Ella Crine

Biggest shake-up of Jobcentres in decades gets underway Launch of a new, locally-led approach to jobseeker support begins in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

For many people, having to go to the job centre is a sign that something's gone wrong in life.

I am determined that from now on, it will be the day that things turn around.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Jobcentres will no longer force people into ‘any job’ available, minister says Alison McGovern promises long-term career support in wake of Labour’s significant cuts to disability benefits Jobcentres will no longer force people into “any job” available, the employment minister has said, promising there will be long-term, personalised career support for those losing out due to welfare cuts. Alison McGovern said she was ending the Conservative policy under which jobseekers were obliged to take any low-paid, insecure work and that the service would now be focused on helping people to build rewarding careers. Continue reading...

Jobcentres will no longer force people into ‘any job’ available, minister says

Prisons minister James Timpson: ‘This is not a quick fix’ The former chief executive of the Timpson Group on his plans to modernise the penal system — and how to stop ex-convicts reoffending

The antidote to depressing political news is to read about a decent man trying to make a difference

Lunch with the FT with James Timpson, by Emma Jacobs
www.ft.com/content/9c06...

Alison McGovern: “Child poverty isn’t inevitable” The Minister for Employment on why only a Labour government can fix this crisis.

On the power to make decisions for yourself and the opportunity to choose your own future - for all of our children.

An argument from @allymcgovern.bsky.social for the end of child poverty which isn't about handouts or judgement, but power and choice. 🫶

www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/20...

Hard to fathom that the legacy of 14 years could stretch beyond 10 months.

I’m old fashioned enough to think the BBC should be leading on what the deal is and what it means. Rather than the political claims from both sides.

NEW: updated long-run gap in voting between young men and women in Germany:

Gender divide continues to widen, but contrary to what is often assumed, young men continue to vote roughly in line with the overall population, while young women have swung sharply left.

www.ft.com/content/29fd...

This is what I mean by news outlets willingly letting themselves get language-policed by the far right. You used to be able to just call this a "Nazi salute." Now it's "a provocative gesture that resembled the controversial salute Elon Musk gave at a post-inauguration rally last month."

The state of Kemi Badenoch’s response to the sentencing, confirming there is no topic, however serious, that she will do the minimum of research on.

In a sea of cynical or reckless misinformation (cf Jake Berry and his baseless conspiracies) the Echo's responsible and accurate reporting is worthy of huge praise in a difficult situation. Thank you 🙏

Above all, this is a tragic case and the families, town and region should be first in mind.

Elon Musk's 'disinformation' endangering me, says Jess Phillips The tech billionaire and Trump adviser has fiercely criticised the safeguarding minister in recent days.

Jess is a complete hero who dedicated her life to women's safety and deserves none of this, yet she persists for all of us, for change, not herself.

How dare these (mainly) men lie about her and undermine her safety for their own political gain.

More power to her.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some people in recent days have alleged a ‘cover-up’ over the grooming & rape of hundreds of young girls in predominantly northern UK towns, leading to calls for a ‘national’ public inquiry into child sexual exploitation

FWIW here’s a non-exhaustive list of inquiries into #CSE in last 12 yrs…

Today President Biden commuted the sentences of nearly all federal inmates on death row. 37 of the 40 have had their sentences converted to life imprisonment.

President elect Trump has vowed to expand the number of crimes to which the death penalty applies.

A common media/political narrative of asylum is of inexorable ever-increasing flows, driven by policies in receiving countries like the UK.

The shifts over time surely show that push factors (esp war/conflict) matter most. And that flows both rise & fall

(Commons Library)

Lovely to see friends at NW labour conference today in Chester, hopeful and determined for change 🌹

Tories Accused Of 'Desperate Smear Campaign' After Watchdog Clears Labour Over Cronyism Claims The new government had been accused of stuffing Whitehall with their supporters.

The tories made 1,287 civil service appointments a month totalling 61,815.

Labour made 550 in two months.

Hard to believe the Tories spent time claiming Labour was doing cronyism. Worse that they got away with it. Not anymore.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tories...

Pretty astonishing to see the co-leader of the Greens opposing the closure of a tax break used by multi-millionaires, which doubles as a wealth tax.

Omg come to the criminal bar where I am yet to be be paid for something I did in Jan 2023

Everything in this piece is depressingly familiar, but so worth saying and (hopefully 🤞) addressing

Britain is not America. And neither will it inevitably become America, given differences in political institutions, society and history.

But there are warnings, especially in how Trump won over young people, particularly young men. That pattern is not happening here yet, but it could.