We live in the age of the Cowardly State

by Richard Murphy    
November 15, 2011 at 3:05 pm

This is a cowardly state: a state that sees responsibility and runs away from it.

This is a state that now exists solely to facilitate the looting of its power to tax for the benefit of an elite who want to own its assets through the PFI scheme, and be guaranteed a high and risk-free income for doing so.

It is a state that wants to privatise its education system through ‘free schools’ – free only because yet more tax goes to the private sector in the process.
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Telegraph hires virulent homophobe as columnist

by Sunny Hundal    
November 15, 2011 at 1:21 pm

The Reverend Peter Mullins has just made his debut on the Telegraph website as a regular columnist today.

Here’s a bit about him:

The Rev Dr Peter Mullen is Rector of St Michael, Cornhill and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London. He is Chaplain to the London Stock Exchange and has written for many publications including the Wall Street Journal.

And here’s a bit more about his writings, just two years ago:

The chaplain to the London Stock Exchange is under pressure to quit today after demanding gay men should be forced to have “sodomy” warnings tattooed on their bodies.
….
Mr Mullen, 66, wrote on his blog: “It is time that religious believers began to recommend … discouragements of homosexual practices after the style of warnings on cigarette packets.

“Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH and their chins with FELLATIO KILLS.”

Yup. This is the sort of guy the Telegraph happily hires as a blogger.

When faced with criticism of his views earlier, Rev Mullen said it was all in “jest”. He added: “I certainly have nothing against homosexuals. Many of my dear friends have been and are of that persuasion.”

I kid you not.

Tory attempts to blame Europe fact-checked and found wrong

by Sunny Hundal    
November 15, 2011 at 10:55 am

Late last week George Osborne claimed: “There’s no doubt that growth in Britain, jobs in Britain, have been hit by what’s going on in the eurozone.”

We have seen this line repeated numerous times, and no doubt the Tories will continue trying to push it. Yesterday, Richard Exell showed two sets of data that contradicted the Chancellor.

Now, the national media is also starting to cotton on.
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Inequality infographics – we need your help

by Sunny Hundal    
November 15, 2011 at 10:40 am

I’ve written before on the need for info-graphics and bits of information about inequality in the UK that can be easily published and distributed (through social media).

They would also be useful for banners as well as slogans at demonstrations and occupations.

Thanks to some think-tanks (so far the New Economics Foundation, Resolution Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation) – I’ve managed to dig out some interesting stats on inequality.

· Economic inequality in the UK is the highest in recorded history – we went from having inequality levels similar to the Netherlands in 1979 to being one of the most unequal developed countries in the world. Our Gini coefficient (a common measure of inequality) increased from 0.26 to 0.36 over this period. Studies have shown that beyond a Gini coefficient of around 0.3, inequality becomes corrosive for society.

· The top 10 per cent of the population now earn, on average, more than four times that of the bottom 10 per cent, compared to three times in 1979.

· This disparity grows exponentially when you look at the difference between the lowest and highest earners in organisations where Chief Executives earn, on average, 250 times what a cleaner earns.

· Looking at every pound that is created in the British economy, 10p goes to the bottom half of the population, 40p to the top half, 39p to profits and 11p to national insurance and pension contributions.

· Over the past 30 years the top 1 per cent have seen a 50 per cent increase in their share of every pound.

· Wealth disparities are even starker. Fifty per cent of the UK population owns just 1 per cent of the wealth. The richest 10 per cent of the UK has more than 100 times the wealth of the bottom 10 per cent.

· Land concentration is also high in the UK. 40 million acres of countryside is shared by 189,000 families – giving each one of these families an average of more than 200 acres each. Many of these families have had this land in their possession for generations. This concentration of land ownership ensures that wealth is knitted into the fabric of this country.

· The UK has one of the lowest levels of social mobility in the developed world. 50 per cent of relative difference in parental earning is transmitted to their children.

· In the UK only one in ten young people acquiring a degree are from the poorest fifth of households, compared to more than six in ten, from the richest 20 per cent.

· 5.1 per cent of the students at the 200 top academic schools qualify for free school meals, compared with a national average of 13.6 per cent.

· UK spends 16.4 per cent of private resources on education, compared with 1.5 per cent in Norway.

· The most deprived fifth of all neighbourhoods contain half of all social housing.

The above stats are from NEF. I can dig out the sources for each stat.

There are some facts and figures here too.

Can you help by creating info-graphics? There are some great examples here on FB.

What should our relationship with Europe be based on?

by Owen Tudor    
November 15, 2011 at 9:20 am

As the Eurosceptic revolt has shown, Europe is particularly difficult to address in Britain.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander has had to tread a fine line between street fighting partisanship and intellectual rigour in the national interest. He’s capable of both, but as his recent speech to Baltic State ambassadors shows, not always at the same time.

At a domestic and European level, the union approach has to be focused on what’s good for working people, not the federalism and scepticism which are no longer appropriate to current challenges.
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Three months later, Boris fails riot-hit businesses after offer

by Sunny Hundal    
November 15, 2011 at 8:45 am

In the wake of the August riots Boris Johnson said help for local traders was on the way. He said:

Small businesses need urgent help to repair damage and get goods back on the shelves and the High Street Fund will help to do just that.

The fund would be “easy to apply for” and cash would be paid out “as swiftly as possible”, the Mayor said.

But the Mayor’s growing reputation for money mismanagement is showing itself again.

The Financial Times had this shocking revelation yesterday:

Out of 586 businesses that applied for an immediate £2,000 under the scheme, nearly half have yet to receive an answer, let alone a pay-out.

At the time it was set up, Sir William said grants would be made “within a matter of days”.

It is now three months since the riots took place.

The FT quotes one trader:

Kirkland Pratt, a Hackney restaurateur, said he had applied for both funds, but had not received any money.

“It is a joke,” he said. “They say they want to help but they don’t care about us. You should see the state of my restaurant – it is still leaking.”

Ken Livingstone should be pointing this out as another sign of Boris’ misplaced priorities and incompetence.

Boris Johnson’s administration is currently planning to borrow £110 million, using up all of their current borrowing capabilities, on pet projects such as a cable car.

How the farcical trial against UKuncut / F&M activists ended today

by Guest    
November 14, 2011 at 8:22 pm

contribution by Edd Bauer

Today my trial for a two hour UKuncut sit-in at Fortnum & Mason ended far faster than anyone estimated. The trial was scheduled to end on the November 30th, however a thin prosecution case was over in just 2 and half days.

Among the officers taking the stand was Inspector Clark – the chief police officer at the scene whom had been at the sit-in in Fortnum and Mason for the duration. She confirmed her view that we were all “sensible and well behaved”.
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Stalking finally to be made an offence

by Newswire    
November 14, 2011 at 4:08 pm

The Independent reports today:

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, on a visit to Manchester tomorrow, will tomorrow unveil proposals to introduce a specific offence of stalking, potentially also covering cyber-stalking. A three-month consultation will also look at the use of restraining orders and police attitudes to stalking cases, following concern that the treatment of allegations differs between forces.
…
Ministers are keen to hear from charities, victims’ groups, the police and public on how the new law will be drawn up – and what the penalties will be. A Home Office report last year found that cases involving stalking and harassment can be “difficult to prosecute and, because of their nature, are likely to require sensitive handling especially with regard to victim care”.

The Guardian has also followed up this story

Two-thirds of victims said the police and Crown Prosecution Service did not take their complaints seriously enough, with offenders not being charged in nearly nine out of 10 alleged cases.
…
According to the PAS survey, 42% of victims had been stalked for 24 months or more. One victim told of having to move 10 times; others said the constant fear was “soul destroying”.

Some 62% of victims said phone calls were used by their tormentors; 51% reported being followed; 50% received unwelcome text messages; 50% suffered harassment through the use of a third party; 30% received email they considered harassment; 25% received distressing letters; and 25% of victims suffered break-ins.

Well done on Lynne Featherstone on pushing this forward.

Two reasons why UK’s slow growth isn’t the EU’s fault

by Richard Exell    
November 14, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Is the crisis in the Eurozone responsible for the UK’s dismal economic growth?

The latest government apologist to repeat this line was Mark Hogan, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, arguing on the Today programme that the situation on the other side of the Channel “does cast a long shadow over our economy”.

This argument doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
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For how much longer can Labour be blamed for the cuts?

by Leo Barasi    
November 14, 2011 at 1:45 pm

In the film Traffic, Michael Douglas is given advice about surviving in politics:

When they forced Khruschev out, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor. He said, “When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can’t get out of, open the second letter”.

Well, soon enough, this guy found himself into a tight place, so he opened the first letter. Which said, “Blame everything on me”. So he blames the old man, it worked like a charm. He got himself into a second situation he couldn’t get out of, he opened the second letter. It said, “Sit down, and write two letters”.

The current government took the advice of the first letter even before coming to power.
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