Gail Cartmail blog

2012: The battle of ideas

I have really enjoyed the Christmas break. It was lovely spending precious time with family and friends and generally messing about.

Yet like many I am apprehensive about the year to come. It was good to hear the leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, emphasise the need to articulate an alternative to the current government’s policy of austerity in his New Year message.

The good, the bad and the ugly

This year’s Armistice Day was probably the most meaningful I have experienced. Trade union sisters and brothers from Canada, the USA, Ireland and the UK silently marked the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the Workers Uniting first Congress.

The event brought together activists from the United Steelworkers Union and Unite and was an uplifting experience.

Tent protests proliferate

The first frost of autumn made for a chilly Sunday morning. It must have been tough on protesters in London who spent the night camped out by St Paul's Cathedral.

Last Saturday’s global day of protest has involved a huge range of people from all walks of life, including many young people indignant at the lousy deal of debt and joblessness handed down to them.

Workers' rights are human rights

Last week the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, declared that he simply cannot tear up the obscenely generous contracts of the UK’s top bank bosses.

Council bosses and eight major construction contractor companies aren’t so squeamish about tearing up workers' contracts.