STAND UP: For Decent Work - TUC Thursday October 7

Thursday October 7 is the "World Day for Decent Jobs".  This day is supported by the TUC and trade unions in over 100 countries.

The 3 core messages for this year are:-

- Growth and decent jobs, not austerity, are essential to beating the crisis and ending poverty;
- Quality public services are essential for a decent life and must not be slashed in the name of fiscal consolidation; and,
- The financial sector must pay for the damage it has caused and be made to serve the real economy and real human needs.

This is not just about developing countries - my branch has employer's who allow contractors to force their staff to work 6 x 12 hour shifts (including nights) per week on minimum wage (inner London).  I think that many other UK union branches can tell similar stories (and worse).

Find out more about this Day for action here while bloggers can participate here.

The TUC will be holding a comedy Stand Up event that evening (see left) featuring the excellent Shappi Khorsandi.

Shappi Khorsandi at the Edinburgh Fringe

Last night I saw live (for the first time) the Iranian born stand up comedian Shappi Khorsandi. The performance was sold out. It was a very much a “political” show but also featured her recent experience of marital breakup and divorce. Which I think the audience generally found uncomfortable at times and they much preferred the stories of casual racism and middle class ignorance that Shappi has come across in her life.

Shappi's family had to flee Iran because her father, an respected Iranian poet, was accused by the regime of being “an enemy of Islam”. On one level it is deeply ironic that Iran the cradle and birthplace of civilisation is now run by a despotic government of ignoramuses.

I am reliably informed by Wikipedia that she is a Labour Party supporter.

The show was very, very funny. Some things didn’t quite “work out on the night” but we are all spoilt by flawless TV editing and for over an hour she had the audience eating out of her hand.

Picture is a screenshot of her festival web page since I asked beforehand if I could take photos and was told “no” by a member of the stage crew. Sitting in the front row was probably a bit of a mistake since Shappi asked that the hapless would-be-photographer identify himself - and she of course immediately started to gently embarrass me.

Equally be aware if you are intending to go and see her and you are a single male with a symmetrically face:)