A BOOMING BUSINESS

"Debt collection agencies and bailiffs are raking in unprecedented sums from Britain's growing mountain of personal finance misery, an Independent on Sunday investigation has found. Last year the agencies and bailiffs pursued no fewer than 20 million cases and the methods they used to squeeze money from people are so aggressive that experts ranging from the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) to members of the House of Lords are now calling for legislation to curb these excesses. A growing army of thousands of "debt chasers" is making millions from the misery of Britons who have spent years spending above their means, in what campaigners have slammed as "legalised profiteering".(Independent on Sunday, 17 February) RD

THIS IS PROGRESS?

"Josette Sheeran, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, said “We're seeing more people hungry, and in greater numbers than before. We're seeing many people being priced out of the food market for the first time. We're seeing less crop production in many places; shorter harvest times." ... According to the UN world food index, prices rose by 40 per cent last year. Ms Sheeran said oil prices were driving up costs because oil was used for planting, fertiliser and delivering food." (Times, 13 February) RD

SUICIDE SQUADS

The following statistics are not the sort of thing that the US recruiting sergeant is likely to mention to potential soldiers. "89 - The number of confirmed suicides among US army soldiers in 2007. If 32 suspected suicides are corroborated, the 2007 rate will be the highest since the army started keeping track in 1980. 2,000 - Number of soldiers who tried to take their own lives or injure themselves in 2007, up from 1,500 in 2006." (Time, 18 February)
This is in sharp contrast to all those John Wayne movies we see on TV, where he is a fearless hero. Come to think of it, in real life Wayne was far too clever to join the US army. RD

TRANSCENDAL MATERIALISM

The death of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi led to many newspapers rehashing the stories about the Beatles contact with his Transcental Meditation, but it has transpired that his TM could have more properly stood for Transcendal Materialism. It seemed the great man had sited his HQ in a Dutch village for tax reasons. "As ever, the business-savvy guru was ahead of the game: the big draw is a financial regime that has made the Netherlands the E.U.'s top tax shelter. Among those who have set up holding companies there are Ikea, Nike, Coca-Cola and Gucci."
(Guardian, 7 February)
Like many religious leaders before him this guru told his followers not to be concerned with the material things of life, but in practice was very shrewd about the way capitalism operated. RD

LABOUR'S SORRY RECORD

"Poverty affects 3.8 million children in the UK, making ours one of the worst rates in the industrialised world. Children living in poverty are likely to have lower self-esteem, poorer health, and lower aspirations and educational achievements than their peers. Poverty also shortens lives. A boy in Manchester can expect to live seven years less than a boy in Barnet, North London.
(Times, 12 February) RD

MY AIN WEE HOOSE?

"Home repossessions in Scotland have increased by almost a third over the last three years while, across the UK, they have reached their highest level since the 1990s. New figures released yesterday show that the number of Britons losing their) homes because of mortgage payment arrears has almost doubled in two years. Repossessions have risen for the third year in a row to 27,100, with evidence that Scottish figures are also sharply increasing."
(Sunday Herald) 10 February RD

TRADE NOT RIGHTS IS PRIORITY

"States claiming the mantle of democracy, including Kenya and Pakistan, should guarantee the human rights that are central to it, including the rights to free expression, assembly and association, as well as free and fair elections," it said. "By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats... the United States, the European Union and other influential democracies risk undermining human rights worldwide." ..."Too many Western governments insist on elections and leave it at that," said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. "It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally." (Independent, 1 February) RD

CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

"If you're partial to all things bling, then a platinum and jewel-encrusted desktop PC could be just what you're looking for. Jupiter from Japanese manufacturer Zeus, features a solid platinum case studded with diamonds which, the company claims, replicate astrological constellations. The PC runs on an Intel 3GHz E6850 Core 2 Duo CPU and features 2GB of DDR 2 memory and a 1TB hard drive. The only downside is its price tag - a cool $746,000. Zeus has also launched a cheaper, gold alternative. It still has diamonds in its case and the same tech spec, but will only set you back a mere $557,284. Both PCs are available now in Japan." (PC World, 31 January) RD

The Blues

An article by the Guardian columnist Jacky Ashley makes interesting reading

According to official figures, up to 12% of people now experience depression in any one year. More telling is a deeper government study that shows that half of people with common mental health problems recover within 18 months but that "poorer people, the long-term sick and unemployed people are more likely to be still affected"

People get depressed because they don't have enough money to keep up in a materialistic and competitive society; because they are ill, or feel worthless without a job and role, or are struggling with caring responsibilities.

As we have grown richer, we have become less confident and optimistic about the future. Our increased material competitiveness has not made us happier.

A NEW SLOGAN

Away back in the 1840s the Chartists had a rather blood thirsty slogan, that socialists could not condone but at least could understand. It was "Here's to the day when the last king is strangled by the entrails of the last priest". The following news item has made us think up a less bloodcurdling, but we think a more appropriate slogan. "The Church of England rounded on the Government for cutting its funding for the upkeep of crumbling cathedrals. English Heritage will give grants totalling £2.1 million - half of it donated by a charity - to 28 cathedrals this year. Senior church figures said the money was not enough." (Daily Telegraph, 8 February) Here's to the day when the last crumbling cathedral falls on the last empty prison. RD

FRIENDLY FIRE?

It used to be said that the first victim of war was the truth, but now it seems that an earlier victim may be logic. How do you tell a Vietnamese family that their daughter's awful death by napalm or an Afghanistan family that their son's death by a smart bomb was all part of a scheme to win their hearts and minds?
"The US army has drafted a new manual which for the first time puts an equal emphasis on winning hearts and minds as it does on defeating enemies by force. The manual is expected to be published later this month. The new guide is seen as a major development that draws on lessons of the wars being fought by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. (BBC News, 8 February) RD

AND ANOTHER

"Prisons in England and Wales have hit a new crisis point after the number of inmates reached yet another record. There were 81,681 prisoners - including 375 being held in police stations - beating the previous high by more than 130. (Guardian, 9 February) RD

ANOTHER INCREASE FOR CAPITALISM

"The Council of Mortgage Lenders said 27,100 homes, the highest figure since 1999, were taken over by lenders after people fell behind with repayments. The figure for the UK is more than the 22,400 in 2006, but not as extreme as the CML had forecast. It is still a sharp rise on the 8,500 of 2003. And the CML warned that the number of repossessions was likely to rise again in 2008 as the credit crunch tightened. Meanwhile, the numbers of mortgages behind on payments rose by 8.6% compared to 2006, the organisation, which represents mortgage lenders, said.
(BBC News, 8 February) RD

CAPITALISM NEEDS LABOURERS

"More than 30,000 16-year-olds leave school with no qualifications and a further 10,000 scrape through with a single GCSE at grade D or below, a new analysis of government figures shows." (Daily Telegraph 8 February) RD

BIG BUCK BIGOTS

"Ian Paisley Junior has confirmed he is receiving a salary from Westminster as a researcher for his North Antrim MP father. It is one of three jobs that Mr Paisley has. Sir Alastair Graham, the former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, described this as "very bizarre". "It means he is being paid as an assembly member, a junior minister and also by his father from his parliamentary allowances," he said." (BBC News, 7 February) RD

LOADED BUT STUPID

We are constantly being told by supporters of capitalism that the extremely rich got that way because of their superior intellect. That seems invalid thinking when we see how much the extremely rich will pay for a motor car licence plate.
"But nowhere is the craze for a unique plate more intense than in the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation that holds the world record for the six most expensive plates. Here, it's all about how low you can go -- with people battling it out at auctions to win the chance to show off license plates with the lowest digit. The numbers "5" and "7" have already been snapped up, sold for 25 million dirhams ($6.75 million) and 11 million dirhams ($2.97 million) respectively." (CNN.Com, 5 February) RD

MORE MONEY THAN SENSE

"An Australian entrepreneur and self-described "thrillionaire" has signed on as the backup space tourist for the next paid flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The Virginia-based firm Space Adventures officially named financial strategist Nik Halik as the backup crewmate to American space tourist Richard Garriott, who is training for a planned October launch to the ISS aboard a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft. Halik, 38, is paying $3 million to train alongside Garriott as a backup spaceflyer. ...Garriott, a computer game developer, is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott and will be the first second-generation U.S. spaceflyer when he launches later this year. He is paying about $30 million for the experience." (Yahoo News, 28 January) RD

TOUGH AT THE TOP?

"A study by the Bow Group, a centre-right think-tank, found that 27 per cent of FTSE 100 chief executives have contracts that continue to pay bonuses if profits rise by as little as 1 per cent above inflation. Nearly one in ten firms will still pay bonuses if profits fail to beat inflation." (Times, 4 February) RD

NO PROBLEM FOR YOUR KIDS

Last week, cupcake mogul Nigella Lawson, daughter of former chancellor Lord Lawson and heir to the Lyons Corner House fortune, said she had no intention of leaving her £15 million to her two children. "I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money," she said. ...Certainly, the tales of wayward heirs are legion. The 7th Marquess of Bristol blew £30 million of his family's money on drugs before dying at 44 of organ failure. Shipping heiress Christina Onassis had four unhappy marriages before dying of a suspected overdose of slimming pills aged 37. Edoardo Agnelli, son of Fiat's Gianni, converted to Islam, was arrested for drug possession in Kenya, and killed himself by jumping off a bridge at the age of 46. (Sunday Telegraph, 3 February) RD

one law for the rich , another law for the poor

From the Sunday Herald columnist Tom Shields and we have to agree much of what he wrote


A TORY MP is caught paying £82,000 from public funds in wages to his Hooray Henry sons; money for which they had done little or no work. The MP is suspended for 10 days on full pay. He is ordered to repay £13,000, leaving a nice little profit of £69,000 from this creative accountancy.
But he did say sorry to the House of Commons. He said: "The committee the committee on standards and privileges; that's as in many privileges and few standards was entitled to reach the conclusions that it did and I have accepted its criticisms in full. I unreservedly apologise to the House for my administrative shortcomings and the misjudgements I made."
The MP will be allowed to sit out the remaining time (potentially until May 2010) of this parliament, receiving £120,000 in wages and God knows how much extra in expenses.

Meanwhile, not so long ago, a Glasgow single mother appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court after claiming £18,000 in housing benefits to which she was not entitled. She admitted making the false applications after her husband left her. She used the money to pay her mortgage so that she would not have to leave the area and move her autistic son from his special-needs school.
She was jailed for a year. Sheriff Charles McFarlane QC opined: "This is a serious matter which resulted in collecting a significant amount of money for a considerable time. A custodial sentence is the only one for what was a blatant crime on your part."
The woman collapsed as she was led down to the cells.

Derek Conway MP did so to fund a champagne lifestyle for his sons Freddie and Henry. The woman took the money to make life a little more bearable for her son.

Another typical case: a woman was hauled before Chester crown court accused of making fraudulent claims. She had received £74,000 in benefits over 11 years. This is almost as much as the Conway family coined in, but the circumstances were somewhat different. The woman had brought up seven children, five of her own plus two of her late sister's. Her crime was that she did not declare that for one of those 11 years she had a job as a cleaner.
The judge, obviously a perspicacious kind of fellow, said in handing out a nine-month suspended jail sentence: "I take into account the fact your life wasn't easy and you were trying to care for your family. This was not a lavish lifestyle funded by fraud."
He also said: "This is a very serious offence." Obviously, society cannot tolerate a woman taking a wee cleaning job on the side to feed her seven weans.

The honourable gentleman should face criminal charges for misuse of public funds. Henry and Freddie should be in the dock for knowingly accepting money under false pretences. Mrs Colette Conway is also in the frame. As her husband's secretary (on £40,000 a year) she must have been aware of what was going on.