"activists who are elected not just to enact revolution but to also support those in need"

Former London UNISON Branch Secretary Nick Venedi (left) makes a valuable contribution on his blog here to an age old dichotomy about trade unions.  Which is - are unions all about providing top class services and representation to its members or is it just a platform for self serving toy town "wannabe" revolutionaries?

Nick bemoans a branch that now apparently takes weeks to answer members who try to call or contact it.

He makes the point that "I think we must offer or at least commit ourselves to some standards of 'excellence' members deserve better attention from the activists who are elected not just to enact revolution but to also support those in need".

Name names Nick, name names!

I shall look forward (as always) to Nick's appearance at the next London UNISON regional Committee meeting.

Blair and Brown...Jon of the Rogers and Young Nick

 (this is an internal London UNISON thingy - enjoy or ignore) -  ..."The interesting thing is that the press have reacted to the story about the rift between Brown and Blair as it was something new.

Everyone knew they couldn't stand each other and they did not have a love hate relationship like the one myself and Jon of the Rogers had. In our case (and yes am bringing this back to me, me, me..) we had a clear division of labour and we worked well together.

I managed the branch on a day to day basis and Jon dealt with the 'revolution' so the lines of division were very clear and obvious and it worked well. We ended up disagreeing because I believed that a branch with 2,300 members had to be managed and some discipline was needed and he wanted a more liberal approach and a free for all, so at the end I left to allow him to do it his way and I wish him the best of luck..."

hat-tip Nick Venedi's blog

Friday Puzzle - Who is Nick going on about?

"I was in fact having this debate with a 'commrade' from Lambeth last night (he happened to be there in the same pub as me) this lefty who is as good looking as Nora Batty and has the wit and charm of Robert Mugabe, was arguing that we (those of us in the Labour party) should regain the party before we start supporting any leaders better still, in his opinion, leave the Labour project and join a real (in his Mugabian reasoning) party. This is the kind of person of course who would rather spend time and energy arguing with the other 28.4 ultra left versions of the far left than concentrate on achieving change and therefore and that way help those wo need it most?"

The World of Nick Venedi

Any ideas?

Update: Nick has clarified his comments here