The Sunday Review
Hello dear readers.
I am hoping to make the Sunday Review a regular feature. Every week the Dreadnought will cast it’s beady industrial eye over any reports within the Sunday papers that concern workers and wider employment relations in Britain and Europe.
Comments and suggestions as always are very welcome.
Good luck
JM
THE SUNDAY REVIEW
By John Millington
Amongst the guff about Justin Bieber (yeah, I don’t know who he is either) and the Prime Minister’s apparent gaff at the G8, potentially endangering the racism case against England footballer John Terry, multi-millionaire Tory donor Adrian Beecroft unsurprisingly called for workers to effectively go back to the workhouse and starve and suffer in the name of productivity and growth.
He has just released his long await report which – yep you’ve guessed it, was commissioned by the government.
Apart from a few critical noises emanating from the Liberal Democrats, Mr Beecroft has told the government what it wants to hear – workers rights are to blame for Britain’s lack of economic growth so cut that “red tape’ David.
Now I had not heard of Mr Beecroft before today but I was reliably informed by Unite Assistant general secretary Tony Burke that he was a “Right wing nutter who has a stake in http://Wonga.com and gave Tories 600 grand.”
In an exclusive Sunday Telegraph front page,
Mr Beecroft takes aim at equality legislation and wants to make it easier for businesses to hire and fire making the dubious connection that the current state of industrial relations in the country stifles growth.
Maybe Mr Beecroft is unaware of the Eurozone crisis engulfing the continent or the deficit caused by bailing out the banks. The fact those same banks are not lending to businesses and the general stupidity of many captains of industry who couldn’t innovate a snail to produce slime at the moment.
Take Clinton cards for example which was forced to bring the administrators in last week – paid low wages and cut back on staff to the bare bone, yet still ran up debts of around £30bn and nosed dived into an oblivion.
No second guesses as to who the carries the can – the soon-to-be moneyless unemployed 12,000 strong workforce or the incompetent directors who have their previous profits tucked away in tidy escapes abroad.
Even if Mr Beecroft has been living under a very expensive rock for the last 3 years, the rest of the press went heavy on the Eurozone fallout, with the Sunday Times, Observer and Sunday Mirror carrying major articles on the subject.
In the Sunday Mirror former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling tears into the Coalition’s economic policies of austerity with his usual efficient robust style.
However he warns that Greece’s exit from the Euro would precipitate nothing less than an apocalypse – warning workers in Britain it would cost “millions of jobs” in this country alone.
The rhetoric of both mainstream parties is rebuked by progressive anti European Union pressure group N02EU spokesman Brian Denny.
Speaking exclusively to the Dreadnought, Mr Denny accused the former chancellor of in effect calling for “a centralised government around the eurozone.”
“Darling is doing what Cameron is doing – it is the logic of creating a centralised government for the eurozone,” he said.
“The recently agreed fiscal pact and euro stability mechanism remove all economic powers from member states.”
Explaining the economic arrangements around the EU and the eurozone, Mr Denny went on to say: “The Euro is a political project, designed to defend the German economic power house. Everyone is locked into it and must fit in around that.
“Therefore you have to privatise all the industries.”
“And the European Central Bank decides all economic policies not members states and that is all in support of monopoly capital.”
Greece leaving the Eurozone was Mr Denny added: “the least worst option.”
PCS conference – live at the Dreadnought
by John Millington
Conference season is in full swing and what better place for the Dreadnought to begin than at the PCS conference.
One of the most militant trade unions which has led the fight against public sector pension reform is having it’s AGM in Brighton next week.
There will be full coverage of key motions passed, hard hitting comments from key activists and insider information on the future activity by the union.
Tune in from Wednesday morning!
It begins!
Welcome to the Dreadnought.
Over the coming weeks and months, I hope to create an easily accessible blog that brings readers first class industrial journalism as well as new opportunities for these stories to be told in the mainstream national press.
In these times of austerity there are extreme pressures been heaped on workers, the unemployed and ordinary families all over Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.
It is vital that the resulting social consequences are documented, given publicity and that the highest standards of journalism are maintained.
There will be news, analysis and opinion all showcased here on the site. Breaking news that no one else will dare publish will also be a key feature.
This is what the Dreadnought with it’s limited resources (ie me – a struggling freelance) seeks to do whilst at the same time evolving into a pathway for greater coverage in the national press.
Please leave comments and all constructive suggestions are welcome. My details can be found in the about section.
Kind regards
John Millington
Editor, Daily Dreadnought
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