Issues and campaigns: Defending public services

Battles against privatisation and cuts

Jump to:

x Close

  • NHS and Health
    • Poems and pondering on all matters health, and on fighting to defend our NHS.
  • Covid-19
    • Poems and ponderings on the health crisis that hit the world in early 2020.
  • Mental health
    • Examining mental distress and ill-health and the (lack of) support available
  • Transport
    • Public transport - publicly-owned and -accountable, democratically run by workers and passengers, affordable, accessible, safe, efficient, environmentally-friendly ... cor, that'd be good, wouldn't it?!
  • Welfare Benefits
    • We need them. The right wing attacks them.

Lessons From PPP: Why All Grades Should Stick Together

April 2010: In 1998, the recently-elected New Labour government announced a ‘public-private partnership’ for London Underground. Operations would remain in the public sector, but the infrastructure would transfer to private consortia on 30-year leases. The unions fought this proposal for … Read more

Women (and men) workers in Finland’s transport industry

September 2013: On the first day of the ETF Women’s Committee meeting, several Finnish transport trade unionists attended as guests, including women from the logistics, shipping, rail and salaried sectors. We also had a presentation from Tapio Bergholm, who has … Read more

Driverless Trains: a Warning from Helsinki

September 2013 The underground railway (Metro) in Finland’s capital city Helsinki is due to go ‘driverless’ in 2016. I discussed this with Finnish trade unionists Jussi and Satu, and heard a story that has important lessons for London Underground workers … Read more

Homeless Man Dies Frozen

In February 2013, homeless man Daniel Gauntlett died of hypothermia on the doorstep of an empty bungalow in Aylesford, Kent. Homeless man dies frozen on steps of empty bungalow Man named Daniel Gauntlett Headline of Kent local paper Just words … Read more

People Before Profit

pinkpound

from the Workers’ Liberty pamphlet Radical Chains: Sexuality and Class Politics, published in 1999 A good place to start is with what we need. It’s better than starting with what politicians are prepared to give, or what employers say they … Read more

Speech: Disabled Access to Public Transport

This is the speech I gave to TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference on 28 May 2014. Many of you will have your own experiences of both the freedom provided by public transport and the difficulty using it – be that the … Read more

Mood Swings

An attempt to put the ups and downs of depression into verse … Bright skies, natural highs, Summer haze, happy days, Good things … mood swings Dark cloud, not proud Guilt, shame, down again Life’s shit, deep pit Break down, … Read more

West Coast Franchising Chaos

In 2012, the awarding of the franchise for the West Coast railway route descended into chaos, when the government gave the job to FirstGroup in preference to Virgin, then admitted irregularities and started all over again. Two limericks: 1. A … Read more

Michael Gove Is Coming to Town

More of a Christmas carol than a poem, dedicated to our later, unlamented Education Secretary, and set to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town: You’d better not hope, dream or aspire Stay in your place, you won’t … Read more

An Ode to Tube Cleaning

A right filthy job is Tube cleaning We slave while the bosses are preening We work night and day No pension or sick pay And the wages are truly demeaning But cleaners won’t let them attack us Harass us, track … Read more