Leading with the left
Leading with the left
UNISON's London Regional convenor takes a lefty look at life.
As a rent-a-mouth trade union lefty I often encounter some strange people in my travels around the various newsrooms.
A few weeks ago I was asked to do the Nicky Campbell phone-in on Radio Five on the subject of the NHS crisis and was happy to do so. After about an hour of calls the next guest on the show was ushered in - Geoffrey Boycott. It was bad enough having to share a studio for even a few minutes with the pompous sod but I was amazed when the presenter proceeded to question Boycott on his views on the NHS.
Needless to say he spouted out predictable right-wing claptrap about compulsory private insurance and means-testing for the poor. In the process he chewed up the remaining minutes that we had left to wrap up what had been an interesting show. Afterwards I complained bitterly about Boycott being asked for his opinion on the NHS while no one had asked me my view on a boring cricketer convicted of beating up a woman. I'm not convinced that I'll be invited back.
Talking of the Nicky Campbell show on Radio Five it was on this very programme that Tony Blair let it slip that he has been making secret Princess Di-style visits to London hospitals to see for himself what's going on.
Let it slip my arse! This was just another stage-managed stunt to try and turn down the pressure over the NHS crisis. Although whether there is a crisis depends on whether or not you believe Alistair Campbell or Frank Dobson. For all his faults I'm inclined to go with Dobson on this one. As I write this the spin is that new nurses are going to get an 11% increase and existing staff 4.7% - if it's true it will turn out to be another divisive mistake which will drive morale even lower.
All NHS staff, not just nurses, need an across the board rise of 10% or £1,000, whichever is greater. Anything lower and the kind of horror stories we've seen this winter will run and run. While we're at it, if the Government don't fully fund the health workers' pay award, and it has to be financed through service cuts and job losses, they will deserve the public kicking which will come their way once the voters rumble them.
I don't want to gloat, and I don't want to alienate LLB's non football-friendly readers, but I'm sure that everyone will agree that it's fantastic to see Chelsea at the top of the table as we head into the New Year. I was interested to see that one of the little known reasons why Charlie Whelan had to go was because of the publicity surrounding his ticket-touting activities. I have it on good authority that Whelan would always be a good source of tickets for major sporting events for MPs inclined to follow the Brownie line (whatever that might be). I just hope that I don't bump into Whelan in a camelhair coat outside Fulham Broadway tube on match day mumbling "anyone need tickets". I expect he'll find far less dubious ways to earn a crust.
Some LLB readers will have heard that I've had my collar felt for saying on the local telly that I couldn't see any circumstances under which UNISON would fund the mayoral campaign of any candidate who can't demonstrate support for UNISON's policies. This statement of the blatantly obvious has got some of the usual suspects in a flap and has also led to the launch of a "Defend Geoff Martin Campaign" by the Campaign for a Fighting and Democratic UNISON which would have been a highly unlikely scenario just a few years ago and which has caused merriment in some quarters.
On the general scale of terror a formal complaint from a full-time union official doesn't really rate up there with being chased around the back alleys of Filbert Street by the Leicester Baby Squad or even the contents of Katie's nappy after she's been on the Weetabix and scrambled egg.
I hope this nonsense can be put to bed without the need for a full-scale mobilisation of my supporters in UNISON. However, a transit van is already on standby should the need arise.
On the subject of the London Mayor I see that the London Labour Party Chair Jim Fitzpatrick has issued a circular telling us that Labour in London always used to have a selection panel for the GLC elections. How Jim would know is beyond me. The last time there were GLC elections in London Jim Fitzpatrick was a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
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