Is this really me?

Thanks to Bloggers4Labour who pointed me in the direction of, 'What kind of Humanist are you?' (snappy title huh?)

Never really saw myself as a 'hair-shirt' - enjoy too many of the good things in life for that really - but some of it does ring true (I'll leave you to guess which bits!)

Let me know what results you get in the comments section.

Hairshirt

Excuse us, could you just put down that hammer for a minute and listen. You’re so busy getting things done you rarely take any time out just to relax. In fact, you’ve probably forgotten how to relax. That’s because you’re so anxious to prove that it’s possible to lead a good and moral life without religion that you have built a strict and forbidding creed all of your own.


You keep a compost heap, cycle to the bottle bank, invest in ethical schemes only and the list of countries you won’t buy from is longer than the washing line for your baby’s towelling nappies. You admire uncompromising self–sacrificers like Aung San Suu Kyi and Che Guevara, and would have liked the chance to be incarcerated for your principles like Diderot or Nelson Mandela.

You would never cheat on your partner, drink and drive, accept bribes or touch drugs. You never waste money though you give lots to charity. Living a good life? You’re a model to us all. But it wouldn’t hurt you to try a little happiness once in a while. Loosen up.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

Merseytrams de-railed

You can read local reaction to the Government's decision not to fund Merseytram here.

Lots of different views about who's to blame, but I have to say I was never convinced this scheme was that well thought through anyway. While Liverpool (John Lennon) Airport clearly needs better transport links to the city centre, one of the planned routes - to Kirkby - is already served by Mersey Rail and a decent local bus service.

However, whatever its rights or wrongs, its no doubt that the failure of the project will hit the city hard.

Perhaps the biggest scandal in all this is that some £30m has already been spent on the project - public money which has disappeared into the financial black-hole which is Liverpool's growing 'consultancy' industry.

Dusting down the denim jacket...

Off to see The Proclaimers this weekend - can't wait. Last time I saw them they were brilliant; great night, marred only slightly by one embarrassing incident I won't mention here (came after a few too many San Miguels...).

I'm sure they'll be an improvement on the band I went to see on Monday.

Clapyourhandssayyeah have been all over Radio 6, The Guardian etc for the last few weeks, but after suffering through their gig in Liverpool I have to say they were complete pants! Think David Byrne and Talking Heads without the tunes (not too mention charisma or even a hint of personality).

They are also the only band I've ever seen who have provoked a giggling fit (well in our group anyway) as soon as the singer opened his mouth. Cats wailing would have come as a blessed relief - I thought the bloke had trapped a nerve or something at first before I realised I was in for an hour of his shrieking.

The Nowak verdict? A clear case of Clapyourhandssaysucks (see what I did there, clever eh?).

Anyway - don't take my word for it. I'd be the first to admit that a man whose CD collection (slowly transferring to I-tunes) contains the BeeGees, Bruce Springsteen and Bjork (and that's just the B's) is hardly at the cutting edge of so-called 'popular music', but as the saying goes, 'I know what I like' and Clapyourhandssayeah, are not it!

Pensions crisis, what pensions crisis?

In the week that Westminster is buzzing with rumours that the Government is allegedly preparing to dismiss much of Turner's report into the future of pensions - which is published on November 30 - the TUC reveals that not all Britain's 'workers' (sic) are facing a pensions crisis.

Watch out for gold in the food

I know its lazy blogging Guardian comment pieces but was really struck by this piece by Jonathan Freedland today.

As he points out talking about the gap between the rich and poor is terribly passé these days but I couldn't help agreeing with his assessment that,

'If one man can spend £15,000 plying his pals with a syrupy cocktail, while another lays out blankets for his child to sleep in the kitchen then we know the system is broken. This is not some narrow criticism of the Labour government, but rather a challenge to our assumption that we are a civilised society at all.'

This isn't the 'politics of envy' - it's just an articulate expression of something most of us already know - that the widening gap between those who have and those who have-not; between the Global North and the Global South; between those who tell hard-working people they need to work longer and harder to get a decent pension while ensuring their own pensions are secure; and between those who tell workers to tighten their belts and prepare for the worst while feathering their own nests is barely tenable.

His description of corporate excesses reminded me of a comment made by Andrew Gordon - one of the guest lecturers at the HTUP which I attended earlier this year. He said he knew the Japanese economic bubble was about to well and truly burst in the early 90's when he saw that several top-end Japanese restaurants were serving food garnished with precious metals - their customers were so keen to conspicuously consume that they were literally eating gold.

Smoked egg and bacon ice-cream may not be quite as decadent as eating gold but at least you can wash it down with a decent Château Cheval Blanc at £1500 a bottle (yours for a mere eight weeks work on the minimum wage).

Watch out for those gold-shavings...

Denosa

Denosa
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

On Monday I met up with Tebeho Machiche and Itumeleng Mloatlhegi from Denosa (http://www.denosa.org.za/) in South Africa.

They organise and represent nurses and as we were chatting they said their biggest problem was retaining members because of increased private sector involvement in the delivery of public services. Sound familiar?

(Also in the photo is Peter Hulme from UNISON)

'Will' he or won't he?

Forget union Barons, Amicus may be about to get its own union 'Prince'.

According to the Daily Mirror, Amicus are sending new HSBC employee, Prince William, a membership form.

Not holding out much hope that he'll actually sign up - that £9.40 a month may make too much of a dent in his modest income - but you never know. What next? Edward for Equity? Andrew for the FDA (all that jetting round the world visiting golf courses, erm I mean, on behalf of the DTI)?

Of course union membership is a tradition in the Royal Family. Apparently the Queen Mum was an "Honorary Porter" of Smithfield Meat Market, and Princess Margaret of course was a lifelong member of the National Association of Licensed House Managers :-)....

Any other suggestions for appropriate unions for members of the Royal family?

Be Pensions Minister for a day!

Unashamed plug for a smart interactive tool from the TUC which allows you to be John Hutton for the day.

Here's what the computer thought of my performance as Minister....

"That's a very brave set of policies minister. They will certainly go a long way to solving the pensions crisis, but you will make some powerful enemies while you do it. Britain's employers will certainly try to derail you, but most of your choices will go down well with voters."

Luckily I also scored 100% in-line with the TUC's position (didn't cheat either...honest) - but I fared less well with the employers lobby (must have been doing something right then!).

Organising Unions, Organising Communities

The conference in full flow


TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber



Conference speakers Gloria Mills, TUC President, and Ken Zinn, Head of Strategic Campaigns, AFL-CIO















Photo's courtesy of 'Roper's Ropy Photos'

Is this the way to Aberystwyth?

In Aberystwyth today for a meeting with the Wales TUC, where I gave a presentation, alongside Ed Heery and David Nash from Cardiff Business School, looking at some of the organising challenges facing unions in Wales.

Although union density is higher in Wales than virtually any other part of the UK, its declining at a faster rate than elsewhere as well.

One of the things to come out of the meeting, which was held in the National Library of Wales, is that the Wales TUC will be setting up a dedicated forum to bring together organisers from across the country, to help unions share ideas and experience, which can only be a good thing.


Long - but nice - drive...

Not going to moan how long it took me to get there - oh hell I am, it was 3 1/2 hours each way near enough - but the consolation was that I got to drive through some beautiful bits of mid and North Wales just as the full moon was rising, and as it was so close to the horizon it looked huge (it wasn't though as Wikipedia will explain - science is the mortal enemy of whimsy!).

Anyway, to continue the lunar link, when I got home Joe (7) read his school-book to me before bed, which was all about the planets and the solar system. Being able to pass on your knowledge, insight and 'Uranus' jokes to your kids is what parenthood is all about!

Blog Birthday!

Today is my Blog's first Birthday - my first post being launched on an unsuspecting and indifferent world on November 13 2004 following the TUC's 'Unions and the Internet' conference.

A year on and my comments box may not be over-flowing, and my site traffic figures still so low that I haven't needed to upgrade my statcounter account, but a years a year, and that's got to be an achievement in itself hasn't it?

This means that my blog has lasted longer than several of my previous fads - Karate (yellow belt was as far as I got), salsa dancing (4 lessons) and Christianity (I flirted with the church in my early teens, but only because this was linked to a lot of other flirting in the Church youth club...both endeavours were unsuccessful)

Anyway, thanks to those of you who check in from time to time, and even bigger thanks to those (mainly Mrs K!) who leave comments.

Any suggestions as to how I can improve or change this site (short of simply giving up, or anything which involves content likely to cause offense to those of a moral disposition) , would be gratefully received.

Arnie terminated!

Bit late with this - but at a time of turmoil in the US labour movement it was good to see a whole range of unions - both AFL-CIO & CTW - pulling together to kick the 'Governator' into touch last week.

They were so successful in beating back proposals (which included attempts to restrict public sector unions funding political activity and cutting state spending) that CNN hailed their campaign as the Political Play of the Week.

You can read more about Arnie's defeat here and here - and the AFL-CIO's take on what was a good set of election results for US workers and their families right across the country last week, here.

The next few days

Expect a bit of blog silence over the next few days, as I'll be out of the office and away from home until Saturday night.

Tomorrow I'm training in Warrington with a group of senior USDAW divisional officers - before going to see 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' at my local (mini) Theatre in the evening.

Then on Friday I'm on the 0545 train down to London to speak at a European organising event which is being hosted by the TUC.

On Saturday I'll be helping to run the TUC's 'Organising Unions, Organising Communities' conference in London, before heading home later that night.

Normal blog service will be resumed once I've recovered and spent enough time with my family to ensure they still remember my name!

Mastermind?

jack
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

AAAARRRRRRRSE!

Mastermind devalued!

Don't get me wrong I like 'Father Ted'.

Correction - I love 'Father Ted', but I still can't see how the hell you can be crowned 'Mastermind' with 'Father Ted' as your specialist subject!

There were 3 series of 'Father Ted' - a total of 24 episodes, and yet last night the BBC let Patrick Gibson, a software developer from Wigan, choose this as his specialist subject. With his fellow contestants choosing subjects including 'Icelandic Family Sagas' and the 'Life and work of Vermeer' is perhaps not surprising that Mr Gibson romped home with a total of 31 points.

The other contestants (all men naturally, the majority of whom were bearded and obviously lacked certain key social skills) couldn't do much more than sit there smiling through gritted teeth, no doubt mentally beating themselves up that they'd chosen 'The life and work of George Brassens' and not 'The Teletubbies: 1998-2001'.

Is this further evidence that Britain is dumbing down? Or am I just bitter because I only got 20 general knowledge questions right (out of a total of about 100)? Bit of both I think...

Can you think of a specialist subject (real or imagined), that could possibly be easier/more bizarre than this one?!

'Super-Heroes' unmasked...

Judy McKnight, general secretary of NAPO, has blogged about last night's 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' which unmasked some of the real faces behind Fathers 4 Justice.

Not normally a big fan of Sir Trev's programme, which makes Newsround look like World in Action at times, but thought this was a useful programme, which showed the real contempt that some of the F4J 'super-heroes' have for both women and children - contempt which at times clearly crossed over into violence.

F4J surely can't have been proud of the footage of some of their leading activists haranguing Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate Jody Dunn and her 8 year old daughter with a football style chant of 'child abuser'...more craven bullying than dignified protest.

Second part of the programme is on Friday night at 8pm.

At last!

Everton secured their first home win of the season yesterday...least I'm pretty sure they did, but it was a bit hard to tell because the bloke sitting next to me (not my dad, bloke on the other side!), seemed intent on smoking his way through a small plantation's worth of 'c' class drugs, obscuring my visibility some-what. What's wrong with a pre-match pint and a half-time pie and cuppa? Kids these days...

Pic: James Beattie starts paying back that £6m...

You can read a match report here. For those who think Bluekipper is a bit 'chavvy' (you know who you are), you can read a much posher match report here.

Motivating your staff

Love these posters from www.despair.com which turn traditional motivational bon-mots on their head.

When I worked for Manpower at BT (many moons ago), we used to have these sorts of things all over the place.

Can't say I have ever felt especially invigorated or inspired as a result of reading one of these as I looked up from my 50th call of the day from an irate customer whose BT chargecard had been accidentally cancelled, but someone somewhere must think they work.

Worth every penny?

Fat Cat...
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

Apparently 175 of his mates 'earn' over a million a year...

The fattest cats...ever!

Mirror article, based on an IDS report, showing that boardroom pay is now rising 300 times faster than shop-floor pay.

You can read TUC General secretary Brendan Barber's (understandably terse) reaction here.

Its no coincidence that the gap between boardroom and shop-floor pay, and between profits and shop has risen as union density has declined, and with it the ability of unions (and working people more generally), to hold companies and their directors to effective account.

And lets remember this boardroom excess is happening at the same time that Government and employers are insisting that people need to work even longer if they want to be assured of a decent pension...

No more moaning about the train

In years to come the journey from Liverpool to London will only take 58 minutes.

Read about this in the Echo so it must be true. And Britain has got a great track record (geddit..) in delivering large infrastructure projects to time and on budget, ahem.

Think theres more chance of me doing the Liverpool-London commute via a 'flying pig' service, but you never know!

Haven't moaned about the train for a while......

So just thought I'd just share the fact (anyone there) that I'm now running 40 mins late and can expect to get home about, oh 12.45am or so....big delayed shout out (I believe that's what the kidz say these days) to Richard (dick) Branson....