Capitalism Creates Poverty

The fevered fantasies of the 'free' market fundamentalists

2012-02-13T20:45:00.000Z

Yesterday the Greek people were betrayed by their political class, who put the bailing out of bond-holders and French and German banks above the needs of the Greek people. The madness of austerity continues and condemns the Greek people to years of pain and misery with a debt which can never be repaid. The Greek economy has contracted by 15% and unemployment has now reached 20%, homelessness is

The 'free' market right continue their attack on renewable energy

2012-02-08T19:50:00.001Z

I've posted recently about how the 'free' market right have been at the forefront of the climate change denial movement through shadowy groups like the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), and are actively undermining the fight against climate change. Now we hear from the Telegraph that more than 100 Tory MPs have written to the PM asking him to end subsidies for windfarms. Not only are these

We cannot rely on the BBC to allow us to hear the truth

2012-02-05T19:38:00.024Z

Good article in the New Statesman this week about the BBC pandering to the Israeli government's illegal occupation on Palestine. The Israelis have done a great job of bullying the Western media in the past few years. The article showed that the BBC had censored the lyric "free Palestine" from a freestyle by rapper Mic Righteous on 1xtra in February last year. This is an outrageous censorship of

Banker's bonuses: why we are being screwed

2012-01-29T17:07:00.005Z

In September 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Bros bank it became obvious to economists and senior government officials that the world financial system was in danger of collapse, and that banks would be wiped out in the process. In the UK Gordon Brown's Labour government took action and bailed out Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Halifax Bank of Scotland and pushed through a merger between HBoS

The most dangerous man in Britain?

2012-01-25T21:05:00.003Z

Who could this man be? David Cameron? Bob Crow? No. For me, Cameron is certainly number two but the most dangerous man in Britain is a man who was once very well known, and even now he still makes the odd appearance on Newsnight and Radio 4. This man is Nigel Lawson and he is the mouthpiece, or more formally Chair and founder, of something called the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). The

The benefits cap is an attack on the victims of austerity

2012-01-23T21:48:00.010Z

You have to hand it to the political right. They are the real masters of the politics of divide and rule. Recently they have been busy dividing public sector workers and private sector workers over pay and pensions. Now they are dividing those in work against the unemployed over the benefits cap. Cleverly, they have come up with, as they always do, a simple ruse to get the support of those in

'Free' market myths no.2: low taxes are good for you

2012-01-22T20:35:00.001Z

The saying that 'only two things in life are certain, death and taxes' has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, and taxes are certainly something which has vexed the political right for a very long time. The Republicans in America have set their face against taxes even if it makes economic recovery harder, and for the Tea Party low taxes is an article of faith. Surely they are right? Isn't it a

Forced free labour is pure Fascism

2012-01-15T21:24:00.005Z

What do you call it when someone forces you to work for nothing, and who really benefits? Most people would call it slave labour, and rightly so, although I prefer to call it unwaged-slavery to distinguish it from wage-slavery. The latter occurs when people have to take low paid jobs, and I don't mean minimum wage jobs, because they have no choice. There is plenty of wage-slavery in the world and

When the Scots leave the UK, maybe the North should join them

2012-01-15T15:09:00.005Z

There's been an awful lot of hoo-ha about Scottish independence in the last couple of weeks. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond's plan to hold a referendum on independence sometime in 2014 - allegedly at the 700 year anniversary of Bannockburn - has caused a row between UK and Scottish ministers. Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed that it's the UK government's prerogative to decide when

Liam Byrne's approach to 'welfare' is reactionary nonsense

2012-01-07T18:11:00.002Z

Let me start by telling you a story - once upon a time there was a party in the UK called The Labour Party. It arose from the trade unions and working class struggle. Its focus was social justice, and its agenda was about decent healthcare, jobs, housing, worker's rights, and education. After World War II, in 1945, The Labour Party won a spectacular election victory, and came into power with a

Kim Il-dave is Dear Thatcher's worthy successor

2011-12-31T17:33:00.002Z

At New Year it is the time to reflect on the successes of the People's Free Market of the United Kingdom (PFMUK) and to celebrate the achievements of the Dear Leader Thatcher's chosen successor Kim Il-dave. When our new Leader came to power many members of the ruling elite - caricatured cruelly as "the 1%" by student terrorists and other enemies of the state - were fearful that he would fail in

Are we conditioned to capitalism?

2011-12-28T20:17:00.004Z

On the day of the funeral of the 'Dear Leader' of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, I've been musing about how it is that there has been such an outpouring of grief in that country. North Korea is a 'communist' state, which still has all the trappings of Soviet-style government, and there has been a huge outpouring of grief amongst the population. The grief has caused some some comment and bemusement in

David Cameron is a charlatan

2011-12-18T18:18:00.005Z

I was intending to do a post about the climate conference in Durban but I have been sidetracked by the phenomenon which is David Cameron. He is a phenomenon because he has phenomenal brass neck - he has no sense of shame - he also has no real sense of what is right and what is wrong. The brass neck isn't surprising because his background has given him something very precious - confidence - the

Make no mistake about it, Cameron and Osborne are evil

2011-12-10T19:56:00.006Z

Why would a left-wing blogger and a ecosocialist make such a statement? Socialists aren't really supposed to deal in such terminology. Whilst most people would accept that 'leaders' in the past such as Hitler, Stalin and Gaddafi were evil individuals, surely describing our Prime Minister and Chancellor in such terms is way over the top? In addition to this, many socialists are atheists who prefer

Its time to begin to embrace the post-growth economy

2011-12-04T18:34:00.001Z

Capitalism has brought about a double crunch; a crunch which is both environmental and economic. The cause is capitalism's drive for endless growth which has depleted the key natural resources, oil and gas, that it needs to continue its relentless material accumulation. One of the waste products of growth, carbon dioxide, is threatening to make our planet uninhabitable through climate change,

N30: the struggle for pensions justice

2011-12-03T12:55:00.002Z

On 30 November 2011 twenty nine public sector unions took joint strike action over savage cuts to their pensions. Over 2 million workers went on strike, the largest number in the UK since the General Strike in 1926. In Cheshire West Against the Cuts we organised a march and rally in Chester that was attended by over 1000 striking workers and supporters. The march started on Castle drive at

'Free' market myths no.1: the public sector doesn't create wealth

2011-11-26T19:29:00.006Z

This is the first in a series of posts which aim to explode the common myths of neoliberal 'free' market propaganda. Something you can read in the Daily Mail, Times, Telegraph, Sun, and Daily Express any day of the week. If you want to find out more about the mythology of the 'free' market right I recommend the excellent '23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism' by the economist Ha-Joon

A Tory driven ideological class war attack on British workers won't promote growth

2011-11-23T20:18:00.002Z

It was bound to happen here, as it did in Wisconsin and other American states. First the capitalist class, or 1% if you prefer, creates a crisis, a crisis of financial capitalism which nearly brings down the world economy. It does so through its ideology, neoliberalism; which means destruction of public services by privatisation; letting the banks and corporations run riot through deregulation;

Police brutality is being used in an atttempt to crush occupyUSA

2011-11-20T18:34:00.006Z

Pepper spray, tear gas and good old fashioned beatings are being dished out by the police in America in an attempt to crush the occupy movement. The past week or so has seen the eviction of the occupywallst camp in Zuccotti park, and attacks on protestors have resulted in serious injuries, including a ruptured spleen suffered by army veteran Kayvan Sabehgi when he was beaten by police officers at

So, have we screwed up Planet Earth?

2011-11-12T13:18:00.003Z

The simple answer is no, the Earth will be around for a long time after we have perished, but it is beginning to look like we may have screwed up the planet as far as humans are concerned. The latest data from the International Energy Authority paints a disturbing picture. It seems that we are in danger of passing the point where we can prevent a global temperature rise of 2oC and damaging

God's investment banker still doesnt get it

2011-11-06T20:44:00.001Z

Nice to hear that the Church of England is beginning to catch up with the protesters at occupylsx. The recent statement by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that there is "widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment", is what we should expect from the church - support for the poor against their powerful and rich exploiters - now known as the 1%. Now, the

Neoliberalism is threatening to bring down the economies of the USA and the EU

2011-11-03T20:23:00.010Z

What we are witnessing with the Greek tragedy that is unfolding is something worthy of Euripides, or, in a more contemporary form, Shakespeare. Greece is being torn apart by the Eurocrats, headed by Sarkozy and Merkel, in their desperate attempts to preserve the Euro-empire. The Greek Prime minister, Georges Papandreou, offered a way out of the situation, by giving the Greeks a chance to vote

Hierarchy is bullshit

2011-10-31T22:40:00.001Z

Given the non-hierarchical nature which is so essential to the Occupy movement I thought I'd re-post this from November 2008: Ever thought about why we need bosses? I have, and I've never been able to understand why we need them. What are bosses for other than to earn more than us and tell us what to do? But we don't need anyone to tell us what to do, and we certainly don't need them to earn

We need to end the dependency culture of the 1%

2011-10-31T22:01:00.003Z

You'll often hear the 'free' market fundamentalists on the reactionary right of politics complaining about the 'entitlement culture' and the 'dependency culture'. What they mean is that people, usually unemployed, believe that they are entitled to benefits, or handouts from taxpayers, and that they become dependent on them. The result is that these people either never feel the need to work for a

Plan B endorses the Green Party's measures to revive our economy

2011-10-30T15:49:00.004Z

On the 6th of October 2011, Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas called for a programme of green quantitative easing (QE) to revive our economy at a time when the Bank of England was announcing a plan to waste £75 billion on a QE programme of handing over money to banks. I blogged about this on the 10th October, and talked about how the Green Party had proposed green QE measures as part of a Green

Yes to a referendum on the EU!

2011-10-23T11:40:00.001+01:00

According to Paul Cotterill on the Liberal Conspiracy blog Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, has outflanked Labour on the issue of a referendum on the EU. He is right. Outflanking a gauche and leaden-footed Labour leadership isn't difficult these days. Labour is completely hamstrung by its New Labour legacy, and because of its complicity in privatisation and austerity it is

The free market fundamentalists are the purveyors of our poverty

2011-10-18T21:03:00.004+01:00

I like to describe neoliberals as 'free market' fanatics or 'free market' fundamentalists. I always put the 'free market' bit in italics because there really is no such thing as a free market, and never has been. The 'free market' concept is a crucial part of the flawed ideology of neoliberalism, which is an extreme right-wing ideology that favours the rich - the capitalist class, over the rest

Tories and sociopaths

2011-10-15T17:51:00.001+01:00

Its been a bad week as far as this government is concerned, but we have learnt something very important, that this is a government of cranks and oddballs. First up for this week we have had the resignation of the arch -Thatcherite Defence Secretary Liam Fox, because of his bizarre relationship with his friend Adam Werrity. The mind boggles that anyone in a position of power and trust could just

Quantitative easing, and how to help to avoid the big crash

2011-10-10T22:33:00.011+01:00

Just after the Tory party conference, which ended last week, we were told that the Bank of England had introduced a new round of quantitative easing (QE) in the UK to the tune of £75 billion. This is throwing bad la la money after bad.The bad is the £200 billion already wasted on QE to little effect on the UK economy so far, except perhaps as an increase in inflation. The la la, is that it is

There is a solution for the 99%

2011-10-09T15:56:00.010+01:00

Growing economic inequality in the USA, and throughout the West, is something that I have commented on before in this blog, and it is well documented. The incomes of middle class Americans have been stagnant or falling since the 1970's whilst those of the capitalist class have been growing. According to Rupert Cornwell in today's Independent: "Income disparities are wider than at any time since

March for the alternative at the Tory conference

2011-10-08T16:35:00.007+01:00

Last Sunday, along with 35,000 other people I marched in Manchester to protest against the austerity measures being inflicted on the British people by the Coalition government. The march started and finished up at First Street, and was characterised by good humour and a feeling of solidarity on what was a very mild and largely sunny October afternoon. Most of the marchers were trade unionists,

What is a 'strong leader'?

2011-09-26T18:24:00.003+01:00

Now that the Labour party conference is underway we keep hearing about Ed Milliband's leadership qualities - as if this was all that mattered as far as Labour is concerned. Is Ed a strong leader? We hear that question repeatedly asked by the media. It seems that it has now become axiomatic that 'leadership' is the most important thing about any political party. After all, if you don't like the

A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

2011-09-25T15:14:00.011+01:00

So the Liberal Democrat conference is over. The leadership will no doubt be pleased that any signs of revolt over their propping up of the most reactionary government of modern times have receded. Of course we had the predictable attacks on the Tories and bankers by Vince Cable and Chris Huhne, but the Liberal Democrats are now the party of bankers and the Tories - the attacks being merely a few

The Neoliberalspeak dictonary

2011-09-21T20:45:00.005+01:00

This post was inspired by George Orwell's Newspeak. According to Wikipedia: Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by the state. Over the past 30 years or so neoliberalism has contributed to the impoverishment of our language by the usage, or perhaps mis-use of certain words. The

The Green Party Conference

2011-09-18T19:55:00.009+01:00

Plenary session at Sheffield Hallam University My report of the Green Party Conference has been delayed by work, but my head is still full of ideas after having three great days in Sheffield. One of the best things about visiting any political conference is meeting up with fellow troublemakers. I met lots of people who I have been talking to online for ages, and it was really good to see all

The Whole Earth delusion

2011-08-29T15:51:00.006+01:00

In a recent Guardian article environmentalist author Mark Lynas suggested that the green movement had lost its way. He had apparently experienced a 'eureka moment' reading hostile comments to an article he had written criticising GM foods. This was reinforced when he later read Stewart Brand's book Whole Earth Discipline. Like Brand, Lynas now argues that the green movement is actually a barrier

Cameron is wrong about the riots

2011-08-17T21:07:00.002+01:00

Since last week, when the UK riots came to a halt, apart from the universal condemnation of the looters, there have been two responses: one from the political right; and another from the left. The right have sought to paint the riots as being all about criminality, and about individual bad behaviour. David Cameron has re-iterated this theme a number of times in the past week, also calling for the

Our anger should be directed against the real villains

2011-08-10T19:51:00.005+01:00

After four nights of looting and violence like many other people in our society I'm angry. Very angry. My anger is directed at the people who are responsible for what has been described as mindless vandalism. Not just those who were directly responsible, but those who are really responsible for the crisis we are in. These real villains are the people I've been talking about in many posts on this

London riots - here we go again!

2011-08-08T20:59:00.005+01:00

If, like me, you are middle aged, you will have seen many riots in the UK. Brixton, Broadwater Farm, and Toxteth are some of the the better known examples in the past 30 years or so. These riots are always triggered by an incident involving the heavy handed policing of members of an ethnic minority community, usually black. The Broadwater Farm riot was triggered by the death of a black woman,

Now we know for sure – Britain is a turnip republic

2011-07-22T17:08:00.009+01:00

This week we discovered that Rupert Murdoch and his son James knew nothing about the criminal activities that took place in News International, the company they controlled, even though their chief protégé Rebekah Brooks had admitted to a parliamentary select committee as long ago as 2003 that the News of the World (NotW) had paid money to police officers. In fact, in a day of questioning by MPs

SS Titanic-Capitalism is still heading straight for the rocks

2011-07-18T20:33:00.004+01:00

Perhaps I should have entitled this post the 'comedy of errors'? The problem with that title that I have, is that the current crisis of capitalism, which is manifesting itself in the sovereign debt crisis, is being so cack-handedly managed by our leading politicians that it is really a human tragedy, rather than a comedy. In the UK, the NoW phone hacking scandal is moving so quickly that people

Loony right trumpet the benefits of slavery

2011-07-16T21:36:00.008+01:00

I just had to do a post on this. I have been wondering how long it would be before someone from the right in the USA started to bang on about the benefits of slavery. Well why not? Since the financial collapse caused by neoliberal 'economic' policies, which started in 2007, the capitalist class have been trying to make ordinary people pay the bill through a succession of bailouts. Look what has

We can win the economic argument - so lets do it!

2011-07-14T20:07:00.007+01:00

"Its the economy stupid!" - it sure is. The economy is just about all we hear about these days, and its no wonder, because we are going through the biggest economic crisis of capitalism since the Great Depression. But the problem we have is that the neoliberal right are in the ascendancy, they have the power. This means that the response to the economic crisis is the same as it was during the

The European project is failing the European people

2011-07-12T21:24:00.001+01:00

The Eurozone debacle continues. Now Italy, the third largest economy in the Eurozone, is having to pay much more to finance its debt. Yields, the interest that Italy has to pay on government bonds, have reached over 6% which is unsustainable. So that is Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and now Italy which are already in, or in grave danger of falling into, the sovereign debt crisis. The people

The phone hacking scandal exposes our sham democracy

2011-07-10T14:05:00.001+01:00

I blogged a while ago about our sham democracy, the cosy carve up which means that whoever gets elected, the policies pursued by governments are always the same. The economic crisis caused by the collapse of the banks illustrated this really well, because that crisis lead directly to the sovereign debt crisis, and we have seen that successive governments in countries like Greece and Ireland have

What is the Labour Party for?

2011-07-04T18:15:00.036+01:00

A lot of people are wondering what the Labour Party is for. Since Ed Milliband became leader its been hard to to tell. But at least we know what the Labour party is not for; its not for the working class, it abandoned them a long time ago, letting the BNP fill the vacuum; its not for decent public sector pensions; its not much interested in housing; or the poor; or trade unions. It is, we know,

Cheshire West Against the Cuts: J30

2011-07-02T01:02:00.001+01:00

On Thursday June 30th striking public sector workers and their supporters came together for a rally at the Town Hall in Chester. We had a turnout of about 350 people and some very good speeches from trade unionists and CWAC supporters. All in all a very good day for the fightback against Cameron's class war government's attempt to make us pay for the failures of financial capitalism. There is

We are the economy

2011-06-29T20:29:00.007+01:00

One of the things that I find utterly baffling and amusing, in a very darkly comic way, is the BBC's analysis of 'our' economy. I listen to Radio 4 because it is supposed to be a serious news station, with journalists who allegedly offer us a realistic analysis of the world we live in. I mean people like; Robert Peston, Stephanie Flanders and Nick Robinson. The problem I have with these people is

Britain's new ruling class

2011-06-27T18:43:00.008+01:00

I grew up in Britain in the 1960s. A that time, people used to talk about the ruling class. Nobody thought there was anything odd about that - such talk was common currency, on the bus, in the pub and in the workplace. This was because people wanted change, they wanted the ruling clique bust wide open. I have already referred to this in more detail in a recent post - about how things improved,

J30: STRIKE!

2011-06-21T19:47:00.014+01:00

Support the strike action by public sector workers on June 30th! You can visit this website to find out more about the actions planned next Thursday - http://www.j30strike.org Everyone who is not capitalist class, unlike Cameron and Osborne, should support the public sector worker's strike action on Thursday June 30th. This isn't just an attack on pensions its part of a wider attack on the

The Greeks MUST default on 'their' debt

2011-06-16T21:50:00.010+01:00

I came across this post by Mark Hudson yesterday on a blog called Naked Capitalism. It's an excellent description of how the failures of financial capitalism, which culminated in the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and threatened to bring down the world economy, are being used by the capitalist class to roll back all the democratic gains made in the past century by ordinary people. This is,

Back to the future?

2011-06-13T20:09:00.024+01:00

One of the golden rules about writing a political blogs like this is that if you want to be taken seriously you should write well argued posts which are fully referenced. Whatever you do, you should avoid having a rant! Now I know I've come very close to breaking this rule on a number of occasions but here is where I blow it wide open: Did you watch the Royal Wedding? - have you noticed the

The Economic Hitmen

2011-06-12T19:11:00.008+01:00

This is an excellent video, well worth watching. At just over two minutes long, it sums up how Western capitalism exploits the rest of the world, and it's coming to a country near you very soon. I hope John Perkins, the author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman doesn't mind me posting a link to this video, especially since I don't agree with his view that this is an aberrant, mutant form of

Costing the Earth?

2011-06-05T19:49:00.013+01:00

Interesting news last week - to the sound of a fanfare the Coalition government proudly announced a ground-breaking piece of work with the publishing of the National Economic Assessment (NEA). According to the BBC - "Nature is worth billions to the UK" - no kidding? Or as we say in the UK - 'No shit Sherlock!". Its worth noting that there is nothing new in trying to put a cost on nature. The

Neoliberalism is unravelling, and so is everything else

2011-06-05T11:03:00.012+01:00

Capitalism isn't working, and, as a result, we are facing multiple social, political, economic and environmental crises. So wedded are our politicians to the market, and there is so much power in the hands of financial capitalism, that the politicians are trapped like rabbits in the headlights of an oncoming juggernaut. In the UK this is exemplified by the adherence of Osborne and Cameron to a

The Coalition deficit cuts will increase the deficit

2011-05-24T13:39:00.011+01:00

On March 26th half a million people marched in London against the savage £81 billion worth of cuts introduced by George Osborne in the 'emergency' budget last year. More recently an impressive (sic!) estimated 350 people attended a 'Rally against debt' on the 14th of May. Not hard to see where the British peoples' sympathies lie then - and the vast majority have got it right because the Coalition

The Tories will destroy the NHS

2011-05-17T17:30:00.007+01:00

The Tories are now able to do something they have been dreaming about for years - the destruction of the NHS. Make no mistake about it - that is what privatisation of the NHS means. What makes the NHS unique is that it is a public service, publicly provided, and something we all pay collectively for. It's a great idea and it means that millions of people have access to decent healthcare who

The David Laws decision is a disgrace

2011-05-17T17:09:00.003+01:00

The old saying goes - 'its not what you are, its who you know'. This appears to apply to David Laws the MP, multimillionaire and chum of David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Laws, who was the rising star of the new Coalition government a year ago, admitted fiddling his MPs expenses, and according to a Guardian report:"A year-long inquiry ruled that Laws "seriously and extensively" broke the rules to

Green Party make further gains in local elections

2011-05-10T19:18:00.004+01:00

Locally we had a good series of results in the four wards in which we stood, coming second in Gowy from nowhere. We still have a lot of work to do and we need to build up a stronger local campaigning party.In the wider North West, Hilary Robinson was elected to Alsager Town Council; our first Green Councillor in Cheshire, and John Coyne retained his seat in Liverpool which had

Greens fighting hard in West Cheshire elections

2011-05-02T19:01:00.004+01:00

Members of the Green Party in Cheshire West and Chester have been working hard in our target wards of Gowy and Davenham and Moulton. We have been busy talking to voters and delivering election flyers over the past week and the weather has been very kind to us. By the 5th of May we will have delivered over 7500 flyers in the two wards.Our campaign is focussed on fighting the cuts imposed in

SAY YES to AV!

2011-04-24T19:35:00.007+01:00

For the record - I don't agree with Nick. Like many people in this country I'm appalled by the role the Liberal Democrats (LDs) have played in propping up a reactionary, class war Tory government which is seeking to return us to the inequality and public squalor of the 19th century. £81 billion pounds worth of cuts which will hit the poor, low paid, unemployed, disabled and women hardest would be

Cuts where they're needed, not where they hurt

2011-04-17T18:43:00.002+01:00

Cheshire West Against the Cuts

2011-04-16T22:07:00.001+01:00

We had a another good stall in Chester today. Lots of people signed our petition. Get involved and support us. We have a public meeting in Chester on Wednesday 20th April at the Guildhall on Watergate street - see you there.

There is an alternative

2011-04-09T12:13:00.014+01:00

On March 26th 400,000 - 500,000 people marched in London for an alternative to the government's cuts programme. In the aftermath, political pundits sniped at the marchers claiming that protests don't work and that the marchers had no coherent alternative. This blog is about the alternative. In over 200 posts I've laid out how we can create a different kind of economy which will create jobs,

Another Tory budget demonstrates the poverty of neoliberal thinking

2011-03-24T20:07:00.010Z

I've posted many times on the blog about the current neoliberal paradigm, and the 'free' market fanatics who espouse it. Yesterday we saw a classic neoliberal budget, entirely one dimensional and doomed to failure in terms of doing what the country needs - creating jobs, greening the economy and lowering economic inequality. Its important to understand that if we had a Labour or purely Liberal

One law for the rich and another for the rest of us

2011-03-19T11:45:00.005Z

I've been blogging since last May about how this is essentially a class war government. Tory governments usually are. The Tories have always had a very sharp sense of who their friends are and where their interests lie. They always look after the interests of their class by bashing workers, defending property rights, increasing privatisation and lowering taxes. These are all things which benefit

Nuclear power is a 'pig in a poke'

2011-03-15T19:47:00.007Z

The recent terrible events caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster have once again thrown the dangers of nuclear power into a sharp focus. I posted about this issue nearly three years ago, and in the meantime the evidence that nuclear power is not the solution to our energy problems has been growing.For those who don't know - a 'pig in a poke' is a confidence trick - see here. The

The Libyan revolution needs our support

2011-03-13T18:04:00.002Z

The situation in Libya is deteriorating. Gaddafi's forces are making gains and Libyans are being tortured and murdered on an appalling scale. There are dangers if western powers intervene. Gaddafi will be able to claim that this is old fashioned colonialism. But while the world dithers Libyans are dying.There's no time to lose. We need a no fly zone and support for the revolutionaries as soon as

Commodify thy neighbour

2011-03-03T19:22:00.005Z

I've been meaning to post for sometime about the phenomenon of the 'social' right. By that I mean right wingers who claim to be er..... well a bit lefty, having a social conscience and all that. Although that seems like a bit of a contradiction it can't just simply be dismissed by socialists. Do these people, like Phillip Blond, who is an advocate of 'Red Toryism', have a useful contribution to

Public good, private bad

2011-02-23T19:32:00.005Z

I never thought I would be re-publishing a previous post on this blog, but David Cameron's statement this week that every public service should be privatised made me realise that this re-post was essential. This was posted in April 2009, when we had a new Labour government but it anticipates what a future Tory government would do:People who have followed the posts on this blog will know that I

George Osborne isn't Working

2011-02-19T19:00:00.003Z

I went to the UKuncut demo in Knutsford today. It was the usual clever UKuncut approach, mocking Osborne based on the famous Labour isn't Working poster created for the Tories by Saatchi & Saatchi in the 1979 general Election. The poster was credited with helping the Tories win. The demo took place at George's constituency office in Knutsford. Unfortunately George wasn't in. I guess he was

The Tories know the price of everything and the value of nothing

2011-02-16T17:45:00.004Z

Ever felt you were being governed by a bunch of second hand car salesmen? Well, you wouldn't be far off. The spivs who fill the cabinet have the same sort of mentality. Cameron and co. remind me of Flash Harry in St Trinians, always looking for the best knock down price as they sell off UK Plc to their 'free' market chums. The Tories haven't ever changed over the years, they still know the price

Now we need liberation from 30 years of Thatcherism

2011-02-13T17:21:00.006Z

The Egyptians have achieved the first aim of their peaceful revolution - the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. Now that power has passed into the hands of the army will we see a peaceful transition to democracy? The Army has played a strange game in the past 20 days or so, refusing to turn on the protestors, whilst at the same time being complicit in the torture and detention of some of the

The Myth-makers of the universe

2011-02-06T16:13:00.005Z

Remember the "Masters of the Universe"? No, it's not a bunch of fictional sci-fi heroes - though it might as well be. It refers to the bankers who made eye-watering amounts of dosh, both before, and after, the economic crash. These are the supermen - and funnily enough the vast majority are men - who are so special that they have to be paid millions because er ... they're so special that we can't

The Egyptian revolution gives us all hope for the future

2011-02-01T19:24:00.008Z

There is so much going on at the moment that its difficult to keep up: change in the middle east; phone hacking; privatisation of the NHS; massive cuts in welfare; the forest sell off and the crumbling world economy. But what is happening in Egypt is really significant. People are voting with their feet and taking to the streets to protest about a corrupt and dictatorial regime which is supposed

It's not the snow stupid!

2011-01-30T14:29:00.004Z

Ever heard the one about the wrong kind of leaves on the line? That's the much mocked excuse that has been used by rail companies for some train delays in the UK. Now the Tory-led coalition government is blaming the contraction of the UK economy by 0.5% in the last quarter on the weather! The snow may have had some impact, but not nearly as much as the governments ideologically driven economic

Woman is (still) the nigger of the world

2011-01-27T17:00:00.003Z

"Woman is the nigger of the world" sang John Lennon in 1972. He was right. At that time women were second class citizens in almost all societies, lacking equal rights. In Europe and the USA, that is meant to have changed. In the UK the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced in 1975. This was supposed to create a level playing field between the sexes and end gender discrimination at work. There is

"Free" market corporate domination means mass unemployment - forever

2011-01-16T11:59:00.019Z

Ever had the feeling you've been conned? Well, you have been, because I've no doubt you've been told that the "free" market will make us all better off, because that is what we are told by politicians and economists on a daily basis. The truth is the opposite, the "free" market will make us all poorer, and that is what is happening in the UK today. But this isn't just happening in the UK, it's

The secret policeman's ball

2011-01-13T20:38:00.005Z

How about this for a job? You get well paid, travel all over Europe, good expenses, false passport and can have sex with anyone you fancy. Welcome to the world of the undercover cop. Now I know that this kind of work can be dangerous, when dealing with real criminals, but I also know people from the environmental movement, and believe me, going undercover with them must be a fairly good gig. This

The greenest government ever - huh?

2011-01-08T13:32:00.006Z

So, this is the greenest government ever? I guess quite a few of us are scratching our heads on this one. As the Tory (nasty) Party went thorough it's re-branding with Blairite poster boy and PR man David Cameron, we saw Dave cycling to work, followed by a car carrying his suit and briefcase, installing a wind turbine on his house, and cuddling polar bears at the North Pole (OK, not quite be he

Unite and fight!

2010-12-20T19:47:00.005Z

Good to hear that Len McCluskey, the new leader of Unite, has called today for trade unionists to oppose the cuts and work with all the other groups who are fighting cuts. He called for co-ordinated industrial action to fight the cuts in public services, including education. Of course, no sooner had the words been published than the usual suspects - in this case via a Guardian editorial - began

Capitalism defies the laws of physics

2010-12-17T17:12:00.011Z

How long have we had capitalism? In its modern form, in the UK, less than 200 years. According to Karl Polanyi, capitalism started in Britain in 1838, with the introduction of the Poor Laws. It was these laws which finally lead to the commodification of labour, a necessary condition for capitalism.The title of this post is slightly flippant but the point is this; because capitalism has existed as

Solidarity with the Miners

2010-12-15T21:56:00.013Z

I thought I'd post this as a reflection on what happened the last time we had a Tory government determined to attack working people:In 1984 I was a student at Essex University. When the Miner's Strike started in March 1984 I was in my second year. Essex University in those days was ‘Red Essex’. In my first year the Communists dominated the students union. By the second year

Its time that the Met Police were brought under democratic control

2010-12-12T21:08:00.004Z

On Thursday 9th December the ConDem government managed to pass legislation increasing tuition fees to up to £9,000 per year in the face of student protests. The protests were once again mainly peaceful and good natured. There was some damage to property around Parliament Square including the Treasury and the Supreme Court. As usual, the media had a field day, focussing almost entirely on damage

Coalition of Resistance Conference

2010-12-05T16:40:00.009Z

On the 27 November CoR held its inaugural conference in London. I travelled down by train from Cheshire and was joined by 1200 others in the Camden Centre. The train was delayed so I arrived a bit late, by which time the main hall was full. The morning consisted of a plenary session with speakers from the Labour Party, Green Party and trade unions including; John McDonnell MP, Bob Crow RMT, Mark

Out of the mouths' of babes

2010-11-28T20:10:00.005Z

So the saying, which originated in the Bible, goes. In our response to the economic crisis here in the UK we are being shown the way by the nation's youth. They are the ones who are fighting back. Whatever happened to the left in the UK? Whatever happened to the battalions of the unions who fought so hard for social justice? When are they going to react?The student protests on Wednesday 24

We don't need private sector banks

2010-11-23T20:56:00.004Z

As we witness the humiliation if the Irish people who are being bullied into accepting the rule of the IMF to bail out "their" reckless banks, Eric Cantona has stepped into the ring with a suggestion that we all withdraw our money from the banks, in protest against their behaviour, on December the 7th. I won't be participating but that's not because I think it's a bad idea. I've never been very

In a time of class war...

2010-11-18T23:46:00.010Z

..... people are radicalised and come together to resist the ruling capitalist elite. There has been a lot of controversy in the past few years in the UK about the 'radicalisation' of Muslim youth in the UK. In July 2005 we had to suffer the atrocity of multiple suicide bombings in London which claimed the lives of 52 people in London. In the USA, there was the horror of the attack on the

The Irish people are being screwed

2010-11-16T20:19:00.006Z

The Irish people find themselves in a similar situation to the Icelanders. As an island state with a small population, Ireland was feted for its spectacular growth - as the Celtic Tiger - during the 1990's and the early part of this century. But that economic boom was built mainly on two things: undercutting corporate tax rates elsewhere in Europe; and an unsustainable property boom. Now the

Lets condem the real perpetrators of violence

2010-11-12T16:08:00.003Z

On Wednesday 52,000 students marched through London. The demonstration was peaceful and good natured. It is good to see that a new generation of British students has woken up and begun to realise that the class war being waged by the ConDem government against the poor, unemployed, disabled and low-paid extends to the right to have a higher education.During the demo a few thousand students

The 'free' market is responsible for our housing benefit problems

2010-11-02T19:34:00.007Z

The UK has a housing benefit bill of £21 billion. This is a huge sum. But how did it come about? The seeds were sown in 1979 when the incoming Thatcher government introduced the right to buy for social housing. This pledge gave a boost to the Tories in the polls but some of us were aware that it was storing up problems for the future. The Tories believed the benefits would be

Vodafone - tax dodgers!

2010-10-31T16:04:00.007Z

On Saturday October 30th, people took part in peaceful protests against Vodafone all across the UK. During the protests many Vodafone stores were closed. Protesters are angry about the fact that Vodafone have been 'let off' a £6 billion tax bill by chancellor George Osbourne at a time when the Condem Government is slashing public welfare, hitting benefits for the low paid, disabled and unemployed

Is the American Empire going to collapse?

2010-10-28T19:09:00.026+01:00

I guess some people will quibble about me using the word 'empire' to describe the USA. I have no problem with it. The Americans have always been canny about creating an empire. Rather than direct colonisation they have used economic power to control the markets, and fate, of other countries. With a few exceptions - the Philippines, Grenada, Iraq - there has been little 'direct' intervention. They

Welcome to 19th century free market capitalism

2010-10-24T19:13:00.007+01:00

In previous posts I have talked about how neo-liberal 'free' market capitalism is a project which aims to take us back to the 19th Century. Privatisation, de-regulation, outsourcing, and labour market flexibility are all products of neo-liberalism. They are all intended to weaken the rights of working people and their ability to defend their standard of living. We didn't just get the eight hour

The ConDem cuts were neither fair nor necessary

2010-10-22T21:11:00.010+01:00

£18 billion cuts in welfare, so far, from the ConDem government. Just contrast that with a £2.5 billion tax on the banks and £7 billion bonuses for bankers in the UK this year. These are the banks that we recently bailed out in the UK to the tune of £1.4 trillion. The economic crisis that we are in, which has lead to cuts which that will hit the low paid, unemployed, women, children, young

The Shock Doctrine

2010-10-19T18:02:00.005+01:00

Have you ever come across 'The Shock Doctrine' by Naomi Klein? Naomi Klein is an author and left-wing activist who first came to prominence with her book 'No Logo', which took a critical look at globalisation. In her book 'The Shock Doctrine - the rise of disaster capitalism' Klein showed how neo-liberal free market fundamentalists have exploited crises to force privatisation and deregulation

The USA is being destroyed by the market

2010-10-13T18:40:00.010+01:00

I've posted before about how neoliberalism - free market economics - is damaging the US economy in this post, but what I saw on Newsnight last evening truly shocked me, and I have no illusions about the capacity of the market to cause destitution and degradation on a massive scale. Take a look at Paul Mason's report about Gary, a town in Indiana, close to Chicago, which has a population of about

The ConDem government is 'ethnically cleansing' the poor

2010-10-07T18:59:00.007+01:00

I guess most people have heard about ethnic cleansing. This is the process by which people of another race or nationality have been forced out their homes and made to move across borders. This happened in the recent conflicts in the Balkans, including Kosovo, where the Serbs attacked ethnic Albanians forcing them out of the country. The Serbs used extreme violence including murder and rape to

The way forward for the left

2010-10-05T20:57:00.007+01:00

Where to start? When did left politics really start? For me it was the 17th Century during the English Revolution - better known as the English Civil War, with people like the Levellers and the Diggers. Since that time there has been the French Revolution, and many exponents of socialism who worked hard to create a better world thorough economic and social equality. In more recent times the

Austerity is nonsense

2010-10-04T19:49:00.007+01:00

If you've been reading my posts about how the bank bailouts and the subsequent debt crisis really means that the rich are screwing the rest of us then you may well be skeptical. Try watching this video from Mark Blyth who is a professor of International Political Economy at Brown University and is writing Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, forthcoming with Oxford University Press in