Self-harm - there should be a BBC website about that. Part 2

You know when you get so angry you get a temporary bout of Tourette's. It's just ****ing happened to me. First we have the BBC Trust scuppering yet another BBC initiative as they prostrate themselves before the commercial sector. This time it's smartphone apps, last time it was BBC Local - what next? 6Music, Asian Network, half the website? That surely is too far fetched.

Talking of the BBC's web offering it's Eric Huggers blog that makes me really angry. Apart from a comical lack of detail, Eric appears to think managers and staff can be kept in the dark over plans that potentially threaten their jobs. Nothing that comes out of the strategic review around these proposals actually adds up.

They are going to cut 25% of staff - and yet every time they are asked which sites and which staff, they refer to mothballed sites, links that just redirect or pages that haven't been updated since 2006. So we ask the question again - come clean. Which sites and which staff are to be axed. You are paid lots of money. You've had months to come up with the plan. So tell us. Or do you intend to wait until the consultation is over, then spring it on staff and readers.

What a ***king mess.

New work experience guidelines welcomed after NUJ campaign

New guidelines on work experience, internships and apprenticeships are published by Skillset. We've welcomed them. They could be tougher but they are a welcome first step towards giving us the tools to eradicate the exploitation of young people trying to get in to journalism.

I've written an article welcoming the launch here and more details of the union's campaigns around the issue can be found here

Following hot on the heels of the launch was the announcement that the Low pay Commission has recommended that the Government produces, in conjunction with interested parties, sector specific guidance on the National Minimum Wage for the entertainment sector. We gave evidence to the Low Pay Commission calling for just such a move.

Not such good news from the decisions on naming the preferred bidders for the government's Independently Financed News Consortia pilots in Scotland, Wales and the north-east of England.

Skilled and dedicated staff at the ITV regions which failed in the bids will rightly feel badly let down today. We will continue to fight their case.

Tuesday night I was down in Oxford doing a recruitment evening at the Oxford Mail - went well and we've a good crop of new young members as a result.

Yesterday I met with union reps from the Morning Star and with the General Secretaries of Bectu, the Musicians Union and Equity as well as attending the PCS picket line at the British Library. Today I met with the BBC's new employee relations head - Diane Dumas amongst other meetings.

Save the BBC. Stop the Cuts or Drinking Albanian Lager with MPs

Sounds like a Half Man, Half Biscuit song - which is strangely appropriate given we co-hosted a Parliamentary reception last night to oppose the proposed BBC axing of 6Music, the Asian Network, BBC Blast, the halving of the website and the likely sell-off or part-privatisation of BBC magazines.

Almost 200 people, including a number of MPs from across the political spectrum attended. The event was a protest but also a celebration of public service broadcasting and the BBC's role in it - one it is vital we defend in the light of attacks from commercial rivals and some politicians in the run-up to the election.

This morning I was at the TUC Executive where we discussed a range of disputes from British Airways Cabin Crew to the PCS dispute. I also did an interview for a project on the abuse of work experience placements, wrote to the Pakistani authorities about threats to an NUJ members' family over articles he has written, sent a message of support to members in Blackpool involved in industrial action and took part in a meeting of our reps at Johnston Press where industrial action is looking more likely both over the continued pay freeze and the implications for jobs, quality and health and safety of the introduction of a new editorial system.

Tonight I'm off down to the Oxford Mail for a chapel social/recruitment event.

Michael Gove's Militant Tendency

I was going to deny I was the source for this expose of Michael Gove's militancy but ok, hands up. I done it!

What's even more worrying though than his speech is the latest Tory threat to undermine the Union Modernisation Fund and Union Learning Fund which have helped hundreds of thousands of people gain new skills.

The NUJ has received funds from both - here's some evidence of the benefit to working people from the fund.

Democracy? Not in my name...

So the EDL, protectors of English democracy that they are, have now resorted to threatening journalists who expose their members' dodgy racism. How easily the mask slips. First it's the off-the-cuff seig heil and before you know it their members are threatening freedom of speech - all in the name of protecting English people like me from who knows what. To coin a phrase - not in my name!

A number of our members have been directly targeted by EDL thugs and now they are planning an 'email avalanche' campaign against the union too - for supporting our members right to cover their demonstration and not get the shit kicked out of them for doing so. Not just racists, not just thugs, not just enemies of media freedom but anti-union too.

If you can get to Bolton on Saturday and show your contempt for these narrow-minded bigots.

Rant over.

Yesterday we co-hosted a hugely successful event at Parliament - Democracy Without Journalists - which set out some real challenges for politicians who claim they want to support local newspapers and local and regional TV news. Jonathon Warren has done an excellent job documenting it on his blog

Earlier this week I did an interview with Press Gazette for their next issue, met with the union's legal service providers Thompsons and chaired a Justice for Colombia public meeting about the mass graves uncovered in La Macarena, which I visited in December.

Have also had meetings this week about BBC cuts, the future of ITV local/regional news, recruitment campaigns and a meeting with staff reps at the NUJ about the staff pension scheme.

Government must not give up on IFNCs

Supporting PCS strikers - with PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka and NEC member Zita Holbourne

Just back from a series of meetings in Parliament discussing NUJ campaigns and activity - especially around the future of ITV and the Independently Financed News Consortia and the Digital Economy Bill, as well as liaising over public service cuts - like those at the BBC - with other unions.

The Digital Economy Bill is reaching a critical stage - and there is a fear the government will jettison the IFNCs in return for Tory support on copyright infringement and superfast broadband roll-out. We will oppose attempts to kick the IFNCs in to the long grass.

Yesterday I joined the PCS strike march and spoke at the rally in Westminster - an inspiring event - at which I was able to draw parallels between the attacks on the BBC and the wider public service - spending cuts, attacks on pensions, services between cut or privatised.

Also had fruitful discussions with a number of campaign groups about the lobbying against BBC cuts - and plans are being hatched. Watch this space. More than 100,000 people have now signed the petition and momentum is building.

Victory to the PCS strikers

Thawing out after spending a couple of hours on PCS picket lines at the British Library and British Museum this morning. Low paid civil servants face losing out massively as a result of the scrapping of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. Apparently we can't afford it any more - we can however afford to bail out the banks, spend billions on war and protect MPs pensions. Good luck to all PCS members!

A busy end to last week with our National Executive Council meeting on Friday and Saturday morning and then a conference of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group on Saturday afternoon.
The NEC set out a campaign strategy to tackle the BBC cuts as well as lobbying priorities over the Digital Economy Bill as well as giving backing to a national ballot for industrial action at Johnston Press following an overwhelming vote for action in a consultative ballot.

The TUCG conference - bringing together delegates from 8 national unions - an opportunity to plan practical action inside and outside Parliament as workers - public and private sector - face an incxreasing attack on jobs and conditions. Greater co-ordination, practical solidarity and a fight for a more proactive, campaigning approach from the labour movement as a whole are essential if we are to be able to resist such attacks.

Later today I'm meeting the union's lawyers to discuss a number of current cases/issues, before chairing a meeting of the TUC's Trades Councils committee and then on to a couple of International Women's Day events at the Colombian Embassy and this evening at the TUC.

Self-harm - There should be a BBC website about that

You may have read about it in the press, seen it on TV or heard it on the radio - the BBC is axing two digital radio services, halving the size of its website and threatening hundreds of jobs. It's another bout of self-harm in anticipation of enforced spending cuts by a future government at the behest of their backers - commercial media organisations.

It's like the perfect storm. If the BBC does too much it needs to be cut down to size, if it does too little it is poor value for money and the licence fee comes under threat.

The axing of 6Music and the Asian Network as well as web cuts and the possible sale of parts of BBC Worldwide are political decisions designed to appease the BBC's critics. And those critics aren't satisfied with just these sacrificial lambs, many of them want the whole flock.

I've spent almost the past 48 hours in TV studios, radio studios or giving quotes to print and web journalists and liaising with the various protest groups that have sprung up - from this petition to a number of facebook groups. Rallies, protests and more activity is planned throughout the consultation period which will run for the next 3 months.

Today we have our first face to face meeting with BBC Director General Mark Thompson and will set out our opposition to the cuts as well as our commitment to ballot for action in the event of any compulsory redundancies affecting our members.

I have also manage to fit in meeting with union reps at NUJ head office to discuss the staff pension scheme, write a column for The Journalist, attend the FCO Freedom of Expression Panel where I was able to raise issues about journalists facing threats in Colombia, Zimbabwe and Somalia and I have tried to keep up with emails - but failed. Sorry if I haven't answered yours!