HARD TIMES?

You may be threatened by unemployment and repossession of your home in the present economic turn down, but spare a thought for the plight of the billionaires and millionaires and their losses. According to the Sunday Times Rich List Indian and Russian billionaires have suffered badly and some of the UK-born have also felt the pinch.
"Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson is reported to have lost 56% of his wealth, shedding £1.5bn and is now worth £1.2bn. Meanwhile, Formula 1 motor racing Chief Bernie Ecclestone lost £934m, leaving him at £1.46bn, the list reported. The richest British-born billionaire is the land and property owning Duke of Westminster, who has seen his wealth shrink to £6.5bn from £7bn. In fourth spot are Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli: the former Miss UK winner and her husband have a £5.6bn fortune based on pharmaceuticals. Their fortune has shrunk by a relatively modest 12% over the year. But it is not all gloom - the former boss of supermarket chain Morrison, Sir Ken Morrison, has seen his fortune increase by 11%, making him worth £1.6bn. The wealth of Peter and Denise Coates, owners of Stoke-based online sports betting website Bet365, has gone up by 33%, to £400m. And Harrods boss Mohammed al-Fayed has benefited from a cheap pound - his fortune stands at £650m, up 17% on last year." (BBC Times, 26 April) RD

ATOMIC DEVASTATION

Capitalism is a very dangerous society with the threat of wars, world hunger, unemployment and crime a constant menace, but here is another less obvious peril.
"The nuclear test grounds in the wastes of the Gobi desert have fallen silent but veterans of those lonely places are speaking out for the first time about the terrible price exacted by China’s zealous pursuit of the atomic bomb. They talk of picking up radioactive debris with their bare hands, of sluicing down bombers that had flown through mushroom clouds, of soldiers dying before their time of strange and rare diseases, and children born with mysterious cancers. ...New research suggests the Chinese nuclear tests from 1964 to 1996 claimed more lives than those of any other nation. Professor Jun Takada, a Japanese physicist, has calculated that up to 1.48m people were exposed to fallout and 190,000 of them may have died from diseases linked to radiation." (Sunday Times, 19 April)
Even in so-called peace-time the competition between capitalist nation states can lead to death and disease. RD

THOSE "EXPERTS" AGAIN

"The global economy will contract sharply this year and recover only sluggishly in 2010, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday as it called on governments to sustain or even increase fiscal stimulus next year. The IMF said that world output would contract by 1.3 per cent this year and grow by just 1.9 per cent the year after in what it described as a “substantial downward revision” of its January forecasts, when it said that the global economy would grow by 0.5 per cent this year and spring back to 3 per cent growth in 2010."
(Financial Times, 22 April) RD

MINK FOR THE MUTTS

"While Russia's two-legged population feels the financial pinch, designer lines from sportswear to mink coats, evening gowns to bootees are being snapped up... for the nation's dogs. For mankind's four-legged friends the rigours of the Russian winter have long required some extra layers to keep out the cold. But the jewel-encrusted, over-the-top creations on offer today, together with perfumes, facial masks and Swarkovski-studded leads, go way beyond the imaginings of, say, the 19th century writer Anton Chekhov, who touched on the phenomenon of women and their dogs in "Lady with Lapdog." Unlocking the commercial potential of the instinct to pamper one's pooch are designers like Svetlana Abramova, who in 2004 launched her own brand, Very Stylish Dog (www.styledog.ru), and is now breaking into the foreign market." (Yahoo News, 18 April) RD

HELLO, HELLO WHAT'S ALL THIS?

The Metropolitan Police have recently come in for much criticism for their conduct at the recent London G20 demonstration, but compared to the police in China they must seem almost benign.
"In dealing with the subject, take care to leave no blood on the face, no wounds on the body, and no people in the vicinity,"
states the manual, entitled Practices of City Administration Enforcement. The book was reportedly designed as a training guide for the Chengguan, a type of police force that is charged with targeting anyone it feels is disrupting the peace, ridding China's cities of illegal street hawkers and unlicensed taxi cabs, and checking permits." (Daily Telegraph, 22 April)

UK POVERTY

It used to be said by SPGB speakers on the outdoor platform that the perfect worker as far as a capitalist was concerned was the following. Left school at 16 years of age went to work for the next 49 years, seven days a week, never a day off for sickness and earned a gold watch on his last day. On the Monday when he went to collect his first Old Age pension he dropped dead at the PO counter. The perfect worker! This may be looked on as a parody but it is not too far from the truth when we learn what is happening to old workers "fortunate" enough to live beyond the OAP.
"Elderly and vulnerable residents in almost half of Scotland's care homes are not receiving the palliative care, care to which they are entitled, according to a report. An investigation by the Care Commission found that 43 per cent of care homes did not realise that they should be providing palliative and end-of-life care. It also found that most care homes had failed to train staff to discuss death and dying with patients." (Times, 17 April) RD

WORLD POVERTY

From time to time everybody receives a charity appeal. It may be posted through your door or a leaflet in a newspaper. We receive so many of them that we tend to become a bit blasé about the whole charity thing, but a recent appeal from the Plan charity contained some particularly harrowing statistics.
"It's a tragic reality that one in five children born in the poorest countries won't live to see their 5th birthday. ...600 million children worldwide live on less that 70p a day - that's ten times the UK population. Working for more than 70 years and with over 100,000 child sponsors in the UK alone, Plan aims to help more children realise their full potential - and improve the lives of future generations."
Despite the sincerity and undoubted humanity of the Plan people the problem has got worse in the last 70 years. Workers contributing a pittance, to relieve the problem of world hunger are pointless. What we need is a transformation in the basis of society to one where all food, clothing and shelter are produced solely to satisfy human needs not to make a profit. RD

TOUGH AT THE TOP?

"Like those before him, Barack Obama is certainly reaping the benefits of high office. According to annual tax returns released by the White House today, he and his wife Michelle earned $2.66m in 2008, a figure that dwarfs the $400,000 salary he receives as president. Most of the money came from royalties for sales of Obama's books. His political tract, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in 2006 and has remained on the New York Times best-seller list for 67 weeks. While his autobiography, Dreams from My Father, has been on the list for 142 weeks and is currently at number eight." (First Post, 16 April) RD

MAD OR WHAT?

"Would you pay 145 pounds ($215) for a slice of very stale cake? That's what an antiques fair in Birmingham hopes to earn Thursday when people bid for the remnant from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings. The cake is thought to be the only surviving item from the 1871 wedding of Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise, to the Marquis of Lorne. It went on sale for 145 pounds ($215) Thursday at the Antiques for Everyone fair in Birmingham. The seller is antiques dealer John Shepherd. He bought the slice from a private seller who is a descendant of a noble family from Kent." (Yahoo News, 16 April) RD

DEBT AND DEATH

"Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today. The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.
"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine "Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well." ....Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death." (Independent, 15 April) RD

SKINT AGAIN

"Falling house prices have pushed more than 900,000 homeowners into negative equity, according to the industry body representing mortgage lenders. The latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders issued yesterday, reveals that the north-east of England has the highest proportion of people trapped in properties worth less than their mortgages. There, one in 10 owner-occupiers are in negative equity. By contrast, in East Anglia and Scotland it is one in 100. The council said that its latest national estimate compares with the more than 1.5 million homeowners left struggling under the weight of their home loans following the early 90s housing market crash." (Guardian, 17 April) RD

UNEXPECTED STRIKE SUPPORT

"Soldiers have warned the Government they must not be turned into strike-breakers if other public sector workers take industrial action against the proposed cuts in take-home pay. Pdforra, the association representing soldiers, sailors and air crew in the Defence Forces, is to seek an assurance from Defence Minister Willie O'Dea that the military will not be deployed to replace striking workers." (Irish Independent, 5 February) RD

HYPOCRISY AND THE CHURCH

In reviewing the BBC documentary Deliver Us From Evil shown the previous evening Andrew Billen the journalist had many shocking things to say about the Roman Catholic diocese of Los Angeles.
"There are an estimated 100,000 victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests living in the US today. Having spent millions fighting their claims, the diocese has, since the films release in America, paid out some $60 million in reparations to 45 victims, leaving another 500 cases pending." (Times,15 April)
The suffering and trauma experienced by these children can only be imagined. Capitalism is a cruel and heartless system and the RC church is one of its most bestial pillars of support. RD

LAND OF THE FREE?

"It's become a depressingly predictable event. Every few months, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a branch of the US Department of Justice, releases new figures showing that the US prison and jail population has grown yet again and has reached a new all-time high. The latest statistics, released last week, show that as of June 30, 2008, more than 2.3 million people were behind bars in this country -- an increase of almost 20 percent just since 2000. This gives the United States an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents - the highest rate in the world, dwarfing those of other democracies like Great Britain (152 per 100,000), Canada (116), and Japan (63). (Yahoo News, 9 April) RD

NO PROFIT, NO PILL

"A pill which could prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from heart disease, the biggest killer across the Western world, has been shown to be safe and effective in its first trials on humans. The magic bullet, containing five medicines in a single capsule, sharply reduced cholesterol and blood pressure levels and has the potential to "halve cardiovascular events in average middle-aged individuals", the researchers say. The finding is a major boost for a medication with huge potential against the worldwide epidemic of heart disease and stroke. Doctors say that, if further trials prove successful, all men aged over 50 and women aged over 60 should be offered the pill in what would be the first example of mass medication for the middle-aged in Britain. Yet no Western pharmaceutical company has shown interest in developing the so-called polypill because it does not promise big profits. It would sell for pennies because its five constituent medicines are cheap, have been around for decades and their patents have expired." (Independent, 31 March) RD

“NHS "TREATMENT"

"The NHS is today castigated for providing "inadequate" psychiatric help to vulnerable patients, as new figures reveal an average of four deaths a day among those in its care. Data collected by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) shows that 1,282 people in England died in what it calls " patient safety incidents in mental health settings" in the period 2007-08. Another 913 patients - more than two a day - suffered what is termed severe harm, or permanent injuries, in such incidents." (Observer, 12 April) RD

"DEMOCRACY" IN ACTION

"Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s camp was told last year that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would raise up to $5 million in campaign cash for the ex-governor if he was appointed to President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The overture came from at least two members of the local Indian community who approached the Blagojevich fund-raising team last fall, sources say." (Chicago Sun-Times, 13 April) RD

SHIPWRECKED

"Global shipping rates are set to fall by 74 per cent this year as commodity demand continues to fall in Asia and the massive glut of vessels ordered during the boom years finally takes to the seas. The expected collapse in rates, which could push dozens of ship-owners close to bankruptcy, comes after a 92 per cent decline in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) of shipping rates over the course of last year. The misery is expected to continue well into 2010, with a further 15 per cent drop in rates before any rebound brings relief to fleet-owners. The closely watched gauge of world trade in iron ore, coal and other bulk cargoes has fallen for 19 consecutive days, the same rate of decline that occurred after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, and the catastrophic freezing of trade finance. The stark warning of a continuing collapse in the BDI, issued by analysts at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong, comes after industry predictions of multiple order cancellations by ship-owners and forecasts that record numbers of vessels may be put into storage." (Times, 9 April) RD

NHS STARVATION

"More than 2,300 people died from malnutrition in NHS hospitals in England over the 10 years to 2007, according to official figures revealed yesterday to the Conservatives in a parliamentary answer. The data, from the UK Statistics Authority, showed the poorest performing regions were the West Midlands, where 409 people died from malnutrition, and the south east, where 388 died. Across England, the number of deaths increased from 209 in 1997 to 242 in 2007. Stephen O'Brien, the shadow health minister, said: "The least that patients should be able to expect is to be fed properly." (Guardian, 8 April) RD

A FEARFUL FUTURE

"It has often been said that water is "blue gold" and the next resource wars will be fought, not over oil, but over water. Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the United Nations on water issues, wrote that the way in which we view water "will in large part determine whether our future is peaceful or perilous." There is no doubt that the world's supply of drinkable fresh water is threatened. An astounding one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water today and that number is likely to reach 2.8 billion in only two decades. Will these challenges result in an all-out "water war"? "The British non-profit International Alert released a report identifying forty-six countries where water and climate stresses could ignite violent conflict by 2025, prompting the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to affirm, "The consequences for humanity are grave. Water scarcity threatens economic and social gains and is a potent fuel for wars and conflict." (The Nation, 31 March) RD