General Election 2015
40 watchers
May 2015
1:18pm, 18 May 2015
5,802 posts
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Duchess
Added to which, Falkirk/Grangemouth is a bit close geographically for both bazo and I, which might lead to increased perception of inappropriate influence of the unions - Comrade McCluskey's in particular - on the Labour party and what drove some of the recent changes the Labour party made to distance themselves from that.
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May 2015
1:27pm, 18 May 2015
637 posts
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gcwenn
wasnt it the unions that got red Ed in in the first place?
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May 2015
1:31pm, 18 May 2015
4,754 posts
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Too Much Water
All of the Labour leadership candidates so far are White and went to Oxbridge. Who's the elitist party now?
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May 2015
1:34pm, 18 May 2015
6,904 posts
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rf_fozzy
Unions represent large groups of working people, so why shouldn't they have a say on the political process? The right has done a good job in painting a picture of unions in the general public perception as being "Ultra-left wing" - which is rubbish really. In fact, some of them are barely centre-left these days. The political spectrum has been so truly distorted in this country. I never understand the fear and hatred that "the Unions" inspire in those on the right. Nor I understand both the misappropriation of the term "Communist" (e.g. Duchess' comment of "Comrade") in politics - it's more noticeable in US politics, but things like "Red Ed" are still prevalent here, whenever anything small might change in massive corporations bottom lines (e.g. the adoption of Leveson causing the fury of Murdoch, resulting in the massive negative media campaign from his companies). Are the Unions too reactionary? Yes. Definitely. And very resistant to change, but many of the rights we take for granted - e.g. equal pay for men and women - have come through the trade union efforts. They may not have happened without them. There isn't a reason to fear them though, especially since Thatcher effectively (and probably in some ways necessarily) reduced their influence. The right is still banging on about battles they won in the 1970s and 80s. Time to live in the now, not the past. |
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May 2015
1:38pm, 18 May 2015
6,905 posts
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rf_fozzy
TMW - how many went to fee-paying schools?
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May 2015
2:07pm, 18 May 2015
5,191 posts
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Jambomo
It's interesting because we see the influence that trade unions have on the Labour party quite openly. I guess its up to Labour to decide if they feel the link is worth having. I think that the influence of corporations and the financial services probably influence the workings of the Conservatives just as much, however this is not done openly so people leave it unacknowledged. It is probably very difficult to keep interested parties such as these out of politics and to keep politics free from undue influence - its probably better that at least we can see what the Unions are doing. |
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May 2015
2:08pm, 18 May 2015
4,756 posts
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Too Much Water
60% of Labour MPs backed by Unite.
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May 2015
2:10pm, 18 May 2015
6,906 posts
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rf_fozzy
How many Conservative MPs back by private healthcare companies? theguardian.com (before the GE of course) |
May 2015
2:29pm, 18 May 2015
7,323 posts
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Chrisull
Most people need a union in the workplace, I've worked in plenty of places, where unfair or unreasonable (but considered reasonable) practices continue, and as a single employee I have no voice. The mass sackings, redundancies, forced overtime I've seen in white collar places, leading to suicides, resignations, or just impotent anger and bitterness. And this is in IT. And we say "ooh unions so out of date, and we don't need them". Utter tosh. TMW - Hardly fair and totally disingenuous on the all white Oxbridge list (75% female) , given the Tory press have forced Ummuna , the non White, non Oxbridge candidate to step down. In fact the press have now accounted (allegedly) for three Labour leadership contenders (Chukka, Dan Jarvis and also Rachel Reeves - who didn't enter saying the press bearpit was too much). Something is very much wrong with our current press if nearly half the potential candidates didn't want the doorstepping and harassment that goes above and beyond legitimate scrutiny. |
May 2015
3:18pm, 18 May 2015
4,951 posts
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paul the builder
TMW - why do you think going to either Oxford or Cambridge makes someone part of the elite?
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