There is time for our elected MLAs to progress the Good Jobs Bill if the will is there "What this moment requires now is political leadership and a willingness to look beyond narrow interests of a few" Gerry Murphy About the Good Jobs Bill: www.ictuni.org/news/unions-... @nic-ictu.bsky.social

Join a union 💪

"What this moment requires now is political leadership and a willingness to look beyond narrow interests of a few" ://www.ictuni.org/news/unions-there-time-our-elected-mlas-progress-good-jobs-bill-if-will-there

Not sure if this is one of my most rightwing or my most leftwing takes, but if you believe there is such a thing as “excessive profits” in a sector you really should just go ahead and insource the service you’re paying for:

The most dangerous wrong ideas in public policy are the ones that sound so intuitively true that any attempt to push back or even nuance them can be sneeringly dismissed as academic foolishness that flies in the face of 'common sense'. I... may have written a book about this. 👀

I can excuse @iaindale.bsky.social's ignorance here. Just because anyone with a very basic economics education should recognise the lump of labour fallacy doesn't mean he should. But the arrogance combined with the absolutely deliberate refusal to think is quite remarkable.

Curse of Private Equity Morrisons to close 100 stores. Blames govt, silent on PE looting. PE loaded company with £6.6bn debt, cut staff, sold-off petrol stations, indulged in sale and leaseback of assets, extracted returns, devoured. To tackle PE - End tax tax relief on interest payments.

Tomorrow we’ll be at Stormont calling for action on the Good Jobs Bill. Workers have waited long enough for secure work, stronger rights, and a real voice at work. Join us. 📍 Stormont 📅 Monday 18 May ⏰ Noon

Greta Thunberg, Gary Lineker sign letter defending Southbank Centre chair

BREAKING: Our statement on the election of a new Welsh Government. #SeneddElection #Senedd

Even as employment rights are becoming stronger, non-compliance with existing rights remains a concern. Hundreds of thousands of workers don't receive the basic rights they are owed. Read more about how the Fair Work Agency can address this👇 buff.ly/2cPqeAG

Finally, a major American newspaper whose editorial board is courageous enough to stand up for the rights of big tech companies.

RTÉ’s boycott of this year’s Eurovision goes beyond simply not sending a contestant to Vienna, as the broadcaster will not be showing any of this week’s shows. Instead, RTÉ2 will broadcast the classic Father Ted episode A Song for Europe during the usual Eurovision timeslot.

Since Oct 7, Palestinians in Israeli prisons face unbelievable levels of torture and abuse. They are starved, exposed to disease, beaten up, and some are sexually abused, as described here. Dozens have died. It's been going on for 30 months. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

Curse of Private Equity Modella Capital, owner of former WH Smith stores, charging stores £2.9m royalty fees to use fictitious ‘family’ brand. PE shifts profits, disguises returns, dodges taxes. Methods include: Royalty fees Management fees Intragroup interest payments Transfer pricing Opacity

revenge of the humanities graduates, you love to see it

Nigel Farage has been invited to speak in the event against Antisemitism on Sunday. If you are a British Jew or a Israeli in the UK who thinks this cannot be happening, this is the letter for you.

A Belfast food company has been fined £100,000 for breaches of workplace safety linked to the death of an employee. The penalty was imposed on Lee Feng T/A Lee Foods by Judge Patrick Lynch KC at Belfast Crown Court.

🚨BREAKING Deal agreed to end bins strike after 15 months! It is an absolute abhorrence that this deal has been blocked by unelected council commissioners. ✊ Congratulations to the Unite members who stood firm throughout, backed by their union

www.ictuni.org/news/workers... Full statement @economy-ni.gov.uk

Join a union, get active, organise and fight for a pay and system that works. Join a tenants’ union, fight for decent housing for all. The far-right offer no answers to the pressures that households are facing. [3/3]

Despite the UK austerity policies of the 2010s, Scotland expanded universalism through their school meals program, leveraging public procurement to draw in the private sector and improving children’s health and educational attainment.

in Poland it was the moment the populists shifted from the dangers of migrants to the dangers of "gender ideology"

A mucker and a colleague lays his pen to rest and his typewriter is now silent. Why do we do it he often asked his journo colleagues and muckers and his reply "for the romance." Thoughts and love to the McDowell clan. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/local/belfas...

Israel’s Knesset has passed legislation that allows military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians living under Israeli control. I have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to condemn this law and to ensure accountability for serious human rights violations.

The pay premium of the median teacher, or university lecturer, has also fallen

The striking stained glass window in Belfast City Hall commemorating the International Brigades. 48 mainly working class men volunteered from the city. Gandesa, Belchite, Madrid, Brunete, Teruel, Córdoba.... Thanks to Paul Mullen for this photo.

The only firms who will benefit from the Good Jobs Bill being stalled are those who are undercutting good employers. Pass the Good Jobs Bill! #GoodJobsBill @nic-ictu.bsky.social @caoimhearchibald.bsky.social

Note how he doesn't just define himself against an enemy but personifies the enemy by naming Ken Griffin and how much he paid for his penthouse. This is how to create definition about what you stand for.

A number of British academics and ex-academics just lost a potential pay cheque.

The deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, owns a property company - Quidnet REIT. From 2020 to 2022 it paid Tice and his trust £600k in dividends. Quidnet should have paid £120k of tax on those dividends. It didn't. A 🧵 with evidence from the company's own filings:

I might not have the regular Irish Times column that Steen has, but I do have quite a bit more than a few anecdotes to back up what I say. Maria Steen thinks the #genderPayGap is a myth but that is a hopelessly basic and naive take. Here is why. paygap.ie/posts/maria-...

The Telegraph just gave a convicted criminal a two-page spread to explain why he's pumping £4 million into Reform UK. They tucked his criminal record away in the small print. So as a former financial crime specialist I’ll do their job for them👇

Irish far-right are making speeches about migrants at their fuel protests.. meanwhile: 'Ireland’s energy-hungry datacentres consumed more electricity last year than all its urban homes combined, according to official figures.' Amazon AWS, Google, Equinix, Microsoft, Digital Realty, Edge Connex..

Excellent thread from the time of the riots in Nov 2023, and points out how much earlier the extremism was all developing.

With thanks to @ciaranoconnor.bsky.social, @worklesshard.bsky.social and lots of others, The Briefing is back after a hiatus; Who is funding the Facebook ads pushing the fuel protests? 🇮🇪 With extra bonus "here comes MAGA" content 🦅 www.thebriefing.ie/who-is-fundi...

Reform UK voters least likely to see social media posts from family and friends, study finds

Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:

Reform would ban any citizen of many Commonwealth countries gaining a visa due to a policy position of its government. Most Reform's policies are in the long tradition of finding reasons to propose policies that impact on non-white migrants, not white migrants www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

🚘 Tesla vs. Europe’s social model? Tesla is often cited as an industrial success of the green transition - but its anti-union model raises serious concerns 🔗 etui.org/4ik 🧵 👇

NEW: The government has asked its new employment rights watchdog, the Fair Work Agency, to reduce regulatory burdens on business. This is at a time when the UK has among the fewest labour inspectors in the OECD & workers face billions of pounds in unpaid wages. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

From today, every child counts equal. So if your family are on low wages or fall on hard times - universal credit is paid for every child, not just the first two Cos every child matters - and every child deserves the chance to thrive

From today sick pay rule changes to benefit up to 9.6 million UK workers👏 www.theguardian.com/law/2026/apr...

This week, Brexit finally killed our family business. We cleared out our warehouse, handed back the keys, paid the final bills and said goodbye to our last employee. What was once a thriving firm died a slow, sad death, all thanks to Farage, Johnson and the gullible idiots they conned. 1/18

We don’t usually defend bosses. But when a bad boss goes after THE Boss and our union brother? We won’t stand for it.