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As you may have heard, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness was recently accused of being involved in murder cases from the 80’s but what you may not be aware of is the fact that no-one is particularly shocked by this allegation and it is this lack of reaction by the general public that I find most worrying. It’s almost as if these revelations are normal.
If leaders anywhere else in the western world were accused of such things it would be a huge scandal and the accused would be, at the very least, temporarily suspended from office as the allegations were investigated but no, here in Ireland we’re so used to politicians being terrorists that instead we casually send reporters to peace conferences to interview them.
Yes, that’s right – McGuinness not only carried on in his post as usual but he was hypocrite enough to be joining discussions about peace mere days after the allegation was first made.
Now, I know it’s not for me to say if he is guilty or not but I think that either way the decent thing for him to do is to co-operate with the investigations and to take a back seat from politics while doing so.
How can we claim to live in a civilized society when most of us within that society don’t even bat an eyelid at the thought of our leaders having killed people?!
Guest post by Calum Watt Left
In my constituency of Lincoln, the local elections on the 3rd of May were a good one for the Labour Party. Party activists and newly elected councillors withdrew to the club to celebrate a sweeping victory in the City elections where they took 10 out of 11 seats up for election that day and increasing their majority on the council to 8.
It was a result which followed national trend which saw Ed Milliband’s party gain 823 council seats and even manage to hold on to Glasgow City council, previously expected to fall to the SNP. The failure of Ken Livingstone to regain the London Mayorship to Boris Johnson was balanced out by a gain of 4 seats giving them 12 seats on the London Assembly, just under a majority. Time to celebrate then, if you are a Labour supporter.
Guest post by Tom Myhill Unaligned
Well, election season is done and dusted for another year. After weeks of canvassing, leafleting and shameless electioneering leading up to Thursday 3rd May, political parties can relax for a bit until they have to do it all again next year.
It’s a pretty well-known fact that most anarchists don’t vote in elections. For this, we’ve been accused of being lazy, apathetic, abstentionist, and more, but all of these accusations are false and misguided. Non-voting is, to us, enshrined in our very ideology, and is paramount to the idea of anti-authoritarianism and self-organisation. It’s not the voting we disagree with, it’s what we’re being asked to vote for that’s the problem.
UPDATE: The Campaign for Political Education has been reignited by students at the University of Lincoln, with new branches being opened up across the country. The site for the Lincoln branch can be found here.
Originally published on September 14 2011
‘Ignorance is bliss’ is how the saying goes, and it certainly appears to be when speaking to many other young people who remain happily unaware of the affairs going on around them, both domestic and international.
The closest some of my friends come to involving themselves in these issues is filling out the odd e-petition or making a comment on a big news story such as the recent rioting that took place across the country. They may even occasionally vote.
As the next generation of this country, the lack of involvement by young people is worrying, though it’s not entirely their fault; political education in the UK is frighteningly minimal.
Continue Reading →
I was watching ITV’s Thursday (April 19th 2012) episode of the ‘Tonight Show’ titled “Why isn’t Britain Working?” and it made me angry.
After conducting a survey that suggested people, specifically young people, weren’t interested in finding work they went on to use an example of a photocopying business based in Telford.
The managing director of the business, Adrian Casey, said that he had many vacancies in his business that he has tried hard to fill but he just couldn’t get anyone to take them.
Later on, the presenters found him four people to interview and from those 4 he decides to give 1 of them a week’s work experience.
He had 17 vacancies. 17. And all four people really wanted to work; each of them were unemployed through no fault of their own. They were all able to do the job and Adrian didn’t consider any of them to be suitable. He then went back to complaining that no one wanted jobs.
Are you kidding me?
The problem here isn’t that there are no people for positions; the problem is with the company’s unrealistic standards. It’s as if they are looking for the perfect applicants and no one else will do. I don’t understand why the presenters didn’t pull Adrian up on this point.
He could have given each of them a week’s trial – hell, even a day’s trial but no, he wouldn’t even give people the opportunity to work for him for free. Surely having 17 vacancies means work is piling up? What crazy person would turn down a solution that is an obvious win-win in their favour?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that this kind of stupidity is going on with all employers. I’m not saying that businesses having high standards is the one and only reason or even the main reason so many people are out of work but I think it is a valid factor and, as such, it should have been at least discussed in the programme.
Let’s go back to that survey mentioned at the start, shall we? It does not suggest people don’t want work as the programme claims. It says that businesses are finding it difficult to fill positions.
That is not the same thing.
It seems to me that the unemployed are used as a bit of a scapegoat here because they’re easy to blame. And, OK, sure perhaps some of them really don’t want jobs but that is the minority.
There may be jobs listed all over the place but do you know how difficult it is to get any of them?
I saw a comic the other day in which the main character didn’t get a job due to lack of experience but he needed the job to get experience. And yes, that’s all very humorous but, unfortunately, it is true in so many situations.
Another problem, one that I have personally encountered, is references. If you haven’t had a job before, or if your previous employer no longer exists, how do you start? Having a family member as a reference is out of the question and listing family friends is frowned upon. Where does that leave you? Listing a teacher from 5 years ago that no longer remembers who you are? The whole thing’s just stupid.
I think that more places should offer short term work trials or probationary periods and then base an offer of employment on that.
Hello and welcome back to Uber Politics.
We’ve been offline for a few months now, and the world has inevitably changed in that time – we’ve missed a lot, but we’re back and more determined than ever to cover the news that really matters.
We’ve made quite a few changes to the website and the way we operate to bring you the best source of news and opinions possible – but we’ve also kept the best bits of the old Uber Politics. We’ve maintained much of the fantastic writing team we had back in 2011, but we’ve introduced more news content, and a brand new website – this relaunch is all about the future of Uber Politics.
We’ve got some exciting plans for the coming months, and some new faces we’re looking forward to introducing to you – but all in good time!
Enjoy the new website, and please bear with us as we work through any visual glitches you might come across.
Chris Allen,
Editor.
The Deputy Prime Minister says that such a scheme would improve productivity and growth.
In a speech in the City later today, Clegg is expected to unveil plans to cut red tape and detail proposed reforms to the tax system to accommodate employee ownership.
Clegg is expected to say: ”We don’t believe our problem is too much capitalism – we think it’s that too few people have capital. We need more individuals to have a real stake in their firms. More of a John Lewis economy, if you like.”
“And what many people don’t realise about employee ownership is that it is a hugely underused tool in unlocking growth.
“I don’t value employee ownership because I believe it is somehow ‘nicer’ – a more pleasant alternative to the rest of the corporate world. Those are lazy stereotypes. Continue Reading →
The health secretary’s remarks follow revelations that a number of clinics who fitted the now-banned PIP breast implants will not be offering removal and replacement to their clients.
The implants from French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) were used by both private clinics and the National Health Service, and were banned after it transpired that the implants were filled with industrial-grade silicone.
Approximately 40,000 of the implants have been used in UK procedures, with around 95% of those used in private procedures.
A number of clinics are blaming poor regulation within the industry for their use, and claim that they will be unable to cover the cost of removing implants.
French, German and Dutch authorities have all recommended that women with the defective implants have them removed, however the UK government has stressed that there is no need for routine removal. It has also been agreed that in cases of clinical need, the NHS will remove implants, but not replace them. Continue Reading →
