Stu B

The government must ensure fair distribution of income 'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

The state we're in

UK full-time employee median wage, £30,816.
4.5m jobs pay less than the real Living Wage.
1.17m workers on zero-hour contracts.
34% of Universal Credit claimants are in work.
16m Britons live in poverty.

Can't build economy on poverty.

Must increase worker share of GDP.

I'd actually forgotten how extraordinary it is that when I won the leadership - I wasn't interviewed as it was too close to our party conference interviewed.

And then refused a second time!

Part of the antidote to all of this is creating our own media platforms.

Hey @boldpolitics.bsky.social 👋🏼

BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

When Labour came to power last year it followed 14 years of Tory rule in which international monitors had issued stark warnings about the UK's "authoritarian turn" through crackdowns on political protest and migrants' rights. Starmer is continuing that project.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The centre-right: killed by economics Economic forces lie behind the collapse of the centre-right.

The Tories' problems are deeper than merely a bad leader. The centre-right has been weakened by the degradation of erstwhile professional jobs and by capitalist stagnation. Here's one I wrote earlier: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-centre...

Not a single Greta hater could do what she has done, face what she's faced, bear abuse and humiliation at the hands of the most psychotic and genocidal army. They haven't an ounce of her bravery and that's what drives them crazy. Free Greta, free Palestine🇵🇸

Peacehaven: Fire at East Sussex mosque probed as 'hate crime' Video appears to show two people in balaclavas at the mosque before a large blaze spreads.

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#FreePalestine
Feed Gaza
#ArrestNetanyahu

Firms are pushing for your data to be sold to big tech. Labour won't say who they are

EXCLUSIVE: The UK Government has refused to reveal which companies are encouraging them to sell Britons’ data to Silicon Valley despite transparency fears

The NHS’s records trove alone is reportedly estimated to be worth £10 billion per annum

Wealthy UK Family Behind JCB Pays Itself $1.2 Billion Dividend A billionaire Conservative Party donor and his family almost tripled the annual payout from their business empire, pocketing the windfall as fears grow over UK tax hikes.

JCB, the excavator maker controlled by Anthony Bamford and family paid £866m dividend.

Tory donor Bamford backed Brexit, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson.

Bamford dynasty subject to HMRC investigation for aggressively minimising UK taxes, using offshore trusts.
archive.ph/N7jdu

New ICB figures show uneven trends on use of private sector? - The Lowdown New figures published earlier this month show the extent to which some Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have increased their use of the private sector since Labour took office last July, and the extent t...

NHS increased use of the private sector under Labour govt.

Private sector delivered 22.1% of ophthalmic, 20.5% of orthopaedic procedures.

Numbers of NHS patients treated by private sector up by 10%.

With profit margins of up to 40% money buys less.

More efficient to expand NHS capacity.

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

Just when you thought Keir Starmer's Labour Party couldn't get more illiberal, or more like the Tories...
"Change", my left foot.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Issue Number 80 | 4 October 2025

Latest omnibus edition...lots of goodies (admittedly mainly about baddies)that you may have missed. Please help us reach more readers by sharing. We are all volunteers trying our best to counter the toxic narrative of the far right and stand up for people and planet.
westcountryvoices.co.uk

Under UK law, a company can make £200m+ in sales and still hide its profit & loss by calling itself “small”.

That’s how PPE Medpro kept its finances secret.

A short thread on one of Britain’s daftest loopholes, the 1970s EU compromise that created it — and how to fix it.

I do not deny antisemitism, any more than other racism. But the fact, that protesting the genocide of another set of people. is being viewed as antisemitic, shows how far antisemitism has been weaponised.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income 'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

Average real wage of UK workers is stuck the 2008 level.

Some bosses are collecting 1,112 times more than the average employee wage. Millions forced to rely on food banks and charity.

Workers have no say in income distribution. Govts do nothing.

Can't build economy/society on huge inequalities.

After the horrific attacks in Manchester we must defend the right to protest I hope pro-Palestine marchers this weekend will be acutely sensitive to the real fear in Jewish communities. But don’t let the bad guys win by denying...

It’s not “un-British” to march today. But it is British to protest with sensitivity and empathy. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/fre...

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040

"For the next 15 years, give us a subsidy from public money, and remove the disincentive for us to stop dumping raw sewage, so our creditors are rescued from the consequences of their own greed" is not, I have to say, the world's most appealing pitch. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Thames Water creditors may not fully comply with pollution rules for 15 YEARS Thames Water creditors have set out a plan that sees the company keep illegal levels of sewage in water - anything to avoid nationalisation

Thames Water creditors may not fully comply with pollution rules for 15 YEARS

Thames Water creditors have set out a plan that sees the company keep illegal levels of sewage in water - anything to avoid nationalisation
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

American democracy might not survive another year – is Europe ready for that? | Alexander Hurst

This is really important work…

Labour’s Employment Rights Bill may well transform workers’ rights. But only if people can access justice and enforcement of remedies can’t be dodged.

Do you really have rights at all, if the barriers to asserting them are so difficult to overcome?

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040 * Business live – latest news Thames Water may not fully comply with rules on pollution of England’s waterways for as long as 15 years, according to a new plan by creditors who are scrambling to avoid the utility being forced into government administration. The creditors who in effect own Thames Water have said they will commit to paying fines for pollution, as well as writing off more of their loans and investing more in the company, in new proposals published on Thursday. Continue reading...

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules

Seeing talk on here about class makes me wish people could at least acknowledge the Marxian point that class is not just another form of identity politics, but is about one's relationship to the means of production - eg I'm now bourgeois whatever my upbringing, prejudices etc.

Minorities suffer most at times of political violence. In the numbness of another attack I can only think that this is why we should never stop seeking a better more peaceful world.

Had a proper read of the New Towns Taskforce report today.
The Crews Hill proposal is genuinely excellent.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Palestine Action protest in London could set arrest record, say organisers

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer.

This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Starmer and the terror that might yet come Keir Starmer said in his Labour conference speech that the threat from Reform was, as far as the UK is concerned, as great as the challenge of rebuilding after World War II ever was, and that to rebui...

Starmer talked gibberish about the threat from Reform, which he totally misanalysed, to a bunch of flag-waving idiots, otherwise called Cabinet Ministers, at the Labour Party conference today. We have to hope his days are numbered. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/09...

Video: Labour MP's controversial 'grassroots' conference speech sponsored by Murdoch lobbyist Torsten Bell was criticised for calling Lib Dem leader 'fat man in wetsuit' - but the real scandal is corporate influence over his speech

Video: Labour MP's controversial 'grassroots' conference speech sponsored by Murdoch lobbyist

Torsten Bell was criticised for calling Lib Dem leader 'fat man in wetsuit' - but the real scandal is corporate influence over his speech
www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...