The RCN and other health unions are right to speak out today. Attacks on nursing staff and other health workers in Gaza and beyond are indefensible. These are war crimes, plain and simple. The UK must back ICC prosecutions and stand firm in defence of international law.

‘Lanyard class’ makes no sense. A lanyard doesn’t mark class, it just keeps your pass handy. The people wearing them are the ones grafting — including the staff holding up health and care.

After 40 years, a national inquiry into Orgreave is finally happening. A huge moment for mining communities and everyone who’s fought so hard for truth and justice. Solidarity with the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign—this really matters.

I can’t stress this enough: many of the big hitters came out against the assisted dying bill before it was even published. It’s become fashionable to say “support the principle, oppose the bill” — but the timeline shows most were gearing up to oppose any bill.

The government won in court last week, defeating a bizarre legal challenge from the private school lobby claiming that losing tax breaks breached their human rights. Imagine the fanfare if it had gone the other way—this was a big win for fairness that deserves more attention.

One of the best things about the labour movement is how it brings together people of all ages—people who’d otherwise pass each other in the street, united by a shared passion for the details of a trade dispute or winning a council ward off a nimby independent. It’s enriching for everyone.

The Lib Dems and Rupert Lowe both think firing off loads of questions means you’re doing a great job. We can all agree they’re about as relevant as each other.

Responding to the US trade deal, Andrew Griffith calls it ‘a Diet Coke deal, not the real thing’. Can I respectfully submit that Diet Coke is class — and, in all ways, better than 'the real thing.'

“Working people” is a phrase with power—it speaks to those who keep the country going but rarely get the rewards. Pretending it’s an attack on the ill or disabled isn’t just daft, it’s dishonest. Recognising work doesn’t mean denying anyone’s dignity.

An FOI reveals DHSC received the NHS Pay Review Body report on 11 April. It’s now May. The pay rise was due on 1 April. When will the government lay the report before Parliament—and give NHS staff the pay award they’ve earned and deserve? @rcn.org.uk

The Greens claimed they were on course in the West of England—even where Labour faced real challenges, they couldn’t come second. That says it all. It’s Labour or Reform. I’m for Labour—not self-indulgent Greenery.

The Supreme Court’s judgment last week was bad enough—and the language used was shocking. But the wilful misinterpretation of what it actually said is, in many ways, worse. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 remains an Act of Parliament. Its provisions still stand.

A health minister attacking the Tories for once acknowledging that trans women are women is a low moment. Trans women are women—just as surely as the sky is blue.

The author of "Tangled Up In Blue: Blue Labour and the Struggle for Labour's Soul" is running to be Labour's candidate for mayor of Croydon. I've written about what her career can tell us about the tendency: labourlist.org/2025/04/rowe...

Poll shows over half of Green voters back a merger with the Lib Dems. The idea that a party with a quarter of its MPs from North Herefordshire is the authentic voice of anything but middle-class liberalism is laughable.

Serving as a Member of Parliament is a privilege. It is incompatible with membership of the Liberal Democrats.

I’m not one for constant BBC-bashing, but headlines like “Union bosses held up Birmingham bin deal” do a lot of heavy lifting. Giving one side of the dispute centre stage, inviting readers to start from their version of events — before you’ve even clicked the link.

Society needs an alternative to the phrase “pick your brains.” It conveys a useful meaning, so I often reach for it—but it does rather conjure the image of a crow picking at a decaying carcass.

There’s no point trying to placate avowed transphobes—their appetite for bigotry is insatiable. Even the mildest recognition of basic dignity is met with incredulous derision.

Amanda Spielman has come out attacking the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, claiming it ‘puts unions and union members ahead of children.’ Her contempt for hardworking teachers and their unions was always clear—now she’s saying it outright. No wonder the feeling is mutual.

Rolling back the Tory-Lib Dem NHS reorganisation is welcome—if you called it dastardly privatisation then, you ought to agree now. But there must be a proper workforce plan. NHSE staff deserve better than chaotic, top-down reform. I hope the government works with TUs to get this right.

How many Lib Dems backed the Employment Rights Bill at third reading last night? None. Sanctimony and bombast over action—Yellow Tories who refused to support bereavement leave and maternity rights. votes.parliament.uk/votes/common...

The govt has tabled key amendments (published in full today today) to the Employment Rights Bill, and after months of lobbying, trade unions have won major improvements. Here’s a breakdown of the biggest changes 🧵👇

Low-paid workers will finally get 80% of their wages in statutory sick pay from day one. It should be 95% of 100%, but let’s reflect on how far we’ve come—under the Tories, those earning under £123 a week got nothing. The fact we’re now arguing over how much, not whether, is real progress.

This week, Green Party peers voted to hand private health multinationals a tax break. Just one penny of public funding could exempt an entire multimillion-pound operation. Next time they lecture others about privatisation, ask why they traipsed through the lobbies with the Tories on this one.

The Tories and Lib Dems pushed through a Lords amendment exempting care from the NI rise last night—but it also hands a tax break to private health and dentistry. Public money propping up private profit, sneaked through under the cover of social care. Labour is right to oppose.

WASPI legal challenge talk right on cue—because the window for judicial review is closing. Unless they actually file and can clear the permission hurdle, it’s just noise. Seen this play out before. Anyway, here’s my piece on the saga from December: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...

WASPI legal challenge talk right on cue—because the window for judicial review is closing. Unless they actually file and can clear the permission hurdle, it’s just noise. Seen this play out before. Anyway, here’s my piece on the saga from December: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...

Waiting lists down again and two million extra appointments since July. That’s Labour’s record on the NHS so far. And it didn’t happen by accident: working with doctors to avoid more strikes, staving off further action from AfC staff—these were choices, and they’re proving to be the right ones.

1️⃣The Lib Dems have tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill that sounds innocuous but is actually a really bad idea. It undermines trade unions, risks conflicts of interest, and hands too much power to the state. Here’s why. 🧵

Waiting lists down again and two million extra appointments since July. That’s Labour’s record on the NHS so far. And it didn’t happen by accident: working with doctors to avoid more strikes, staving off further action from AfC staff—these were choices, and they’re proving to be the right ones.

Under Leadbeater’s amendment, an assisted dying certificate is refused if 1 of 3 panel members votes against—33% opposition blocks approval. The High Court safeguard required 100% of 1 judge to oppose. This means the panel requires full agreement to approve, a stronger safeguard.

The Lib Dems refused to support the Employment Rights Bill at second reading, didn’t oppose a Tory reasoned amendment that would’ve killed it, and are now trying to dilute the role of unions through amendments. They support workers’ rights like the rope supports the hanging man. 👇

We really need to interrogate this implicit criticism of the assisted dying bill—that families won’t be notified without the patient’s consent. It’s a weirdly socially conservative notion that some who should know better are flirting with. Patients have a right to medical confidentiality.

1️⃣The Lib Dems have tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill that sounds innocuous but is actually a really bad idea. It undermines trade unions, risks conflicts of interest, and hands too much power to the state. Here’s why. 🧵

The Greens opposing a modest reduction in tax breaks for the wealthiest landowners is ridiculous. This won’t even touch tenant farmers—only those with millions in assets. Shielding privilege while preaching righteousness.

For those mocking Kim Leadbeater's claim that the assisted dying bill has the "strongest safeguards in the world": a) Which country do you think has safer ones? b) Would you support implementing assisted dying under the conditions in that country, or still oppose it anyway?

The outrage over the assisted dying bill committee having a majority in favour is misplaced—this is how bill committees always work. The government or bill sponsor ensures a majority to reflect support. Portraying this as sinister is a cynical misrepresentation of the usual process.

There’s a natural tendency to favour balance—‘I support assisted dying, but not this bill’ appeals to that. But we were promised meaningful changes at committee stage, not a rubber stamp. That’s exactly what’s happening, and it’s welcome.

There’s a natural tendency to favour balance—‘I support assisted dying, but not this bill’ appeals to that. But we were promised meaningful changes at committee stage, not a rubber stamp. That’s exactly what’s happening, and it’s welcome.

Just saw a post mocking a young man by sharing his dating profile, where he calls himself a ‘physician,’ then later a ‘physician associate.’ The PA debate is important, but this is just bullying. Some claiming to defend medical the profession seem fine acting unprofessionally themselves.

The main parliamentary opponents of the assisted dying bill object on principle—no shame in that—but let’s not pretend they’d support any version. Figures like Danny Kruger and, indeed, Wes Streeting came out against it well before it was even published. This is a matter of historical record.

The tribunal has ruled: Asda’s shop floor workers—mostly women—do work of equal value to their better-paid, male-dominated warehouses. These are stolen wages—£1.2bn in back pay and a £400m annual bill. Don’t feel sorry for Asda. They underpaid because they thought they could.

Jamie Driscoll and the Tories 🤝 Calling the UK’s first-ever woman Chancellor ‘Rachel from accounts.’ In the name of being really good and left-wing, or something.

It might seem odd at first, but it makes sense. An impact assessment on the assisted dying bill before Committee would be superfluous—the Bill will change. The govt is right to assess the version MPs will actually vote on, not an outdated draft. There will still be time for further amendments.

There’s a pervasive misunderstanding about Bill Committees—they exist to improve a bill, not decide if it should pass. They can’t kill a bill. The debate about ‘balance’ misses the point. MPs can still amend or reject the whole bill later in the process.

When people say Labour are no different to the Tories, tell them about Clause 37 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill—it repeals the Rwanda Act. If you opposed that policy, logic demands you recognise this as fantastic news. A fundamental difference, proven.

Some parliamentary critics of assisted dying still talk about HIV as if it’s a terminal illness. It’s not. With treatment, it’s manageable and not inevitably progressive. Whatever your view on assisted dying, let’s not turn back the clock on our understanding of HIV.

Shouting 'wheyyy' when someone drops a glass is anti-worker behaviour. Real ones give a solemn nod, an encouraging smile, and continue the struggle.