Opinion
Reading Labour delivering Council homes across our town
Everyone deserves a home. It’s a simple sentiment, but the state of the British housing market turns this basic need into a challenge for so many in our town…
Read More#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week with a key focus on stress. Reading Young Labour members discussed what this meant for them in their everyday lives at school, work or university. One member said “nobody cares or understands” when it comes to mental health and stress in schools while another clarified that “teachers are…
Read MoreHammond’s crumbs from the table
The crumbs from the budget table. That’s what I thought when listening to the budget delivered by the robotic spreadsheet known as Philip Hammond. First all of the Macro (big stuff). Erm, well it’s bad. Economic growth (what the country produces) forecasts were out. Well out. In fact they will be a quarter worse than…
Read MoreThe Budget – A Lost Opportunity to Improve Lives
I’ve just seen the budget. I’m not sure what I was expecting – certainly not an end to austerity, despite it being clear it’s failed. I was hoping to see the government had listened and understood that living standards are being squeezed and people are struggling. I was wrong. Forecasts for growth have been down…
Read MoreA Let Down Budget
A let down budget – not even meeting low expectations It shouldn’t have been hard for today’s budget to exceed expectations – given the mess this government is in they were incredibly low, and given Philip Hammond’s reputation he should have been able to promise some support. I was following the announcements hoping for relief for…
Read MoreThe Budget Verdict
The budget verdict: thanks for the ‘millennial railcard’ but owning our own home one day would be nice This Wednesday the Chancellor of Exchequer Philip Hammond (AKA spreadsheet Phil) gave his annual budget. With the Resolution Foundation saying millennials are the first generation in modern times to be worse off than their parents, it seemed…
Read MoreNationalisation and Tory profiteering
I was interested to read Newbury MP Richard Benyon’s comment piece in this week’s Reading Chronicle. It would appear Mr Benyon is not a fan of nationalising industries. I won’t bore you with graphs, talk of natural monopolies, dynamic efficiency and elasticities. Instead I will just point out some facts and inaccuracies Mr Benyon appears…
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