Houthis' Red Sea blockades/piracy and its effects on with a short 🧵

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/19/red-sea-shipping-crisis-bp-oil-explained-what-is-happening-and-what-does-it-mean-for-global-trade

djr,
@djr@union.place avatar

@inquiline It was known previously as "The Cape of Storms". A few hundred miles further north lies the Skeleton Coast - not renamed so far by anyone!

djr, to london
@djr@union.place avatar

Thus far the has reported that around one hundred "counterdemonstrators" have been arrested. No news of arrests on the main so presumably minimal thus far. Interesting!

djr, to random
@djr@union.place avatar

I have to warn anyone who posts/toots that it tends to be unsafe to make any reference to . It appears that he may have acquired an outsize amount of influence within the decision making and disciplinary processes of the It is best to assume that any adverse comments about him or any of the causes he espouses may expose one to complaints, investigation and even sanctions.

djr, to random
@djr@union.place avatar

For exactly the same reason as I find myself justifying Muslim fears of ethnic cleansing in the light of what has happened in Bosnia and Rakhine and why I am being taken to task currently for suggesting that a second Nakba is a more immediate risk than a second holocaust.

I am also aware that the use of the word genocide can incur penalties in some jurisdictions and within some political organisations.

djr, to productivity
@djr@union.place avatar

variations between countries can affect measures of markedly.

Was looking today at rankings at the back of for a number of relatively rich countries in 2022. The piece I read covered per head in $ at the prevailing exchange rate, the same adjusted for cost and price differences and the latter adjusted for hours worked. Some countries do very much better on the third measure whereas countries like and do much worse.

djr, to uk
@djr@union.place avatar

Unfortunately a lot of politicians believe that there are a lot of votes in "lazy delay" - just ask yourself when was the last time that the government raised petrol taxation in line with inflation or higher - something that it committed to in the 1990s!

There are also quite a lot of votes among the parents whose children get asthma or whose children are not safe on the street but somehow no one thinks they might be worth mobilising - too many of them poor, urban or not white!

djr, to random
@djr@union.place avatar

Initial turnout figures for two out of the three tonight - Uxbridge and South Ruislip 46% and Somerton Frome 44%. No figure yet for Selby and Ainsty.

djr, to india
@djr@union.place avatar

Further knock on from the #state #electionresult in #karnataka .

A proposal to allow 12 hour work shifts for women in place of 8 hour ones has been dropped due to pressure from #labour #Unions . This is a consequence of the defeat of the #bjp in May this year. Clearly a link between #secular #democracy and #labourrights in #india. #Tamilnadu likely to follow suit.

djr, to random
@djr@union.place avatar

Breaking News!

, and are to be put up for sale.

Interesting to see who is interested in buying any of them. - and government reaction in terms of and issues

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