The Combination Act of 1799 - passed under the Govt of William Pitt the Younger as a response to Jacobin activity & the fear that workers would strike during a conflict - prohibited trade unions & collective bargaining by British workers.
Throughout the 1790s, the war against France was presented as an ideological struggle between French republicanism vs. British monarchism, with the British government seeking to mobilise public opinion in support of the war.
The Pitt government waged a vigorous propaganda campaign, contrasting the 'ordered' society of Britain dominated by the aristocracy & the gentry, with the "anarchy" of the French revolution. Pitt's Govt always sought to associate British "radicals" with the revolution in France.
Like the current Govt, the Pitt Govt drastically reduced civil liberties. It created a nationwide spy network with ordinary people being encouraged to denounce any "radicals" in their midst, & fermented a "popular conservative movement" that rallied in defence of King & Country.
The 1799 Combination Act drove labour organisations underground & toward militancy, with Unions subject to often severe repression.
Sympathy for the plight of the workers led to Unions being decriminalised when the Combination Act was repealed in 1824.
In response to a series of strikes that followed Union decriminalisation, the 1825 Combinations of Workmen Act decriminalised trade unions, but severely restricted their activity, prohibiting collective bargaining for better terms & conditions, & suppressing the right to strike.
Following the 1825 Combinations of Workmen Act, growing numbers of workers joined Unions in their efforts to achieve better wages & working conditions.
Generally much less radical but more permanent trade unions were established from the 1850s onwards.
The London Trades Council, uniting London's trade unionists, was founded in 1860, & the Sheffield Outrages (a series of explosions & murders by a group of trade unionist militants carried out in 1860s Sheffield) spurred the establishment of the Trades Union Congress in 1868.
The legal status of trade unions was established by the 1867 Royal Commission on Trade Unions, which despite hostility to the idea of legalising trade unions, agreed that the establishment of Unions was to the advantage of both employers & employees.
Unions were fully legalised with the adoption of the Trade Union Act 1871 - although the 1871 Criminal Law Amendment Act (fully repealed by the Trade Union & Labour Relations Act 1974) made picketing illegal.
Between 1862 & 1875, the average wage increased by 40%.
A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists.
In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
In England, free speech is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, inciting violence is a criminal offence under several laws which attempt to balance public safety with free expression rights.
In many countries, especially since Musk bought Twitter/@X, underregulated online extreme content has been used to groom and radicalise vulnerable people.
Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.
Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive.
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
"Foreigners" DO NOT claim £1BILLION/month in benefits.
This disgusting anti-migrant dogwhistle by shameless liar and former Head of Policy Exchange, Neil O'Brien MP, is just one of several recent dispicable divisive Telegraph front page lies.
WTAF @IpsoNews? @HoCStandards?
The claims that the UK spends £1bn/month "on UC benefits for overseas nationals" (O'Brien) and "Foreigners claim £1bn a month in benefits" (Telegraph) are revealed to be lies in the article: the£1bn relates to "Benefits claims by HOUSEHOLDS with AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN NATIONAL."
The Telegraph claims that (unnamed) "experts suggested the increase reflected a SURGE in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration."
To evaluate/make sense of this sensational unsourced claim, additional context is needed (but not provided).
Chase Herro, co-founder of Trump’s main crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, on crypto:
“You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right, because people will buy it.”
Despite crypto being bullshit, & memecoins being consciously bullshit, many – especially angry young gullible men – still invest: 42% of men & 17% of women aged 18-29 have invested in, traded or used crypto (2024 Pew Research), compared to only 11% of men & 5% of women over 50.
“It’s no accident that memecoins are such a phenomenon among young people who have grown immensely frustrated with a financial system that, I think it’s fair to say, has failed them” - Sander Lutz, the first crypto-focused White House correspondent.
🧵In January, Farage said Musk was justified in calling Starmer complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs: “In 2008 Keir Starmer had just been appointed as DPP & there was a case brought before them of alleged mass rape of young girls that did not lead to a prosecution.”
The allegation that Starmer was complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs is often repeated. But how true is it?
Two Facebook posts, originally appearing in April/May 2020, claimed Starmer told police when he was working for the CPS not to pursue cases against Muslim men accused of rape due to fears it would stir up anti-Islamic sentiment.
In 2022 the posts and allegations saw a resurgence online with hundreds of new shares. They said: “From 2004 onwards the director of public prosecutions told the police not to prosecute Muslim rape gangs to prevent ‘Islamophobia’.