"The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose
"The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine
"The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back"
A small homily, about the ultimate meaning of Equality.
The Maastricht Treaty was signed by John Major, February 1992, but only ratified in Parliament in September, by Major taking the nuclear step of calling for a Vote of Confidence.
Only France, Ireland and Denmark held referendums on Maastricht ratification. The result of the French referendum, known as the "petit oui", along with the Danish "No" vote are considered to be signals of the end of the "permissive consensus" on European integration.
The signing of the treaty allowed Major to proceed with the long-standing Establishment plan to privatise the #NHS , under the new rules for business, established by Maastricht, where all new contracts must by law be put up for tender.
The UK has over 20 years experience of delivering evidence-based, systematic, high quality screening programmes, which deliver more good than harm at affordable cost.
This experience tells us that if you embark on a screening programme without having carefully evaluated it first, without a proper quality assured pathway, without certainty of test performance in field settings, without full information for participants ...
... and without the means to ensure that the intervention needed for those with positive results does indeed take place, then you will end up with an expensive mess that does more harm than good.
"The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party on the flimsiest of pretexts is not only a baseless attack on a longstanding fighter in words and deeds against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism.
"It is also the latest step in a longer and bigger drive to marginalise socialists and left-wing ideas in the Labour Party and the wider labour movement.
"Make no mistake, the British ruling class was shaken by the June 2017 General Election result, when Labour under Corbyn's leadership increased its vote by 3.5m and won one of its biggest shares of the poll in more than 40 years.
To all my Unite followers, please consider voting for @SteveT_Unite for General Secretary in the Saturday ballot. There are two UL candidates in the ballot, Howard Beckett and our Steve Turner. The Election will follow next year. (1/5)
The Party’s advisory committee for Unite is asking you to support Steve Turner in the hustings on Saturday. Party and UL discipline then means we must support whoever is elected as the UL candidate. (2/5)
Steve joined the T&G when he was 19, and has spent the last 38 years fulfilling almost every role in the Union from buses shop steward to his present role as Assistant General Secretary. (3/5)