“Power to the people: How stronger unions can deliver economic justice”
June 12th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The IPPR Commission on Economic Justice has just published a discussion paper entitled “Power to the people: How stronger unions can deliver economic justice“.
This paper shows why trade unions and collective bargaining are good for workers and good for the economy. It shows how the decline of the union movement has contributed to a growing power imbalance in the economy and to soaring inequality. It highlights the fact that it is the very workers who could benefit most from union membership who are least likely to join, and raises concerns that union membership is set to decline further still.
As public policy – and the hostile environment for trade unions that it has created – has contributed to the decline of trade unions, public policy must be part of the solution. The paper calls for:
| • | A renaissance of collective bargaining, with a target of doubling collective bargaining coverage to 50 per cent by 2030, support for sectoral collective bargaining in low pay sectors, and measures to encourage firm-level bargaining, overseen by a new Minister of State for Labour |
| • | Support for trade unions to recruit and innovate, with a Right of Access to workplaces for unions to recruit, a pilot of auto-enrolment for workers in the gig economy, and a WorkerTech Innovation Fund to support unions to embrace new technology |
| • | Trade unions to be embraced as social partners in driving the UK’s industrial strategy and in supporting a managed acceleration of automation that works for working people |
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the new animated movie “The Breadwinner”
June 11th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
We are living in a golden age of animation and Oscar-nominated “The Breadwinner” is a wonderful addition to the genre. An Irish-Canadian-Luxembourg co-production, the source material is a young adult novel by Canadian writer Deborah Ellis and both production house (Cartoon Saloon) and director (Nora Twomey) are from the Emerald Isle.
Set in the Afghan capital of Kabul in 2001 during the time of Taliban control, the eponymous central character is 11 year old Parvana (voiced by Canadian schoolgirl Saara Chaudry) who, when her father is arrested, is forced to assume the identity of a boy in order to feed her family.
Inside this contemporary and moving story is a traditional and heroic fable and the two tales are told using different styles of animation – the first more naturalistic but still stylised (long faces and large eyes) and the second simpler and more theatrical. When you add to all these ingredients, the evocative eastern-style music, you have a a truly magical experience.
For me, there were echoes of other works: “The Kite Runner” in terms of Kabul locale and young characters, “Persepolis” in terms of the animation and religious extremism, and “He Named Me Malala” in terms of history told through animation and a young girl inspired by her schoolteacher father. But “The Breadwinner” stands on its own as a unique and splendid achievement.
Sadly you will have to seek out the film – this is no blockbuster – but you’ll be delighted that you did.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Not all politicians are the same – for instance, there’s Nick Boles
June 10th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
At first sight and sound, Nicholas Edward Coleridge Coles, Conservative Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford, could be taken as the archetypal Tory politician. The son of Sir Jack Boles (a Head of the National Trust) and the great-nephew of Conservative MP Dennis Boles, he studied at Winchester College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He is intelligent, fluent and has that air of confidence and entitlement that is so common in men of the English upper middle class.
But, as I listened to him being interviewed earlier this week at London’s City Literary Institute, it was clear that he is rather different from what one might expect.
Boles served as Minister of State for Skills in the Cameron Government and backed the remain camp in the EU referendum (but does not favour a second referendum on the terms of Brexit). He has never supported Theresa May and is looking for her to stand down. His oldest friend is Michael Gove and he ran his (short-lived) leadership campaign.
He declared that: “Nominally I am a Conservative but I am not very conservative … I am a liberal and a progressive”. He has joined with the Labour Liz Kendall and the Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb to support a stand-alone funding arrangement for health and social care through a reformed National Insurance system in which the taxation is hypothecated. He supports abortion rights, he is proud of the Cameron legislation on single-sex marriage, and he would now back legalisation of assisted dying.
How can a man with Boles’ background have such eclectic views? I’m sure that it helps that this cerebral politician was a founder of the think tank the Policy Exchange. But I suspect that more personal issues provide the deeper explanation. Boles is gay and and he has survived two serious bouts of cancer. He is a man to watch.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (2)
Review of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
June 9th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The reboot of the “Jurassic Park” franchise in the shape of “Jurassic World” was such a box office success than a sequel – the fifth dino rampage – was inevitable and, while this has not thrilled the critics, it will do well enough with the fans of the monster genre because it is genuinely entertaining.
Indeed it makes a real effort to take the franchise in a new direction. First, it reverses the jeopardy: instead of humans being in danger from the reconstituted dinosaurs, now the creatures themselves are threatened both by nature and greed. Second, the island of Isla Nublar is the scene of a spectacular volcanic explosion and ironically the release of the film coincided with the horror of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala. Third, half of the movie takes place not on the island but on the mainline and, at the very end of the credits, a clip of the Eiffel Tower makes clear that, from now on, the action is going to be much closer to home.
Chris Pratt – whose career continues to soar – is back as Owen Grady, a kind of modern-day Indiana Jones, and so is Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing, but she has left her heels behind and has changed her attitude to the creatures. They are joined by two young members of the rescue team with newcomers Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith adding to the demographic appeal of the film, and there is even a plucky little girl (although the rating of the work – at times gory – should preclude her peers from seeing this adventure).
Plus the wonderful Jeff Goldblum – last seen in the franchise almost 20 years ago – returns in a cameo with the best lines. And the empathetic raptor Blue is back and it must be admitted that her character is more nuanced than the raft of human baddies who are classic caricatures.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
400 years ago, Europe’s Thirty Years’ War began
June 7th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This summer, four centuries ago, three characters were thrown out of a window in Prague – they all survived – and, from this bizarre incident, a war began than ran for 30 years and caused utter devastation throughout Central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was convulsed by a bitter conflict between the Catholic Austrian Habsburgs and the Protestant statelets with interventions by Denmark, Sweden and France.
The war resulted in eight million fatalities, not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine and plague, as up to a third of the largely German population died. Britain was expected to back the ‘Protestant Cause’ but James VI and I of Scotland and England refused to become involved.
When you wonder why Germany is so keen on European integration and Britain is so insular in its attitude to continental Europe, you could do worse that recall the legacy of the Thirty Years’ War.
if you are interested in learning about a film depicting the war, click here.
If you would like a three-minute summary of the war and its consequences, you’ll find it here:
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Could a people’s vote reverse the Brexit decision?
June 6th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This week, I attended the first annual lecture to commemorate the distinguished former European Commission official Julian Priestley (1950-2017) whom I knew briefly in the mid 1970s. The speech – a low-key but heartfelt address – was given by Richard Corbett, a long time Member of the European Parliament and leader of the British Labour Party in the Parliament, and I found myself sitting next to Neil and Glenys Kinnock.
Corbett argued that “Brexit should not be considered to be a settled issue” and that “There are good reasons for Britain to reconsider Brexit”. He insisted that “The emerging Brexit deal bears no comparison with what was promised in the referendum”. He acknowledged that opinion polls suggested that support for Brexit has only fallen slightly since the referendum, but he compared this position with the expectation that the public – like so many politicians – would swing behind Brexit as a settled issue in principle.
In the discussion which followed, there was recognition of the complexities around a rethink on Brexit with one contributor referring to the position of other Member States and pointing out that “It takes 28 to tango”. But there was wide support for a second referendum which would give citizens a vote on the actual deal once concluded and a belief that the rest of the EU would grant the UK a reasonable period to hold such a referendum and would accept a rejection of Brexit even at that late stage.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A (very) short history of broadband Britain
June 5th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Can you remember those early, exciting days when you moved from narrowband to broadband for your Internet connection? Instead of having to dial up each time, you were always on and, instead of a speed of as low as 28.8 kilobits per second (kps), you jumped to at least 128 kbps.
A lot has happened since then. Where are we now and where are we going? In my latest column on IT issues, I’ve explained why and how the Government – with advice from the regulator Ofcom – will be introducing a broadband universal service obligation (USO).
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
“A Very English Scandal” was a very English success
June 4th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I spent part of this weekend watching all three one-hour episodes in the BBC1 drama series “A Very English Scandal”. This provides an account of the gay relationship between Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe and model Norman Scott and the trial of Thorpe and others on the charge of conspiracy to murder Scott.
Although I lived through all the political and public events depicted in the series, I still found it incredible that it could have happened. Hugh Grant is brilliant as Thorpe and Ben Wishaw is excellent as Scott. Writer Russell T Davies and director Stephen Frears tell the tale as black comedy which means that by turns it is hilarious and tragic.
If you haven’t see the series, you can catch it on the BBC site.
If you want to check how close the script is to the reality, look at this Wikipedia page.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
A genuine democracy needs effective trade unions
June 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I spent 24 years working professionally as a national trade union official, so I know the vital role that unions play in counterbalancing the power of employers and exploitation at the workplace and I know the reluctance of unions to take strike action especially when this is so heavily circumscribed by law.
Last week, an article in the “Guardian”newspaper highlighted new data on trade unionism in Britain.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that there were just 79 strikes last year, the lowest figure since records began in 1891. Just 33,000 workers were involved in labour disputes, the lowest number since 1893.
It is not just the number of strikes that has fallen. Trade union membership has too. The latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show that just 23.2% of employees were unionised in 2017, half that of the late 1970s.
All this is happening at a time when average pay is yet to recover to levels before the financial crisis a decade ago and workers are going through the worst period for wage growth since the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 – well before the labour dispute records began. The use of zero-hours contracts and the rise of the gig economy has rightly fuelled fears over a decline in working conditions in recent years.
In an article in the “Observer” newspaper today, Kenan Malik reviews these trends and concludes:
“Not only have unions been drained of much of their power, but the workers that most need help are the least likely to be organised. The very character of the new, fragmented labour market makes organisation more difficult. The state of traditional trade unionism only compounds the problem.
Much has been written about the crisis of social democratic parties throughout Europe that have abandoned their old working-class constituencies and as a result have largely imploded. Much less thought has been given to similar trends within traditional trade unionism.
Yet, the crisis of trade unionism is as great as that of social democratic politics. The two are inextricably linked. To address the crisis of working-class politics, we need to address questions of working-class organisation and solidarity, too.”
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
June 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is the 10th “Star Wars” movie, the second in the anthology, and the first origin story. It arrives only half a year after “The Last Jedi” – clearly Disney, as the new owners of the franchise, are seeking to exploit the potential of the box office – and after a troubled production (notably a change of director to Ron Howard).
It’s an enjoyable romp with almost an excess of action but, for me, it lacks originality and surprise. We know that Han Solo is going to meet the wookie Chewbacca, that he is going to win the Millennium Falcon from the rogue Lando Calrissian, and even that he is going to do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. We have lots of familiar scenes, such as another cantina-type sequence, but – and this was the real magic of the saga – there is no Force, no Jedi, and (virtually) no lightsabres.
What is new are the actors playing the young Han and the young Lando and Alden Ehrenreich is suitably charming and swaggering in the eponymous role while Donald Glover is cool as the original owner of the Falcon. Interestingly, most of the other leading roles are taken by British actors: Paul Bettany as the chief baddie Dryden Vos, Emilia Clarke as the mysterious Qi’ra, an underused Thandie Newton, and unrecognisable Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Many see the “Star Wars” story as a space western but this episode is also a kind of inclusive rom-com with Han fancying Qi’ra, Han bromancing Chewbacca, and Lando getting emotional over a droid called L3-37. So something for everyone then, but not quite enough for me.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)