I’m back!
Posted on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 9:07pm
one response
I am becoming quite the infrequent blogger. Apologies, but I haven’t had a press/political officer for a while now, which means I’ve been running around trying to sort everything out. I welcome a new staff member, a Mr Duncan Higgitt to the team tomorrow, and I am looking forward to working with him. There’s plenty of campaigns and work to be getting on with, that’s for sure so no rest for the wicked!
It’s hard to know where to start I’ve been away from the blogosphere for so long. The furore over the former Government drugs adviser who was dismissed over the weekend has dominated the headlines. This is over his opposition to the reclassification of cannabis, and research that his council carried out. Tonight we learn that two of his colleagues on the scientific panel have resigned their positions in fury at how Dr Nutt has been treated. It is quite something when the government appoints such experts ( minus expenses) and dismisses their advice if it does not fit in with their view of how policy should be developed( or the red tops, I should add) . I’m no specialist in this field, but I think the government has got it wrong, and Alan Johnson will face further set backs, for sure.
Another issue to note is the Postal strike that has taken place, and the continued threat of more strikes by the CWU as they cannot come to an agreement with the Royal Mail. I support the strikes, as I know that this decision wasn’t made lightly. If the CWU did not strike, and carried on negotiations purely in private, it is questionable how much support they could garner if ( being the cynic) the Royal Mail backtracked on their promises to staff at a later stage.
Look at what is happening to former Visteon staff in Swansea, who were promised the same pension packages as their Ford colleagues. They now face losing up to 50% of their pensions when they are transferred to the public protection fund, given that Ford management insist that they are not party to the same rights and pension liabilities as Ford workers. This is enough for us to know that the Union’s, and politicians like myself must defend such workers and their rights.
I will blog more often, I assure you, but now I have work to do…
