A CLUSTER OF LIES

"Humanitarian organisations accuse the Ministry of Defence today of reclassifying one of its newest weapons to escape an expected world ban on cluster bombs. The MoD last year described the Hydra CRV-7 system, which delivers a number of bomblets from a helicopter-mounted rocket pod, as a cluster weapon.
Later in the year, Margaret Beckett, then foreign secretary, said the government did not consider the weapon fell within the term "dumb", because virtually all the bomblets exploded on impact. . ...However, the MoD admitted trials in the US had revealed a 6% failure rate. .. The reclassification is attacked today by Oxfam, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, who also say that Britain has been the world's third largest user of lethal cluster bombs over the last 10 years. "Ten years after it championed a treaty banning landmines, the UK has a chance to do the same with cluster bombs - but instead it is spinning a cluster bomb con," said Simon Conway, Director of Landmine Action. ..Anna MacDonald of Oxfam said: "Current UK policy on cluster bombs makes no sense. They say they want an international treaty but they also want to keep using cluster bombs well known to kill and injure civilians." (Guardian, 18 September)
Ms MacDonald might think it "makes no sense", but from the standpoint of British capitalism, having the cheapest and most efficient weapons, it makes a great deal of sense. RD

SHAME IN IRAQ

"2,000-year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty Ur of the Chaldees cracking under the strain of massive troop movements, the privatisation of looting as landlords buy up the remaining sites of ancient Mesopotamia to strip them of their artefacts and wealth. The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilisation – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation." (Independent, 17 September)
This touching article, displaying as it does a great concern for historical artefacts, is surely wide of the mark when it states "the most shameful symbols". What about the tens of thousands of deaths, injuries and misery suffered by the population? RD

HIGH SOCIETY, LOW INTELLIGENCE

In an article that describes the going on of "our betters" we can learn how they manage to pass away the weary hours between counting their money.
The co-owner of the nightclub Crystal, just off Oxford Street gives us an idea of the goings on. "The minimum spend for a table of ten on a weekend night is £8,000. But co-owner Raymond Bechara says that, recently, a punter arrived and blew £17,000 within 15 minutes. "It was his 25th birthday, so he bought four of our special bottles of Moet, which are covered in Swarovski crystals and cost £4,400 each - two to drink and two to spray on his friends."
(Times Magazine, 15 September) RD

PHARMACEUTICAL PROFITS

"Pharmaceutical companies are overstating the effectiveness of their drugs, and may be placing patients at greater risk, because animal laboratory studies they fund are biased, it was claimed yesterday. A survey of nearly 300 animal-test studies involving six different experimental drugs suggested that such flawed methodology is rampant in the drug-testing industry. About two-thirds of the studies, which were all aimed at testing drugs with the potential to treat stroke patients, did not use a proper "randomised blind" methodology, the British Association's Science Festival in York was told." (Independent, 15 September) Why would respectable pharmaceutical firms distort scientific data?
Only to make more money? Surely not. RD

DEBT-LADEN WORKERS

Behind all the advertiser's glib spiels about the consumer satisfaction of buy, buy, buy lurks the nasty reality that many workers find themselves in a nightmare of debt.
"Record numbers are visiting the Citizens Advice Bureau because their finances have spiralled out of control. Debt is the most common reason for attending a CAB, overtaking benefit problems. The charity said it had seen a 20 per cent rise in those struggling with borrowing, handling 1.7 million cases last year. Debt accounts for one in three of inquiries at the CAB, with advisers in England and Wales dealing with more than 6,600 such problems every working day." (Daily Telegraph, 12 September) RD

LOADS OF MONEY

Millions of workers survive on less than $5 a day. What a contrasts with these parasites. "What price exclusivity? If you ask Lamborghini, one million euros ($1.4 million) should do it -- before tax, of course. In a bid to add more prestige to what it already has, the Italian maker of super luxury sports car unveiled the Reventon at Frankfurt's international autoshow, a very limited edition car that looks more like an arrow than anything on four wheels. With the six-figure price tag, it is the most expensive car that it has ever built. Needless to say, Lamborghini has already sold the 20 cars that it plans to build. "As soon as the word got out, we sold out in four days," Chief Executive Stephan Winkelmann told Reuters, adding that they could have easily sold another 20." (Yahoo News, 12 September) RD

A DOG'S LIFE

"When the New York socialite Leona Helmsley left much of her fortune to her poodle rather than her grandchildren, she was following in a long - if odd - tradition. But she did care about at least one living creature apart from herself: when her will was published this week, it was revealed that she had left more than $12m (€9m) to her white Maltese dog "Trouble". ..The most notorious heir of the dog variety is a German Shepherd called Gunther IV. ..the canine is reportedly worth $180m. He inherited the money from his father, the imaginatively-named Gunther III, who was given $60m when German countess Karlotta Libenstein died in 1992. ..Then there is the poodle Toby Rimes, a descendant of a dog that inherited £15m from New York owner Ella Wendel." (Independent. 31 August)
There has to be something screwy about a society where thousands of kids die from the lack of clean water or food and a dog lives in luxury. RD

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

We are always told that it is the richest city in the world in the richest country in the world but there are some homeless New Yorkers that would dispute that claim "A score of families gather daily in the courtyard of a city office in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. .. The scene is gentle. But it poses a growing challenge to Mayor Michael R Bloomberg’s strategy for reducing homelessness. Each of the families first came here to apply for a place in the city’s homeless shelters, a first step toward getting housing subsidies. They have all been evaluated and told they do not qualify because they have homes they can return to — most often the crowded apartments of relatives. . “The city is caught between publicly claiming everything is fine and the brutal realities of families and their children having nowhere else to go,” said Steven Banks, attorney in chief of the Legal Aid Society, who has filed a pending court complaint about the accuracy of the eligibility rulings. “It is a ticking time bomb.” (New York Times, 4 September)
A city that never sleeps according to the song but for some of its inhabitants a city where some have no where to sleep. RD

EXPERT WANTS REVOLUTION

"A revolution of society on a scale never witnessed in peacetime is needed if climate change is to be tackled successfully, the head of a major business grouping has warned.
Bjorn Stigson, the head of the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), predicted governments would be unable to reach agreement on a framework for reducing carbon emissions at either a US-sponsored meeting in Washington later this month or at a United Nations climate summit in Indonesia in December." (Financial Times, 7 September)
Mr Stigson may be on to something important here. Because capitalism pollutes and destroys the planet maybe we need a revolution - a complete transformation of society. RD

WHAT'S IN A WORD?

"A French police union is taking the respected Le Petit Robert dictionary to court for including a reference to police as "bloody pigs" in its latest edition, a spokesman said Friday.
The Unsa-police union is asking for a court order to force Le Petit Robert to remove the reference from a section of its 2008 edition that deals with French slang spoken by immigrant youth. The dictionary borrowed a quote from the French detective novel writer Jean-Claude Izzo to illustrate the language used by north African immigrants in the French suburbs.
A second union, Alliance, called for a boycott of the dictionary, saying it was "outraged" by the use of the term "connard de flic" (bloody pig). Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie sided with police unions, saying she too "deplored" such language and conveyed her disapproval to the dictionary's editors. (Yahoo News, 7 September)
As yet we have not heard from the Porcine Liberation Movement, but we imagine they too will be "outraged" at being compared to French policemen. We would. RD

Class-rooms and Class Divisions

According to new research Children from disadvantaged backgrounds need to do more than just attend a good school to boost their educational achievement . School quality accounted for a fraction of variations in achievement . Children's social background had much more of an impact.

Family disadvantage is passed on from one generation to the next in a cycle of underachievement . Parents who were making a choice between low income and long hours found it hard to give children good life chances . Children were highly aware of their social position and the limitations it placed upon them.

The research did not imply that poorer parents don't care about their children's education. Many parents on low incomes lack the resources that allow them to help out, to provide conducive environments or to access relevant services.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO?

According to Roman Catholic tradition an applicant for sainthood needs two certified miracles. Mother Teresa has already cleared the first hurdle because Monica Besra claimed that by rubbing a medal of Mother Teresa on her cancerous tumour she was cured. The authorities were so convinced they granted Teresa the first step to sainthood that of being "beatified". "However several groups, including her doctors, have disputed that Mrs Besra was cured by a miracle, claiming instead that her tumour disappeared as a result of medical treatment at the local hospital. Mrs Besra has said that she visited hospital for treatment and taken prescribed medicines. In an interview with Time magazine in 2002, Mrs Besra's husband Seiku was among those to challenge the Vatican's claim. "It is much ado about nothing. My wife was cured by the doctors and not by any miracle," he said. Ranjan Mustafi, a doctor at the local state-run Balurghat Hospital who treated Mrs Besra, said that the tumour had been caught at an early stage and had "responded to our treatment steadily." (Daily Telegraph, 6 September)
Tricky business this miracle business, especially when doctors and witnesses display such scepticism. " Oh, ye of little faith", as the good book would have it.
RD

Enterprising for some

Further to our earlier post on generous retirement pensions for those who hold directorships , we read that Iain Carmichael, the former finance director at Scottish Enterprise had an extra £380,600 pumped into his pension fund .

The annual accounts of the economic and business development quango, which were made public yesterday, reveal that Carmichael retired in March with a golden goodbye worth £539,105 - nearly three times the £200,000 that had been previously estimated.
He received £106,765 in pay in lieu of notice, £5544 for accrued holiday pay, £46,196 for loss of office and £380,600, which was transferred into the Scottish Enterprise pension fund to bump up his retirement pay. Carmichael's pension pot has now swelled to £777,600 - taking the current cash equivalent transfer value of his pension of £397,000 which, according to Scottish Enterprise, in "very basic terms", could be added to the £380,600 paid into his fund in March when Carmichael left the agency.
Scottish Enterprise yesterday confirmed that Carmichael had taken early retirement at age 54 but, as part of his leaving agreement, he was given a full pension "as if he were retiring at 60"

And was it reward for efficiency . Not at all . Scottish Enterprise was accused by MSPs of "wholly dissatisfactory" financial controls in the wake of overspending on the budget by £33m during the 2005/06 financial year. Carmichael admitted mistakes were made in the allocation of public funds. Carmichael was removed from his finance director's position and was taken off the board of directors, and moved sideways into a new position.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

We are all aware that many people are nervous about flying and have witnessed anxious passengers fingering St Christopher medals or even rosary beads during flights. It is doubtful though that many of us have experienced the following. "Nepal's state-run airline has sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, after technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft. Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks because of the problem. The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport, in Kathmandu, in accordance with Hindu traditions, a senior airline official said." (Times, 5 September) Before any of our readers rush out to cancel any bookings with Nepal Airlines we should assure you that the electrical fault has been rectified by scientific means. The goat sacrifice was only to placate the superstitious locals. A bit like the rosary beads really. RD

Gold-Plated Pensions for the Few

We have been hearing a lot about the pensions "blackhole" and how we are all living too long to receive an adequate pension , and how we have to work until we are even older before we retire and even then pay more into the pension schemes .

Yet , the average company executive can now retire at 60 on a final salary pension worth more than £3 million , says the TUC's latest annual PensionsWatch survey. This works out at £193,000 a year, says the study, more than 25 times the average UK pension of £7,500 a year. The biggest executive pensions are now worth £320,000 a year, more than 42 times average staff pensions . One pension was found to be worth more than £1 million a year.

Directors of the UK's top companies have amassed pensions worth £891 million.

"Top executive pay has already created a new group of the super-rich who float free from the rest of society," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. "This report shows that this does not stop with their retirement. Too many top directors have gone on closing or cutting schemes for their workforce, while keeping gold-plated pensions for themselves."

BIG BROTHER IN BRITAIN

When George Orwell wrote 1984 he based it on the totalitarian states of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, but recent revelations show that he himself was closely monitored by the British state.
"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment," wrote George Orwell in the opening pages of 1984. "How often, or on what system the Thought Police plugged in ... was guess work." ... What Orwell, the Eton-educated author and passionate socialist, could not have known, however, was the uncanny parallel between his nightmarish vision of an all-seeing dictatorship and his own status for more than a decade as a target for the close scrutiny of the British security services. The personal MI5 file of the literary standard bearer of the British Left, published today after being kept secret for nearly 60 years, reveals how Orwell was closely monitored for signs of treacherous or revolutionary political views by Scotland Yard's Special Branch from 1929 until the height of the Second World War." (Independent, 4 September) RD

THE INSECURE SOCIETY

When the plant was opened workers celebrated the prospect of secure employment, but capitalism doesn't work that way.
"US electronics giant Freescale Semiconductor last night finally admitted publicly its plans to quit production at East Kilbride, where it employs about 900 skilled manufacturing staff. Its admission, in the form of a statement confirming it had appointed international real estate consultancy Colliers to try to find a buyer for the plant, comes nearly three months after The Herald revealed it was poised to stop production at the site under a secret project named Claymore. Given the dearth of demand for other big vacant electronics sites at a time when companies have been shifting production to low-cost economies in Asia and Eastern Europe, workers at Freescale's East Kilbride plant fear that there is little chance of a buyer being found." (Herald, 5 September) RD

PATRIOTS AT A PRICE

"Bored with life on his family's South Carolina horse farm, Willard McCormick decided that military service was the right plan for his future. And when the Army dangled its new, $20,000 recruiting bonus in front of him, the decision got a lot easier.
"I wasn't going to go right away, but I heard about the bonus and decided to jump on it," McCormick, 19, said a couple of days after signing up.
... Since the bonus was unveiled in July, more than 6,200 recruits have signed up to begin basic training before Oct. 1, a move that boosts end-of-fiscal year recruiting numbers.
Army officials said. "People are calling here saying $20,000 is more than they've made in the past two years," said Staff Sgt. Brent Feltner, 27, commander of a strip-mall recruiting station in this central South Carolina town. .. The Army's offer stands out to many in a state where the unemployment level is fourth highest in the country, at 5.9 percent in July, up from 5.5 percent in June. It was 6.2 percent in July a year ago."
(Yahoo News, 1 September) Poverty is still capitalism's most successful recruiting agent. RD

NATIONALIST NONSENSE

It is difficult to imagine a more foolish scene than that of the last night of the Proms, when underpaid clerks and tradesmen sing with great gusto "Land of Hope and Glory". This is especially so when you consider what the economists have to say about ownership in Britain today.
"The portion of the country's wealth in the hands of the super-rich is on the rise, according to the country's leading economists. Runaway property and equity prices over the past five years have made the rich richer and widened the wealth gap across the UK. The most up-to-date figures from Revenue and Customs, compiled in 2003, show that the richest 1 per cent of Brits account for 21 per cent of the nation's wealth”
. However, top economists believe that figure will show a marked increase when the statistics are updated in October. Jonathan Said, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said:
"It would be a surprise if the net worth of wealthy individuals had not risen substantially – even more so if you add in private equity returns, which give access to a faster rate of return to wealthy investors." (Independent, 2 September) RD

Houses for Some

Housing affordability has deteriorated to near record lows, with homes five times more expensive for first-time buyers than in 1996, new figures show.

Buyers in the southeast and southwest of England have to save over 100 percent of their annual earnings for a deposit to get a foothold on the property ladder, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) accessibility index. This compares with the low point of just 20 percent of annual earnings required in 1996 .

The cost of becoming a homeowner rose by 8.4 percent alone in the year to the second quarter of 2007.

Even if prospective first time buyers make it onto the market, they face mortgage payments which take up a higher percentage of their take-home pay than at any time since 1990.

No longer is the Thatcherite dream of a house-owning nation achievable . For many simply acquiring a roof over ones head is proving a nightmare .