I have been most impressed today by the ordinary strikers who have been interviewed on all broadcast news media. While some of them have been very low paid, they have not just been talking about their own problems and their own pensions. They have rather continually referred to the fact that they are suffering so much because hundreds of billions of public money have been given to the bankers, who continue to give themselves massive salaries and bonuses. There have also been many references to tax evasion by the wealthy and their massive income increases.
Plainly this is not just a strike about specific pension issues; in the mind of the ordinary people, this is action against the sickening levels of inequality in society.
I have also been struck by the horrible braying Tories, who to a man have stripped off their masks of social decency. How long will the Lib Dems go along with it?
Unfortunately, much of the detail on pensions is, just as the difference between Osborne’s and Balls’ spending plans, is irrelevant. The effects of the inevitable collapse of the South Sea Bubble model of western economy, are only just starting to be felt. They are not rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Ed Balls is suggesting there should be a few more deck chairs, and special chairs for the old and sick, and better pay and conditions for the crew. But the ship is still going down.
“Why are they picking on Xstrata? It’s a mining company – it actually does something useful.”
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True. It helps subsidise the Tories. And Adam Werritty.
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http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mick_Davis
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What short memories we have, Antelope.
Andy Some words of apology for the execrable Clarkson’s remarks were gabbled at the end of the silly programme, a type of moving wallpaper from the dumbed-down BBC, followed by one even worse entitled That’s Britain that is supposed to deal with people’s pet hates and grievances – Watchdog meets That’s Life. It fails. It even has Boris’s father as one of the presenters. Last night he was doing a trivial piece in a supermarket testing reactions to a woman asking for help to get something down from a high shelf. Supposed to be a test of public goodwill. It was so excruciating it was a cue to switch off.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017sq33 See what I mean.
Creeping-feeding buttlicking servile toady department>
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/01/us-obama-campaign-israel-idUSTRE7B008N20111201
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“Vote for me, I’ll lick your kishkes…”
Komodo Who is going to rescue Antelope from the bottom of the elephant trap that you so cleverly set and into which he fell?
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I was going to respond on Xstrata’s exploitation of the planet’s resources for profit and of the effect of mining on the environment and the indigenous people. eg
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15297
Xstrata Dreaming: The Struggle of Aboriginal Australians against a Swiss Mining Giant
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HQ in Zug I see. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xstrata}
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Also this
Relationship with Glencore
Xstrata is also noted for its association with the commodity trader Glencore, whom media reports accuse of having entered into illegal deals with rogue states.[16] Glencore is reported to serve as a marketing partner for Xstrata.[17][18] As of 2006, Glencore leaders Willy Strothotte and Ivan Glasenberg are on the board of Xstrata, which Strothotte chairs.[19] According to The Sunday Times, Glencore controls 40% of Xstrata stock and has appointed the Xstrata CEO, Mick Davis.[17][20]
Meanwhile, across town, on a distant planet:
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/24845/Rock_Star_Reception/
Glencore is a whole can of worms on its own.
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http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/International_3/Glencore-as-Israel-s-Wild-Card.shtml
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I hadn’t realised Davis was its appointee, thanks.
Obomber’s host, the said Mr Jack Rosen has a SEVEN storey home in Manhattan.
Occupy! Occupy!
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Jack_Rosen.html
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I knew I would find that link. His type just loves to boast of material wealth.
Another. Many members of his family in this set up.
{http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/01/17/jack-rosen-jewish-oligarch-and-friend-of-kleptocrats/}
“Most people don’t have a clue, or really care much about what’s happening. They’re interested in trash-TV, the gutter-press, gadgets like the latest mobile, sweat-shop produced clothes and what the rich and famous are up to …
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Noticed how things have changed in the past 30 years, and success is judged pretty much only in cash terms, in any field you care to name?”
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I put virtually all of this down to the absorbing of American “culture”. Which is driven at us through TV, films, advertising, music, etc. etc.
My avatar is nicer than your avatar. And it cost a whole lot more.
The coalition was a farce, a speed dating event were one side was bowled over rather quickly. Coalition talks usually last 5-6 weeks, in Belgium it takes that little longer.
‘The people are not stupid’, but they are politically tribal, conditioned and inept for the same reasons. Rather than ditching all three mainstream parties for getting us were we are, the mallable public clutches to straws held by smiling politicians.
far from forming another centralised party, easy to nobble by lobbyists and vested interests, what is needed are Independent minds. I have nothing against coalition politics, in most cases such arrangements would lead to a wider mandate, but a society that has been brought up, with a winner takes all, easy to manipulate and de-fraud electoral system, such coalition is no more than a fancyfull dream by those who think they are in power, the partner which resembles ‘breakfast’ to the other party.
De centralising politics into accountable smaller units that deal with their own mandate and development and have national obligations according to their mandate and international requirements, which are economically Independent and raise their own taxes, would not only make it far more obvious if one of them was nobled by lobbyists, it would also make it harder for these lobbyists to forward a corporate agenda that is not rooted locally. If companies want to sell, they should alos produce here, selling must be tied to social responsibility, companies must realise that their future is attached to how they treat voters /consumers.
To hope, in a forelorn notion of trusting parties to do as they are told, that the promises at the door will actually mean anything, is the inept bit, we just can’t be bothered, after the sixth leaflet has rained through the letterbox, from the same party, (Norwich North had 25 conservative leaflets and 300 helpers from elsewhere) voters get election rage and switch off. Amplification of the same idea has always worked for the Tories, smothering voters in leaflets does exactly that.
My avatar is faster than your avatar (0-60 in 2.6 seconds, she handles like a nubile Russian streetwalker on vodka and ether, this baby does everything but enlarge my penis) and I had it handbuilt in Italy by Enzo Ferrari’s butler.
I didn’t say Xstrata is a bunch of choirboys who share my politics. I said it’s a mining company which contributes to the economy, not a bank which messes it up and takes bailouts, and therefore not really the right target for the demonstrators.
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It’s a pity people don’t read before they respond, makes it difficult to have a meaningful discussion.
And whose economy does it contribute to, Antelope? Switzerland’s.
Granted, it isn’t a bank. Big deal.
There is no difference between all three main parties. The problem is that so called establishment (bankers, landlords etc) are the real power in this and any other country in the EU. Those in various parliaments and number 10th are just puppets. They (establishment) figured out that if they limit out choice by making us believe that we can only form a government if we choose between 3 (or more often 2) parties then they will be the real winners anyhow. They (establishment) came up with the idea of single currency so that they can increase leverage by inflating not one but 13 currencies and in the mess that followed they have been able to manipulate with currency speculations to the extend that none really knows how much Euro is worth today. Some of us (commoners) benefited from it but the real winners are yet again them (establishment).
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And again as some commented earlier if elections are tomorrow either of two main parties will send their leader to number 10.
1 December:
“Jewish envoy not loyal to UK, says Labour MP”
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/59300/jewish-envoy-not-loyal-uk-says-labour-mp
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“But the MP insisted that he was a friend of Israel and had visited the country four times, including once with his family on holiday. Asked if he understood that his remarks could be deemed antisemitic, Mr Flynn said: “I am not an antisemite.”
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It’s like a broken record – “antisemite”
We seem to be talking at cross purposes, Komodo. I was wondering why the Occupy people, who I thought were protesting the economic harm caused by irresponsible banks, were disrupting a mining company, with the only apparent explanation being that its boss is well paid. You seem to be saying their purpose is to protest against the Swiss economy.
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Personally I have nothing against Switzerland, or any other peace-loving nation.
It has all happened before. The blueprint is as old as old can be.
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Go down the link and see for yourself the parallels of then and now, click onto any pictures/articles you come across and they will enlarge so you can read them “Swindling the nation” “More trouble brewing for the working class” “A soldier’s wife in trouble”
http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyindeximages.html
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Wait until the memory dies (the last generation) and then do the same thing again, its a very profitable enterprise for those who rule us. Why should they change a winning system!, indeed why not go global, so much more profit.
“who I thought were protesting the economic harm caused by irresponsible banks”
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No, they’re protesting the whole damn system and the massive inequality.
Switzerland is a nice peace loving nation and also the place where all THOSE money are. Karimov and his family keep our (Uzbeks) money in Switzerland on their (Karimov’s) accounts. Karimov’s elder grandchild studies in private Swiss school where annual fees are 2000 times more than average earning of majority of Uzbeks.
Antelope is distressed that I challenged the economic benefit to us (which he advanced as an argument) of Xstrata, by pointing out that it is a Swiss-owned company.
Antelope evidently thinks that all the employees of the gigantic multibillion global corporation, Xstrata, come in to work with a pick and shovel. And that the profits of the company benefit them, rather than a bunch of faceless but very rich suits in a Zug office. Reality check: the company exists to own as much productive capacity as possible, and channel the profits into the accounts of people who would die after half an hour in a SA goldmine.
So, what Nuid said. Xstrata is as much a part of global capitalism as any bank.
“My avatar is faster than your avatar (0-60 in 2.6 seconds, she handles like … and I had it handbuilt in Italy by Enzo Ferrari’s butler.”
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LOL – only saw this now … can’t cap that I’m afraid.
“Unison taking urgent legal advice over “appalling” comments made by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson about public sector strike” – tweet from SkyNews
The BBC were laying it on thick on The World at One which included details of Mervyn King’s doomladen report, an interview with Sir John Gieve ex Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England and an ex officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee from 2006 to 2009. Also on wasthat awful woman ex Con MP Angela Knight speaking on behalf of the bankers. Nearly half the programme was taken up with the bank stuff. Putting the frighteners on us well and truly.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15984291
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PS Gieve was Permanent Secretary at the Home Office 2001-05 under Straw, Blunkett and Clarke.
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On 31 January 2006, after Gieve had left, the UK National Audit Office published a report, Home Office: 2004-05 Resource Account,[2] which was highly critical of Home Office’s accounts during the period of Gieve’s tenure; the accompanying press release stated that:
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“Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Home Office had not maintained proper financial books and records for the financial year ending 31 March 2005. Sir John Bourn therefore concluded that, because the Home Office failed to deliver its accounts for audit by the statutory timetable, and because of the fundamental nature of the problems encountered, he could not reach an opinion on the truth and fairness of the Home Office’s accounts.”
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Amazing that the BBC get him on to give us the whys and wherefores when his record on financial acuity is so poor.
Speaking of Blair being a tool of the plutocrats, I’ve wondered, ever since reading Robert Harris’s The Ghost, whether Harris — who knew Blair well from his (Harris’s) days as a journalist — meant to be telling us things about the real Blair in that novel, where the Blair-like former PM figure is somebody whose career was secretly advanced at every turn by the CIA (although in the novel it is the Blair-like figure’s wife who turns out to have been the CIA agent all along). The novel raised questions in my mind whether the heart attack that killed John Smith and opened the way for Blair to become party leader was a natural one.
I couldn’t help noticing that it was right after Roman Polanski had finished filming the movie version of that novel, now called The Ghostwriter and while he was engaged in postproduction that Switzerland, which had never shown any interest in arresting Polanski before and which was engaged in ticklish negotiations with the U.S. over bank secrecy and liability, suddenly decided to arrest him with a view to possible extradition to the U.S. (Then, after the Swiss made their deal on those bank issues with the U.S. Department of Justice, they set Polanski free.)
@nuid – glad to hear someone is responding to Clarkson’s stupid comments. He’s made a bloody packet from playing the “angry old man” and has, I think, successfully segued this schtick from an act to a genuinely selfish component of his character.
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I think from now on I will alternate Clarkson and Cowell’s smug mugs on my dartboard. It is really is difficult to work out who deserves my darts more!
The apology at the end of the One Show apparently related to something Clarkson had joked about on suicides on railway tracks.
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I saw footage on the 6 pm news of him flying off to China. What a waste of fossil fuel. Perhaps he could stay there.
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Unison have accepted his apology for his remarks.
Craig
After a rapid exchange of e mails with my MP after I watched him stumble through an interview on the BBC news I am aghast at the lack of knowledge and sheer ignorance in our exchange about the economy / pensions. After trying to engage him in debate – he was obviously relaxing in london luxury after his break into the big time – his responses were, to paraphrase, ‘ I do not agree with your analysis, someone would have had to make the cuts if it hadn’t been the Coalition’ and then ‘ We will have to agree to disagree’. Some debate! I do agree, Craig, the issues around public sector pensions may become irrelevant when the impending crash, signalled by Mervyn King in his warning of a ‘systemic’ problem in the finanacial system comes to pass. Check out Max Keiser; his analysis with Stacey Herbert on RT is always good value!
Doesn’t bode very well for Lansley’s ConDem newly demolished NHS. This outfit is scheduled to inspect 10,000 GP practices next year.
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Care regulator ‘struggled to deliver’
The commission monitors hospitals and care homes
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PM joins health regulator attack
Home care firms face inspections
Basic elderly NHS care ‘alarming’
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The health regulator which inspects hospitals and care homes in England has “struggled” since its creation two years ago, a report says.
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The National Audit Office found the Care Quality Commission had carried out just 47% of planned reviews between October 2010 and April this year.
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The CQC took over the work of three previous regulators in 2009 and has had to implement new monitoring systems.
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It said it had been a “challenging period” but that it was now “on track”.
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The commission is responsible for checking if hospitals and care homes meet minimum standards.
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It took over from the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission.
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/…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15985922
2 December 2011 Last updated at 09:16
.Complaints over Clarkson strike comments reach 23,000
Jeremy Clarkson made his remarks on the BBC’s The One Show
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The BBC has received more than 23,000 complaints over Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s remarks that striking public sector workers should be shot.
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Clarkson was censured with his comments on The One Show and trade union Unison called for him to be sacked.
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BBC Breakfast said the Corporation had received 23,478 complaints. Clarkson has since apologised.
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Unison said it welcomed the apology and invited Clarkson to spend a day with a healthcare assistant.
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/…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15999234
Thesis: The people aren’t stupid.
Antithesis: Stand in a newsagent for half an hour and see how many people pay good money for the ‘Sun’.