A BLEAK FUTURE

"More than 200,000 extra children will be in poverty by 2013 because of cuts in housing benefits and tax credits, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. Martin Narey, chief executive of Bernardo's said: "Children's life chances are being compromised by putting child poverty targets on hold - affecting the future of our society." (Times, 17 December) RD

FRESH AIR PAYMENT?

We are being told that "Our Resources" are being wasted, we must recycle newspapers glass etc.
A socialist would agree that there is much wasted in a capitalist world, saving newspapers may save the amount of trees felled, but he would no doubt be aware that the ownership of the trees are not his and any savings made would benefit the capitalist owners of trees, not him.  However, a socialist agrees recycling is something that would benefit the planet and would certainly be encouraged in a socialist society where the common ownership and control of the world's resources would be used to benefit everyone not the privileged few.

An article in the Sunday Herald( 19^th December 2010 ) demonstrates once again that the profit motivation of capitalist society throws a spanner into what would appear could never be a problem,

   "Scotland is aiming for "zero waste" by attempting to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste created. Over the last five years the amount of waste recycled by Scottish local authorities has risen from 17% to over 37%."

Can't be much wrong with that one would think, but in a capitalist world some people own the land and they want to make a profit, so if you want to dump your waste you must get signed up in a contractual manner and pay for the privilege of dumping, dressed up to a better term called landfill.

      Council taxpayers who have successfully boosted their recycling face multi-million pound bills for failing to dump enough waste on landfill sites, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

As can be seen from this link, the success of recycling by the councils have caused problems which certainly would not arise in a socialist society.

" This means that much less waste is being disposed of as landfill, where it rots and causes noxious pollution. But some councils signed contracts with waste companies in the 1990s that oblige them to deliver minimum amounts of waste to landfill sites every year.

The City of Edinburgh Council signed a contract in 1995 under which it now has to supply 110,000 tonnes of waste a year to a landfill site near Dunbar in East Lothian run by waste company, Viridor.

A report estimated that shortfalls in meeting this could end up making the council liable for "fresh air payments" of £2.5 million a year for three years from 2017. This is because of Government plans to introduce bans on some kinds of waste being dumped as landfill.

"It is ridiculous that Edinburgh is locked into a contract which requires it to either generate rubbish, or pay for empty landfill space," said Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy with WWF Scotland.

"This must act as a warning to all local authorities to avoid locking themselves into long-term landfill or incinerator contracts which undermine progress to cut waste volumes and increase recycling."

Edinburgh council argued that it had to honour contracts it had signed in the past. "Our aim, along with the Scottish Government, is to minimise the amount of waste being sent to landfill. We are extremely proud of our successes in recycling to date," said a council spokeswoman.

"We don't yet know the impact new Scottish Government legislation will have on our contractual commitments to Viridor. However, if we are still bound to pay for any shortfall, the maximum exposure would be £2.5m per annum from 2017 to 2020."

Several other councils are thought to have long-term landfill contracts that could give them similar headaches. Dumfries & Galloway Council admitted that it was committed to a minimum tonnage of waste going to landfill."We're not currently liable for 'fresh air payments', though we could be in the future," said a council spokesman. "But we want to reduce our waste. Income from processing waste from private waste companies could offset any future fresh air payments."

Viridor, part of the £3.9 billion Pennon Group, claims to be the largest waste and recycling company in Scotland. Last week it was given the go-ahead for a £200m incinerator at its Dunbar site."

HOLLYWOOD IT ISN'T

"For national organizations trying to eradicate homelessness, Los Angeles with its 48,000 people living on the streets, including 6,000 veterans, according to one count stands as a stubborn anomaly, an outlier at a time when there has been progress, albeit modest and at times fitful, in so many cities. Its designation as the homeless capital of America, a title that people here dislike but do not contest, seems increasingly indisputable. "If we want to end homelessness in this country, we have to do something about L.A.; it is the biggest nut,"said Nan Roman, the president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. It has more homeless people than anyplace else." (New York Times, 12 December)  RD     

shooting estates rise

The multimillion-pound Scottish sporting estate market has had an extremely successful year in an otherwise relatively static property market, according to an estate agent.

The average size of estate has increased from 3700 acres to 4467 acres and the average sale price has increased from £.2.6 million to £3.5 million. Offers have risen from an average of 2% over the asking price to 6% over the asking price.

Robert McCulloch, an associate in the Edinburgh office of estate agents Strutt & Parker who specialises in the sale of farms and estates, said: “In short, despite the pessimism which inevitably accompanies the present ‘age of austerity’, the Scottish sporting estate market is in good health and appears set to remain so.”

Okay for some , eh?

THE PRICE OF CHEAPNESS

"Fire tore through a Bangladesh garment factory, killing at least 25 workers who made clothes for Western retailers including Gap and injuring more than 100. Most of the victims died after jumping from the 11-storey building, witnesses said. Workers said that some of the exits were locked." (Times, 15 December) RD

THE PRICE OF COAL

"Most of the workers at a New Zealand pit where 29 miners were killed last month have been made redundant. The move came after receivers were called in by Pike River Coal's largest shareholder. The workers are entitled to a maximum payout of £9,000. The colliery, where the dead miners remain buried, is still closed but it is hoped that it will reopen." (Times, 15 December) RD

slavery paid

Scottish businessmen collectively received the equivalent of £2 billion for loss of “property”on the outlawing of slavery, according to new research by a network of historians.

During the 1830s, the UK exchequer paid out £400,000 to around 100 Scottish claimants, mostly with Glasgow addresses.

The sums were to compensate for the freeing of their slave labour force. The total amount for the UK was £20 million. If equated to a proportion of national income at that time, the Scottish figure alone is equivalent to around £2bn in today’s terms.

Compensation to slave-owners was achieved largely due to the lobbying efforts of the West India societies, of which Glasgow had one of the most influential. The activities of the society, founded in 1807 and continuing to lobby on behalf of Caribbean sugar interests until the 1960s.

HEAT OR EAT

"Vulnerable people are going without food in order to keep the heating on while fuel bills rise and temperatures plummet, a support group claimed yesterday. Citizens Advice Scotland said people have been going to drastic measures such as skipping meals and living, sleeping and eating in a single room to cut their fuel bills. And it warned more people risk being dragged into fuel poverty this Christmas as they struggle to cope with the double whammy of excessively cold weather and high fuel charges. "One third of Scots are now officially living in fuel poverty and that is completely unacceptable," CASS chief executive Lucy McTernan said." (Metro, 17 December) RD

HONESTY, THE WORST POLICY

The owning class and its supporters are fond of lecturing the working class on the virtues of honesty but in practice our masters are anything but virtuous. "Weir will today admit making corrupt payments to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The Glasgow-based engineer, which makes pumps and valves used in the oil and gas industry, will plead guilty to breaching UN sanctions after reaching a plea deal with Scotland's highest prosecutor. As part of the deal with the Crown Office, Weir has agreed to pay back £14 million in profits from contracts secured between 2000 and 2002 as a result of the kickbacks." (Times, 14 December) RD

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

We all love that time just before midnight when we cuddle our sweethearts and friends and wish each other a happy new year. We ignore reality. For one time in our crazy and apparently pointless life inside capitalism we celebrate just being alive. One of the reasons that we cannot be too joyful is that we remember what a shitty society we all live in.
"Millions of families are struggling to pay their bills- and the number is likely to increase in the new year, according to a new analysis from the Bank of England. The report published today shows that two fifths of households have difficulty from time to time or constantly in meeting their monthly bills, compared with a third last year, and more than a half regard their overdrafts or credit cards as a burden." (Times, 13 December)
Behind the dry statistics we are talking about human misery and anxiety. RD

THE "BENEFITS" OF RELIGION

"Scores of Israeli rabbis have added their names to a document calling on Jews to avoid renting or selling property to non-Jews. The statement, signed by 300 religious figures, has prompted calls for prosecution for incitement to racism." (Times, 10 December)    RD

debt rising

Research contradicts comments made by Lord Young, the Tory peer who resigned as an adviser to David Cameron after saying "the vast majority of people in the country today have never had it so good" since the Bank slashed rates to 0.5pc.A study, conducted by NMG Financial Services Consulting for the Bank of England , shows that almost half of all households are concerned about their debt – largely because soaring credit card rates are eroding savings from lower mortgage costs. Rates on credit cards have risen from 17.8pc in November 2007 to 18.7pc, according to the Bank, despite a cut in base rates from 5.75pc to 0.5pc.

In addition, NMG notes that 48pc of all households are on fixed-rate mortgages, "paying about £680 a month in comparison with about £530 a month for those on trackers or variable rates" for equivalent sized mortgages. Households with high loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages or renting are struggling the most, the survey says, with the proportion resorting to credit card debt rising: The fraction of high LTV mortgagors with unsecured debt had risen between the 2009 and 2010 surveys, from 68pc to 92pc.

Despite record low interest rates, half of respondents reported a fall in monthly disposable income after tax, mortgage, rent, bills and other loan payments. Nearly a third, 29pc, said their debt concerns had risen over the past two years, compared with just 12pc who are now less worried

UK consumer borrowings are around £1.45 trillion and have not begun to shrink. The Bank has already warned that more than one in two people with "unsecured" debts, such as credit cards or personal loans, are struggling to cope.

A challenge to debate

Harvey Duke, Organiser at Dundee Unemployed Support Centre, said: “Iain Duncan-Smith says he wants to cut all benefits, just as thousands of jobs are to be cut. Dundee Unemployed Support Centre challenges him to come to Dundee, where 24% of families already live in poverty, and debate his cuts in a public meeting. It's one thing to attack the poorest families from the comfort of a London club. It's another thing to look in the eyes of those whose incomes he will slash.Unemployed workers are fed up being told we are all scroungers. Some of us have worked for decades. We don't need threats or slave labour. We need and demand real jobs with a living wage.”

Dundee has the highest levels of poverty in Scotland with 24% of families officially classed as poor.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said; “Iain Duncan-Smith should have the guts to stand up in front of the communities at the sharp end of his welfare cuts, like the people of Dundee. If he refuses to meet with the Unemployed Centre it will show in the clearest terms that this ConDem Government doesn’t have the bottle to justify their cuts plans to those who will be hit hardest.”

15 MILLION JOBLESS

"America's unemployment rate rose to 9.8 per cent in November, dealing a further blow to the recovery of the world's largest economy. Figures published yesterday revealed that the rate rose from 9.6 per cent in October, leaving 15 million people out of work." (Times, 4 December) RD

THE PROFIT MOTIVE AND CANCER

The notion that the medical world is devoted to the prevention of killer diseases is a widespread one, but often research is devoted more to treatments rather than cures, as can be seen from the following news item. "The pharmaceutical industry will always fund projects when it is in its best interests to do so. Cancer prevention is not currently one of these, and so Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health have to fund early detection, screening and prevention studies. It is amazing that less than 2 per cent of the total cancer research budget is spent on prevention. We live in a commercial world where nobody is willing to pay very much for vague prevention information - it has to be made more precise and more individual. People value treatment more than prevention, so that's where the profit now lies." (Daily Telegraph, 8 December) Less than 2 per cent of research spent on prevention because treatment is more profitable - truly capitalism is a cancerous society! RD

POOR CARE FOR THE POOR

If you are rich you live in a beautiful house, if you are rich you can afford an expensive education and if you are rich you will eat and drink of the best. Ah, that is all very well claim the supporters of capitalist reform but because of the National Health Service even the poor have excellent health care. Recent reports would seem to deny even that modest claim for reformism. "Nineteen hospital trusts are today exposed as having alarmingly high death rates in a major report that also reveals how hundreds of people are dying needlessly because of substandard NHS care. The Dr Foster hospital guide, which the Observer publishes exclusively today, discloses that tens of thousands of patients were harmed in hospital last year when they developed avoidable blood clots, suffered from obstetric tears during childbirth, had objects left inside them after operations or were not given immediate treatment after a stroke." (Observer, 28 November) It would seem that if you are ill it is much better being rich rather than poor, despite the claims of the reformers. RD

GREAT APES AND GREAT PROFITS

Capitalist governments are fond of flaunting their concern for the environment and the protection of endangered species but when it comes to making profits all such concerns are forgotten. "An African country (Democratic Republic of Congo) pleading for aid to protect its rainforests has granted licenses to two British-based companies to explore for oil in the forest home of endangered mountain gorillas. ...Soco International and Dominion Petroleum have been given permission to drill for oil inside the park. A UN report said that Virunga had the "greatest biological diversity of any park in Africa". More than half the world population of about 700 mountain gorillas is there." (Times, 4 December) When it comes to a choice between biological diversity and money-making oil there is only one winner as far as the capitalist class is concerned.RD

EMPLOYED BUT POOR

"Child poverty within working households is rising and now accounts for 58% of all UK cases, a report has found. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says there are 2.1 million impoverished youngsters in homes where parents are in work - up slightly on last year. Co-author Tom MacInnes said it showed work alone was not the answer to lifting people above the bread line. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was reforming the welfare system to ensure work always paid. Overall, the number of children living in poverty fell to 3.7 million, the report called Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion found. Mr MacInnes said: "With more than half of all children in poverty belonging to working families, it is simply not possible to base anti-poverty policies on the idea that work alone is a route out of poverty," he said." (BBC News, 5 December) RD

BREAD AND CIRCUSES

It is said by some historians that the rulers of Ancient Rome kept the lower orders in line by granting them bread and circuses. It could be said that today's rulers keep the lower orders in subjection by giros and day-time television. There are other way to keep the exploited placid - religion and nationalism. As we approach the celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns on 25 January many religious and nationalists people will ignore his internationalism and this magnificent attack on religion. Let us remind you of it. "The fear of hell is a hangman's whip to keep the wretch in order.". Burns saw it in the 18th century, why can't you? RD

Food for Thought

The Chilean miners have learned the lessons of capitalism well. While still trapped underground, they discussed how to make the maximum money their new-found stardom. They made a pact down below to preserve the material and hold back on information for a book or movie deal. Only a few have agreed to interviews and only for money, and giving only general information. One miner who is asking for $30 000 per interview, explained that he's out of a job and must act while the story still has interest. Others have asked for $1 000 per question.( Toronto Star, 13/Nov/2010).


The real cost of war is often hidden from view. We know about 150 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan because their bodies are paraded down the "Highway of Heroes", otherwise known as the 401 expressway, but we hear nothing of the wounded. Tanya Talga reported in the Toronto Star (7/Nov/2010) that the planes from Afghanistan arrive at Landstuhl, Germany, all day, seven days a week with as many as 80 injured soldiers in seats and stacked three deep on stretchers. Many will be permanently disabled and unable to work. They are looking at meagre pensions that don't pay the bills. Too bad they are not socialists and refuse to fight capitalism's wars. Unfortunately, most are well brain washed into the system as they get their training. One mentioned had lost most of both legs and one arm. He proudly displayed his tattoo on the piece of arm that was left, "God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot shoot, the courage to shoot the people I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." At the time of writing, the Canadian government is trying to stiff the injured soldiers out of their pensions by proposing a lump sum at a fraction of the cost of a lifetime pension.

John Ayers