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Fighting for Justice for the Victims of Pleural Plaques

Last Friday a Bill was passed through the House of Commons which would have the effect of overturning the 2007 Law Lords decision to deny compensation for pleural plaques sufferers. To become law, the Bill must now pass through the House of Lords before the middle of November. This is by no means the battle [...]

Labour Party Conference 2009

This week, at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Nick spoke at two fringe events.  At the Association of North East Councils meeting Nick and the rest of the panel discussed the push to grow our region’s economy around green energy and sustainable technologies. Later in the week Nick joined the Community Union, the G.M.B. [...]

A Tribute to Tom Burlison

On Monday 2nd June I attended the funeral of Tom Burlison. Tom had died at the age of 71 after a lifetime’s service to the Trade Union and Labour movement. I first met Tom thirty years earlier, when he was the newly elected Regional Secretary of the General and Municipal Worker’s Union, and I was [...]

Peter Francis Curran – The First Labour MP in the North East

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Peter Curran’s election as Member of Parliament for Jarrow – the first Labour MP in the North East. Nick Brown gave this speech at a dinner held by Jarrow Labour Party to commemorate the event
100 yrs ago this year, in August 1907, the general workers in Belfast went [...]

Labour and the Unions

The two main political parties in Great Britain, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, have very different structures. This reflects the very different history of the two organisations.
The Labour Party is essentially made up of four elements. The first is our history, our philosophical background, the idealism and sense of purpose – “for [...]