politics

Ambulance strikes show government must come to the table on pay, GMB warns Parliament’s health committee

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ambulance-strikes-show-government-must-come-table-pay-gmb-warns-parliaments-health-committee

Image of Accident and emergency

“LIFE-and-limb cover” will be provided across the ambulance service in England and Wales today to ensure patients are not put at risk during strikes, a union leader told MPs today.

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said that unions had been working “round the clock” to ensure there were enough strike exemptions to keep critical services running.

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“Life-and-limb cover will be provided,” Ms Harrison told MPs. “The last thing that our members want to do is put patients in harm’s way.

“We will do everything within our power to ensure that communities are safe during this action.

“The government has to play their part, they have to come to the table and talk to us.”

She told MPs that ambulance workers have been forced to take strike action after raising concerns for years about ambulance delays and unsafe conditions for patients.

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Jeremy Corbyn criticises West for ‘pouring arms into Ukraine and prolonging war’

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Image of Jeremy Corbyn, Wikimedia Image, Author Sophie Brown. Sophie Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jeremy Corbyn. Author Sophie Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/jeremy-corbyn-ukraine-russia-invasion-b2137091.html

The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the west for arming Ukraine, arguing that its military support will prolong the war.

Countries including the UK and the US have sent Kyiv billions of pounds of weapons to help it fight off Vladimir Putin’s troops.

“Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution. It is only going to prolong and exaggerate this war,” Corbyn said, echoing the line taken by Moscow on western military aid to Ukraine.

Although the North Islington MP said he “disagrees” with the Russian invasion, he accused world leaders of using “the language of more war and more bellicose war” instead of pursuing peace.

“This war is disastrous for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Russia and for the safety and security of the whole world, and therefore there has to be more, much more effort, put into peace,” he said.

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‘This is a war of propaganda’ John Pilger on Ukraine and Assange Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

20 min long unfortunately …

10 August 2022. This post disappears from the blog repeatedly, I don’t know why.

11 August 2022. [Technical] I’m very pleased with my current host while the last one was good when I joined but bought out and then turned useless. It’s cheap, fast and has excellent tech support. I should have flushed the NGINX cache after changing the theme to get this post displaying properly. Not sure about this theme despite it being very popular e.g. quoted text not reactive, [12/8/22 now working, think that my secret secretary should be thanked for that. I don’t know who my secret secretary is – it’s a secret ;)] could be simpler to use (how can I change the background colour in the header? why is it a different colour anyway? I want this sort of stuff to just work straight out of the box).

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn criticises West for ‘pouring arms into Ukraine and prolonging war’

THIS IS NOT A DRILL ~ AN extinction rebellion HANDBOOK

Read more about the article THIS IS NOT A DRILL ~ AN extinction rebellion HANDBOOK
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My copy of THIS IS NOT A DRILL ~ AN extinction rebellion HANDBOOK has just arrived. Here’s an excerpt for you from ‘The Civil Resistance Model’ by Roger Hallam.

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The key lesson about all structural political change is this: disruption works. Without disruption there is no economic cost, and without economic cost the guys running this world don’t really care. That’s why labour strikes are so effective against companies and why closing down a capital city is so effective against governments. You have to hit them where it hurts: in their pockets. That’s just the way it is.

The central dynamic here is the ‘dilemma’ action. When you create a dilemma for the authorities you open up a space of opportunity which was not there previously. Within that space you can get noticed, speak truth to power, negotiate, and more.

The authorities now have a serious dilemma: let people party on the streets, or opt for repression.

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The lesson then is you don’t wait until everyone is ready, because you’ll be waiting for ever. You just need to go out and do it.

Rebellions are created because some people have had enough. They are all over it and don’t care if they’re successful or not. It’s sublime madness. It ‘s the only thing that will save us now.

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I care about succeeding and it’s a matter of continuing until then.

Continue ReadingTHIS IS NOT A DRILL ~ AN extinction rebellion HANDBOOK