Higher housing benefits bill.

Lowest home ownership in a generation.

And fewer homes built than at any time since the 1920s.  

We have a duty – in their name – to oppose the worst of what the Tories do.

We will oppose a totally free hand for developers.

We will continue to oppose the debt, distress and despair caused by the hated bedroom tax.

And we will oppose the extension of the so-called ‘right to buy’ to housing associations.

It is unworkable and wrong. It will mean fewer genuinely affordable homes when the need has never been greater so it fails the test of sound social policy.

And it fails the test of good economics because it squanders a long-term asset by selling it on the cheap.

Taxpayers will bear the cost three times over: first for the public investment to build the homes; second, for the discount to sell them; and third, for the higher housing benefit bill when they’re bought to let again to tenants paying full market rents.

We can – and we must – argue sound economics and social justice together.

But conference, we have a duty to do more than expose and oppose Tory failure.

We have to think bigger and be bolder about how to tackle the country’s housing crisis. We need a new wider public debate. Above all, we must be capable of giving people the belief that things can - and will - change.

Change which inspires hope must be radical and credible, and Labour.

So I show in a new report released yesterday, that with modest public investment we could be building 100 000 new council and housing association homes each year by 2020. Reducing the housing benefit bill, with a profit in the long-run for the taxpayer too.

As we build more, we save more. Helping ease the housing crisis, deal with the deficit and get to grips with a root cause of rising welfare costs.

Good for tenants. Good for taxpayers too.

But conference, I want Labour to carry the hopes of all those wanting – and struggling – to make a good life for themselves and their family.

More than four in five of us, aspire to own our own home.  

Yet home ownership has fallen each and every year over the last five years.

Now at the lowest level for nearly three decades. And for those under 35, it’s down by over a fifth. George Osborne was right to describe this decline in home ownership as a ‘tragedy’. But it’s happening on his watch. It’s part of his Party’s Five Years of Failure.

Home ownership is part of the British dream.

So I have asked Taylor Wimpey chief executive, Pete Redfern, to lead an independent review to analyse the root causes of this decline and set out the ideas needed for a wide new debate. The Redfern review will report in the summer.

Radical. Credible. Labour.

We’ve done great things on housing before. Under Attlee; under Wilson; and under Blair too. And Labour councils lead the way on housing year in and year out, right across the country.

I had the privilege of being our housing minister in the last year of the last Labour Government.

We switched an extra £1.5 billion from other departments to build new homes.

And we put in place:

The largest council house-building programme in a generation.

The full devolution of housing finance to local government.

Loans to kickstart work on 22,000 homes stalled by the deep recession.

Powers for councils to license private landlords.

And a mortgage rescue scheme that helped thousands facing repossession stay in their homes.

Conference it’s why people need Labour in government again, not in opposition.

As a Party of protest, we give people voice.

And as a Party of power, we give people hope.

If we are serious about dealing with climate change we will need to completely change our current way of thinking. Drilling in the melting Arctic is not compatible with this shift.

“Greenpeace’s campaign to save the Arctic will continue with passion and increased strength. We are campaigning for a protected sanctuary in international waters around the North Pole, and we hope that vision is one step closer after today.”

NEWTEKWORLDNEWS;
Greenpeace Save the Arctic protest
Arctic ice cover smallest maximum on record
Kayak activists greet Shell Oil Seattle

Greenpeace

Debbie Sayers and I are fully aware of the length of time Duncan Smith also known as IDS has been getting away with lies and exaggerations, and as regular readers know, we have been running our 'Truth Campaign' for over two years.

From our open letter to Esther McVey (remember her), to our petition to the Work & Pensions Committee which went to Parliament, we are still going on, with our current petition IDS – TIME TO STOP THE LIES.

It is the breadth of lies issued by each of the various Ministers under IDS along with his own, and if you’re feeling masochistic and want to read more, search lies on Jayne Linney's blog alone, that makes me ask the question I began with – what the Fuck has IDS over the Tories?

I fail to understand why, they tolerate someone who alone, demonstrates every reason why this Government cannot be trusted; further I cannot comprehend why the public are not screaming about it either?

I am fully aware of how difficult it is to keep on fighting when you are suffering.

I have not written, or done anything other than the bare minimum, for almost 2 months, due to very poor physical health and an exceptionally dangerously dark state of mind!

BUT, I cannot and will not stop, pushing to have the Lies of all Ministers of the DWP Exposed – it is these Lies and Spin that drive the policies which, according to coroner Mary Hassell, Triggered the suicide of Michael O’Sullivan, and most likely many many more.

If this bothers you as much as it does me, please let’s have a HUGE push to have #IDS Indicted. 

No matter how futile it would be to ask Kathryn Hudson the Commissioner for Standards to investigate IDS, gaining a large number of signatures should afford us with enough media coverage to help actually get rid of IDS from the DWP; and that would make me feel better, how about you?

SIGN IDS – TIME TO STOP THE LIES, Share it and keep on sharing until the mainstream media can ignore it no longer.

#IDSIndicted  #TRUTHCampaign

By Jayne Linney, Leicester
DEAEP

Salman bin Abdulaziz became the monarch in January following the death of his half-brother King Abdullah.

Spectators saw a fleet of luxury cars in front of the hotel and red carpets laid down even in the parking lot.

Politico reported that the Four Seasons hotel redecorated, rolling out red carpet to for the Saudi Royals. Almost everything has a golden touch, keeping in mind the aesthetic taste of the royal family.

The famed Saudi profligacy is nothing new. Just last month, the monarch reserved an entire beach in the French Riviera to accommodate a 1,000-member party during the King's vacation, according to reports.

The installation of an elevator from the Mirandole beach to the villa reportedly miffed some beach-going residents who objected to allowing King Salman this royal privilege.

And the king shortened the planned three-week vacation following criticism against “the temporary privatization of public land.”

With the Syrian refugee crisis hogging media headlines, the profligate waste of wealth is being questioned, with expectations that Saudi Arabia and the wealthy Arab states in the Persian Gulf should do much more to help their neighbor.

According to a report by Amnesty International, “six gulf countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain — have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.”

It is pertinent to note that none of these countries are signatories of the United Nations' 1951 Refugee Convention, which outlines refugee rights and defines the duties of signatory states to safeguard them.

The image of a drowned Syrian toddler, his dead body lying unattended on a Turkish beach last week highlighted the chilling plight of the Syrian refugees fleeing a relentless civil war.

Although HLHS can be treated, it’s a condition that will never be cured.

The infant may need to undergo a series of treatment sessions throughout his life and will more than likely live with long-term medical complications.

In some instances, children with HLHS may need a complete heart transplant. In other instances, surgeons may need to perform open heart surgery to get the damaged part of the heart working again and to ensure blood is flowing properly. The plaintiff’s son is still alive today, but in many cases, babies born with HLHS die within hours to days after birth.

Unfortunately, the plaintiff’s Zofran lawsuit is not the only incident in which babies were born with severe heart defects after being exposed to the medication. In fact, there are at least a dozen pending Zofran lawsuits that state that infants were born with numerous kinds of congenital heart defects after pregnant women were prescribed Zofran for morning sickness.

If Zofran causes such devastating effects in infants, why is it still being prescribed to pregnant women? The answer more than likely comes down to GlaxoSmithKline seeing an extremely profitable market for the medication with pregnant women. In fact, the drug manufacturer is accused of offering kickbacks to physicians who prescribe Zofran for off-label morning sickness.

If you’re currently pregnant and taking Zofran, it’s important to understand the risks being posed on your infant. Unfortunately, the majority of women who are prescribed Zofran are never told how harmful it can be on their growing babies. For many women, it’s already too late. However, as the public becomes more and more aware of the dangers of the medication and Zofran lawsuits, the better the chance women have in the future of not taking Zofran while pregnant.