As junior doctors finish their five-day strike today, nurses reject the government’s “grotesque” 3.6% pay rise, Guido can reveal hundreds of health service staff are working for their trade unions instead of doing their actual jobs. Under arcane rules from the Employment Protection Act of 1975…
According to research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance seen by Guido, in the year 2023/24, 168 NHS Trusts had more than 49 taxpayer-funded union representatives each using ‘facility time’ – paid time off granted to trade union reps in the NHS to carry out their union duties. The total cost of facility time came to £17.1 million. There will be other trusts with fewer than 49 paid reps taking time off to do union work – these don’t even have to be recorded according to the current rules…
A staggering 212 NHS workers spent 100% of their ‘working hours’ doing union work. Another 128 union reps spent between 51-99% of their time on union duties, and a further 2,586 worked on their union duties for at least 1%-50% of their hours. All on the public purse…
It’s not just London councils offering asylum seekers freebies, as Guido has been well documenting. Bradford Council also offers discounts on a range of activities via a “Bradford Leisure Card” for just £3 a year. If you are a pensioner, on benefits or an asylum seeker, you get:
Bradford hiked council tax by a whopping 10% this year. The Asylum Freebiegate scandal continues…
Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari has forcefully attacked Keir Starmer for his decision to recognise the State of Palestine. She posted this morning on Instagram:
“Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France, or Poland? This is not diplomacy-it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister!!!!!!
As a Dual British-Israeli citizen who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, I am deeply saddened by Prime Minister Starmer’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. This move does not confi advance peace-it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy. By legitimising a state entity while Hamas still controls Gaza and continues its campaign of terror, the Prime Minister is not promoting a solution; he is prolonging the conflict. Recognition under these conditions emboldens extremists and undermines any hope for genuine peace. Shame on you!”
Starmer spoke frequently of Damari, met with her mother, and talked with her on the phone after her dramatic release subsequent to 471 days in Hamas captivity. Starmer’s decision having wide ramifications which will continue to spread…
In a bad omen for the free internet Australia has banned YouTube for under-16s. This is getting ridiculous…
The Labor Party under Anthony Albanese passed legislation last year to ban social media for children with massive fines for companies that failed to enforce age verification. YouTube claimed it was not such a service as it had an educational and entertainment component. Obviously true…
That designation has been overturned by Canberra. YouTube says: “Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens. It’s not social media.” As Ofcom has today observed in its annual media report…
The legislation as currently drafted has almost no detail on enforcement or monitoring. Legislate first, come up with the details later…
Labour is considering following the same route here in the UK. Late last year the Times reported: “Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, is said to be watching developments in Australia, which announced last week that under-16s would be banned from sites such as Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok… the government was keen on the “principle” and would be willing and “open-minded” to support the measures.” Judging by Downing Street’s bold Savile-based communications strategy on the Online Safety Act it would have no issue pushing ahead with further bans…
The government’s main announcement today is actually from March. Recess has only just started and Labour is already whipping the dead horse…
Compare today’s government press release trumpeted up by Heidi Alexander on the morning round: “First-time buyers to benefit from 40,000 new homes on brownfield railway land” with one from March: “Network Rail property company set to unlock up to 40,000 new homes over the next decade.” Over a decade it will be 4,000 homes per year. A laughable amount anyway, did someone say zombie government?
British business is heading for its worst quarter since the dark days of the pandemic in 2020, with private sector activity expected to tumble to -18% in the three months to September, according to the latest numbers from the Confederation of British Industry. Don’t mention the ‘G’ word…
It comes off the back of a bruising summer, with activity already having fallen to -26% in the three months to June. Activity has broadly been falling since the ‘growth’ budget…
Alpesh Paleja, the CBI’s deputy chief economist said:
“Companies are still grappling with higher employment costs, cautious spending behaviour on the part of households, and increasing global uncertainty. But firms will be looking for further certainty in the Autumn Budget to boost the UK’s overall competitive edge.”
Meanwhile, households’ total liquid assets increased by £8.8 billion in June according to the Bank of England – almost double the increase recorded in May – as families stop spending amid surging prices thanks to Reeves’ tax raid. The Chancer of the Exchequer can’t spin this one…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”