A rare experience for me this week as I experienced an NHS hospital at the sharp end – as a patient. My reaction is the same as most patients - no I was not a ‘customer’. Excellent facilities...

In the Times, Richard Brooks reports on new figures revealing that the best-selling British author in Europe last year was crime writer Simon Beckett who is relatively unknown in this country. Simon Beckett, 49, did not find literary success until his mid-forties, but he is now mobbed at book...

Discussion amongst rank and file Unison activists has begun to indicate a clear preference amongst the ordinary workers who are seeking to emulate Mark Serwotka and be elected as General Secretary. Paul Holmes - who today won the backing of Unison United Left - offers a clear and credible...

Dave is standing for re-election as UNISON General Secretary and he has my full support and I am sure that of a majority of our members. He was elected for a 2nd term in 2005 with a 77% majority. I strongly believe that Dave is a Labour movement fighter and believer who want a progressive,...

1st birthday... that came round very quickly...

Hello all, Thanks to all those who sent in views on the General Secretary election. Whilst ideally we would have liked a meeting to decide this, the rushed timetable Prentis and the NEC pushed us into left us without enough time to organise a meeting. We would have preferred that we all...

UNISON Active: UNISON GS election – news from the margins‏ From Jon's blog Regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Union-Blogger) will know that I am rarely impressed with those who blog (or indeed comment) anonymously. It is a shame that so much of what is sometimes a quite well written...

Regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Union-Blogger) will know that I am rarely impressed with those who blog (or indeed comment) anonymously. It is a shame that so much of what is sometimes a quite well written little blog (Unison Active) is anonymous - and it does make me wonder whether...

GMB: Providing For Future Generations Of Pensioners Ace GMB report on public sector pensions by ToUChstoneblog on 08/02/2010

 Pledges from developed nations signing the Copenhagen Accord add up to a mere 19% cut in CO2 below 1990 levels. This is well short of the range of CO2 emission reductions – 25 to 40% – that the UN says is necessary to stabilise global temperature increases. Still, apparently there’s no need...

SERTUC LGBT NETWORK Presents: LGBT History Month Film Night Thursday 25 February 2010, Congress House - FREE ADMISSION Limited Spaces available (registration essential - please book early) Registration: sertuceventsATtucDOTorgDOTuk or 020 7467 1220 Screening four new shorts, showcasing the...

Today’s Datablog in The Guardian picks up on last Friday’s quarterly report by the Insolvency Service publishing the numbers of corporate and individual insolvencies for the fourth quarter of 2009. Some one in 320 individuals in England and Wales declared bankruptcy last year, a rise of...

I am publishing the list of the regional Council election results: Regional Convenor Margaret Greer, 103 votes Gloria Hanson, 144 votes (elected) Deputy Regional Convenor Conroy Lawrence, 158...

A new attempt to build a massive dock development at Dibden Bay is “inevitable”, say council chiefs. They issued the warning after criticising the Government’s new policy statement on the future of...

I have decided to run for a seat on the Board of Amnesty International UK. But I need at least 10 paid-up members of Amnesty to support my nomination in order to get on the ballot. And I need those... Eric Lee

In the Guardian, a diary kept by comedy writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong on a recent trip to the Sundance Festival where Four Lions, the film they wrote (with Chris Morris and Sam Blackwell) was being shown. Jesse: The screening goes well, but I find it excruciating. Sometimes when I'm scared...

A new Centre for Children's Literature has opened at Cambridge University, as Nicola Woolcock reports in the Times. The university opened a Centre for Children’s Literature yesterday, which will give as much consideration to blogs, fan fiction and video games as to the works of established...

Chris Lewis has officially begun his role as the new MD of DP World Southampton Container Terminal. Lewis has been involved in the freight industry for more than 25 years and was previously CEO of...

This is a bit interesting... Guy Hands, who moved from Kent to Guernsey last April in protest at higher income and capital gains tax rates, says he has "never visited" his school age children since he left the country. They have remained with his wife at their former family home in Kent and they...