DESPERATE FOR WORK

"A 12-year-old boy was among eight suspected illegal immigrants rescued from a chemical tanker suffering breathing problems, police have said. The eight stowaways have all now been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences after receiving hospital treatment. A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that two of the stowaways, including the 12-year-old boy, were Eritrean, three were Iraqi Kurds, and the other three were Iranian. The 55-year-old driver of the German-registered tanker stopped in Abbeywood, south east London, was earlier arrested on suspicion of people trafficking. Workmen laying water pipes reported hearing banging from inside the tank itself. Witnesses said they spoke to the driver before raising the alarm. Two children - boys aged 12 and 16 - were found inside along with five adult men and one woman. Ambulance and fire crews pulled the occupants to safety through a hatch on the top before they were treated with oxygen and taken to hospital."
(Press Association, 8 February) RD

DOING HIS BIT

"In an effort to show that he is cutting his carbon footprint, the Prince of Wales has chartered one of Britain’s biggest and most luxurious private yachts to undertake an 11-day tour of the Caribbean next month. Accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince will visit Jamaica, Trinidad, St Lucia and Montserrat on board the Leander, a 245ft (75m) motor yacht with 25 crew owned by Sir Donald Gosling, the multimillionaire who founded National Car Parks with a business partner on a bomb site in 1948 and collected £290 million when the company was sold in 1998. (Times, 8 February) RD

REF0RMISM FAILS AGAIN

It is a basic socialist principle that no programme of reforms can solve the problems of capitalism, but here is an example where well-intentioned reformism has made the situation worse. "Hospitals were last night accused of keeping thousands o f seriously ill patients in ambulance "holding patterns" outside accident and emergency units to keep a government pledge that all patients are treated within four hours of admission. ... An Observer investigation has also found that some wait for up to five hours in ambulances because A & E units have refused to admit them until they can guarantee to treat them within the time limit." (Observer, 17 February) RD

4 BILLION BUYS FORGIVENESS ?

"Step forward, metaphorically speaking, the late Leona Helmsley, aka the Queen of Mean – a woman who last year went to her final rest in a steam-cleaned mausoleum with her reputation for aggravated rich-bitchiness as rigidly intact as her double-Botoxed, triple-lifted features. She it was, the hard-faced old grasper, who left her dog $12m (£6m) but her grandsons nada unless they visited their father's grave. She it was who disinherited two other grandchildren, who sued her dead son's estate for money she said was owing, and who evicted her recently bereaved daughter-in-law from her home. And she, it famously was, who once said "only the little people pay taxes". But little people don't leave $4bn to charity when they die. Leona, amazingly, did; all four billion notes of it – as much as the cost to the US each month of being in Iraq, the price of 10 years of the worldwide polio eradication programme, and damn nearly what you would raise in the UK if you stuck a penny on everyone's income tax." (Independent on Sunday, 17 February) RD

The tax-free rich

From the Sunday Herald journalist Iain Macwhirter

...According to the BBC business editor, Robert Peston, the top 50 UK-based billionaires paid just £15 million in tax last year on a combined fortune of £126 billion.

In fact, most accountants say that for the modern rich - the 4000 Britons earning over £1 million a year - taxation has become largely voluntary, as there are so many ways of avoiding it.

The man likely to take over Northern Rock this week, Richard Branson, is a champion in offshore tax farming...

...This impoverishment of the middle classes has been disguised by the boom in house prices which gave people an illusion of wealth, as they were "eating" their houses by equity withdrawal - another name for debt...

... As people find out more about the way banks have been manipulating the system to pay themselves stupendous bonuses, attitudes are hardening. British society is no longer in thrall to wealth. Only this time it's the middle classes, not just the working class, who will be taking to the barricades as their living standards decline...

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.

FAT CHANCE

"They fought and nearly died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once discharged from the army, these men face huge personal problems - homelessness, unemployment and depression - without adequate support. But after doing their bit for their country, shouldn't their country do its bit for them?" (Observer, 3 February) RD

MONEY GRUBBERS

"Senior MPs are demanding an Office of Fair Trading investigation into greedy banks after Egg's decision to ban 160,000 customers from using their credit cards dramatically backfired. Egg's move was initially interpreted as a prudent decision to curb overspending in the light of worsening economic conditions. But hundreds of customers have bombarded internet message boards complaining that they are not 'high risk' but settle their debts every month and incur no banking charges. They claim they are being axed because they do not make any money for Egg, recently taken over by US giant Citigroup." (Observer, 3 February) RD

Fuel Poverty Again

Another contribution to the exposure of the problem of fuel poverty facing workers .

Nearly one in five families with children cannot afford to heat their homes because of rising energy bills, research has shown.

Around 19% of people with children under 17 admitted they were unable to keep their homes warm because of the cost of gas and electricity, according to Save the Children UK.

The group found that a further 15% of households had been forced to cut back on food, while the same proportion spent less on essential clothing in order to be able to pay their fuel bills.

The problem was twice as acute among the UK's poorest families, with 44% of households living off less than £15,000 a year saying they could not afford to heat their homes.

It found that paying for gas and electricity in this way was on average 26% more expensive than paying by direct debit, leaving the country's poorest families paying an extra £215 a year on average.It said British Gas had the biggest price difference, charging 58% more for electricity to pre-pay customers and 47% more for gas than those who paid by direct debit.

UK poverty spokeswoman at Save the Children, said: "Fuel poverty is an outrage, particularly for children. It means that they are experiencing the effects of cold on a daily basis. Children find it more difficult to do their homework in a cold home, and are more likely to suffer ill-health."

Another Failed Target

Further to the previous posting , the target to end fuel poverty in England by 2010 will be missed, according to Government's advisers .
The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group says more than a million vulnerable households will spend more than a tenth of their income on fuel by 2010.
"The Government's policies and lack of action have now made it impossible to meet the target" said the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group

Customers using prepayment meters for gas and electricity paid £140 a year more than those paying by direct debit or online. Those paying by cash or cheque faced bills of about £70 more than those on direct debit, said the group.

TOOTHLESS WATCHDOG

"The government will be publicly castigated this week over its failure to help poor people - by the watchdog that ministers set up to monitor fuel poverty. Ofgem, the energy regulator, will also be criticised for not stopping energy companies from making excessive profits at the expense of consumers. Peter Lehmann, chairman of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, will criticise the government over its record on fuel poverty, which he labelled 'incomprehensible, unjustifiable and shocking'. Consumers now pay more than 50 per cent more on utility bills compared with five years ago, yet energy companies' costs have risen by only a fraction of this. In the past month, four of the biggest suppliers have announced substantial rises in the price of gas and electricity." (Observer, 3 February) RD

SOCIALISM? WHAT'S THAT?

"Tony Blair has taken a second big job with a leading financial player, attracted by the prospect of working on its climate-change initiative. The former Prime Minister has joined Zurich, the Swiss company, as an adviser. The appointment, thought to be worth at least £500,000 a year, comes less than three weeks after he took a similar role with J P Morgan Chase, one of the biggest investment banks on Wall Street. That was believed to be a package worth about £2 million a year." (Times, 29 January) RD

SOME DEMOCRACY

When she was in power Mrs Thatcher called capitalism in Britain a "property owning democracy" as she introduced legislation to sell council housing. Her supporters must now be wondering what kind of "democracy" it turned out to be. "More than a million homeowners could be at risk of serious financial difficulty and possibly losing their homes in an economic slowdown, the City regulator warned yesterday. The Financial Services Authority is preparing for a tougher climate of rising inflation and a slower economy. It fears that many homeowners with large mortgages who have borrowed three and a half times their salaries or more could be at risk. The warning comes as surveyors predict today those 123 homes a day will be repossessed this year." (Guardian, 30 January) RD

The real leisure class

An article in The Times reveals the clubbing and pubbing of the wealthy but also exposes the true class nature of to-days society

“Mahiki aims to be egalitarian,” says Conway, an Old Harrovian promoter and fashion journalist . Conway organises the guest list. “If you can get on with anyone, no matter what walk of life you come from, you’re welcome.” But Mahiki excludes on the grounds of money. The drinks bills can be ruinous. The princes’ favourite tipple, the Treasure Chest – half a bottle of vodka, a bottle of champagne, fruit, ice, and eight straws – comes in at £112.50 [ Prince William once paid an £11,000 bar bill here.] “It’s true, money is the big equalising factor. It’s not about where you went to school...Money speaks.” says Conway.

Why is it Tuesday that is the most popular night out for the Sloanes and the rich and thier hangers-on and flunkeys ?

Luke Blackhall, a journalist explains why Tuesday has come to be the most popular night. “It’s the old thing of growing your fingernails to show you don’t do manual labour,” he says. “There is a kind of showing-off involved in going out really hard on a Tuesday night.”

AN UNCARING SOCIETY (2)

If you are old and poor inside capitalism then you are a very low priority to the owning class. "Just 358,000 households received home care in 2006 compared with 479,000 a decade earlier, while nearly three quarters of local authorities now refuse help to anyone whose needs are not considered "substantial" or "critical". Most of those with "moderate" needs, who can not carry out routine daily tasks such as getting out of bed, bathing and doing the washing up, are excluded, along with 275,000 pensioners with less intensive requirements - such as needing help to go to the shop. Another 6,000 elderly people with "high support needs", means they can not bathe or eat without assistance, receive no services and no informal care. Altogether, the CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) estimates 450,000 older people rely on friends and family to get by, even though they have been assessed as needing more help." (Daily Telegraph, 30 January) RD

AN UNCARING SOCIETY

Capitalism's priorities are to make profits and cut costs, so it is no surprise that the poorest, the sick and the mentally ill are treated in such a shabby fashion. "Mental health wards have become "tougher and scarier" places under the Labour government and many are so overcrowded that it is difficult for staff to deliver good care, the official watchdog for detained patients reports today. As an urgent priority, ministers must honour previous commitments that women patients should be safe from sexual harassment, abuse and assault and those children as young as 12 are no longer placed on adult wards, the Mental Health Act Commission's biennial report says." (Guardian, 30 January) RD

Bankrupt Scotland

From an editorial in The Herald

Although it is traditionally people on the lowest incomes who get into debt they cannot repay, the boom in consumer credit, fuelled by rising house prices, has brought many middle-class families to the point where they are only a couple of pay packets away from not being able to meet their repayments. It only takes one setback, such as their marriage ending or losing their job, to plunge them into unmanageable debt.

The 14.5% increase in the number of Scots being declared bankrupt between 2006 and 2007, however, is likely to be a harbinger of worse to come. The scale of the situation is brought home by the fact that the 1563 Scots declared bankrupt in the last quarter of 2007 amounted to nearly twice the average number for any three-month period three or four years ago.
This is a reflection of the record levels of personal debt (one estimate of Britain's debt from credit cards, loans, overdrafts and mortgages is £1.35 trillion) but when that level of borrowing collides with the current credit crunch, these personal disasters will be multiplied. That is expected to happen later this year as fixed-rate mortgages reach the end of their term and require to be renewed, with lenders imposing higher rates to reflect the overall increase in interest rates since August 2006.

There can be no doubt that the tide of debt is rising alarmingly. Home repossessions leaped by 30% in the first six months of last year and householders in Scotland cannot necessarily rely on the relative stability of the housing market north of the border to protect them from the perils of negative equity. Both Motherwell and central Glasgow have been pinpointed as high-risk areas on the latest map produced by the credit reference agency Experian.

With Scottish companies failing at a rate of approximately 55 per month and the Financial Services Authority describing 840,000 mortgages as a cause for concern, the outlook is particularly grim.

A GRIM FUTURE, GRANMA

"Increasing numbers of frail or infirm elderly people are struggling to cope after being unfairly denied social care as councils ration help, the care inspectorate revealed today. Many local authorities are using strict criteria to deny care even to those who cannot wash or dress unaided, according to the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Varying rules on who qualifies mean a postcode lottery applies, says the commission's third annual report. Fewer people qualify for social services care than three years ago, despite a 3% rise in the number of people over 75. And care rationing is expected to get worse: the number of councils funding only those needing "substantial" care increased from 53% to 62% in 2006-07 and is expected to rise to 73% of councils next year. (Guardian, 29 January) RD

WOW, REALLY PROGRESSIVE

After the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan we were told that there was now a more progressive government under President Hamid Karzan, but what is the reality? "An Afghan court in northern Afghanistan sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for distributing an article from the Internet that was considered an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, the judge in charge of the court said Wednesday. The student, Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, 23, who also works for a local newspaper, was charged with insulting Muhammad by calling the prophet “a killer and adulterer,” the judge, Shamsurahman Muhmand, said in a telephone interview." (New York Times, 24 January) RD

CAPITALISM LOVES CHEAPNESS

"The tiny village of Jucu in north-western Romania, which will host a new factory making Nokia mobile phones, currently, earns its livelihood from farming vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. It doesn't have a full-time doctor, a school-house or indoor toilets. Some 60 houses don't have running water. But it does -- still -- have relatively cheap labour. A decision by the Finnish mobile handset giant to move a major production line to Romania this year sparked rage in Germany over job losses, but in the nearby city of Cluj in Romania it calmed fears foreign investment was drying up." (Yahoo News, 25 January) RD

CAPITALISM KILLS

"A decade of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo is continuing to kill about 45,000 people each month - half of them small children - in the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, according to a new survey. The International Rescue Committee said preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by conflict have claimed 5.4 million lives since the beginning of the second Congo war in 1998, equivalent to the population of Denmark. Although the war officially ended in 2002, malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition continue to claim thousands of lives. The study of 14,000 households across Congo between January 2006 and April 2007 found that nearly half of all the deaths were of children under the age of five, who make up only 19% of the population." (Guardian, 23 January) RD

DREAM ON

"Tax avoidance by the super-rich costs the British taxpayer £13bn a year - enough money to increase old-age pensions by 20 per cent. The first ever forensic study of Revenue figures to establish the true scale of tax avoidance by some of the wealthiest people in Britain will pile pressure on the government to prevent the tax burden falling disproportionately on ordinary working people." (Observer, 27 January) RD

F1 - EFF THE SYSTEM

"A record price has been set for a British vehicle registration number plate after a businessman paid £375,000 to buy F1. Afzal Kahn, 37, smashed the previous record of £331,000 paid 18 months ago for M1, to purchase the plate from the Essex County Council. The Bradford entrepreneur, who has built a £75 million fortune through Kahn Design, his specialist car design company, plans to display the plate on his £317,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar." (Times, 26 January) RD

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY

"A restaurant in Britain's financial district has devised a 2,000-dollar-a-head menu for high-flyers to eat into their substantial bonuses, the Financial Times said Saturday. Vivat Bacchus has already taken at least half a dozen bookings for the 1,000-pound (1,347-euro, 1,980-dollar) meal since it began taking reservations on Friday, the business daily said. "Many of them work in the City and often ask for something unique during bonus season," co-owner Neleen Strauss was quoted as saying, adding that some people were unconcerned despite fears for the state of the world economy. "I have found over the years when bad news begins to circulate around the stock market, our City customers never fully lose their appetites," she said. The menu includes royal Seruga caviar, fresh Bahama rock lobster linguini, grilled Wagyu fillet steak, a 15-variety cheese board and chocolate souffle with clotted cream. Each course is washed down with its own glass of wine, including Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau D'Yquem, although diners can upgrade their vintages at extra cost." (Yahoo News, 26 January) RD

Child-care Blues

Childcare costs are rising above the rate of inflation, with parents paying more than £8,000 a year, a charity report suggests.

The Daycare Trust says costs nationally rose 5% last year. Inflation is 2.1%. The average cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under the age of two in England was £159 per week. It also said that the cost of childcare in out-of-school clubs had risen by six times more than the rate of inflation to an average of £43 a week.

The trust said that Britons paid more for childcare than elsewhere in Europe, and many did not claim tax credits and vouchers, which can lower costs.

"Claiming tax credits - which can cover up to 80% of childcare costs - and vouchers from your employer can cut the cost of childcare considerably." said Daycare Trust joint chief executive "But even so, parents in the UK are still paying a bigger share - around 70% on average - of this spiralling cost than their neighbours in Europe, where the average is nearer 30%."

Mortgage Blues

AROUND 123 homes will be repossessed every day during 2008 as people struggle to keep up with their mortgage repayments, research claimed today.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said just under 45,000 people would lose their home during the year as the cost of servicing a mortgage remains close to record levels .

The figure is in line with estimates from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which also expects 45,000 homes to be taken over by lenders, while City watchdog the Financial Services Authority said that 840,000 mortgages were a "cause for concern" due to their riskier lending characteristics.

It said a first-time buyer couple who were both on the bottom 25 per cent of earnings, bringing in £26,595 a year after tax, would now have to save the equivalent of 104 per cent of their joint annual take-home pay, or £27,729, in order to afford the deposit, fees and stamp duty for a typical home.

THE DISTORTION OF RESEARCH

David Hind, editorial director of The Bodley Head publishing, in a talk he gave at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce."Attacking astrology, New Ageism and religious fundamentalism is fun and profitable. The trouble starts when it distracts us from far more serious threats to reason...First let us look at the corporations. They pose as the trustworthy guardians of science, yet when they deem it necessary they will manipulate research to ensure the results fit their marketing needs. They even suppress research results outright, with sometimes lethal consequences. These are not accidental and occasional failings: maximising profits is what corporations are for....The pose of trustworthiness, for all its demonstrable falsity. Reaps them vast rewards, in the form of direct and indirect subsidies from the taxpayer. In the UK, for example, under a formula agreed by government and business at the end of 2004, 28 per cent of the money spent on branded drugs is earmarked to support R&D, a subsidy worth more than £2 billion every year. The largest part of this money is spent looking for ways to transform diseases of affluence and lifestyle disorders into chronic, and therefore revenue-generating conditions..." (New Scientist, 19 January) RD

BUSH IN SAUDI ARABIA

"As a Saudi soldier with a gold sword high-stepped in front of him, President Bush walked slowly beside King Abdullah through the shivery grey mist enveloping the kingdom, following the red carpet leading from Air Force One to the airport terminal. When the two stepped onto the escalator, the president tenderly reached for the king’s hand, in case the older man needed help. He certainly does need help, but not the kind he is prepared to accept. ...Blessed is the peacemaker who comes bearing a $30 billion package of military aid for Israel and a $20 billion package of Humvees and guided bombs for the Arabs." (New York Times, 16 January) RD

CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

"The Swiss company Caran d'Ache pays homage to watch making with a new limited-edition fountain pen. Known as the 1010—for the time at which a clock face is considered balanced, and which almost all watch ads display—the pen's body resembles watch gears and the clip a watch hand. Five-hundred silver-plated, rhodium-coated instruments will be sold for $19,000 apiece, and ten 18-karat-gold models will retail for $174,000. It's a sure way to add value to one's signature." (Newsweek, 28 January) RD

A BRAVE NEW WORLD?

"Here's a vision of the not-so-distant future: Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items — and, by extension, consumers — wherever they go, from a distance. A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them. In "Smart Homes," sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets — all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants' private lives." (Yahoo News, 26 January) RD

INDIAN RUPEE TRICK

Inside capitalism everything has a price even your organs as this news report from New Delhi shows. "As many as 500 poor labourers may have been tricked into operations by a gang of organ traders selling kidneys in a wealthy suburb of the Indian capital, according to a report Friday. Police in Gurgaon, home to call centres and high-rise buildings, raided a house late Thursday on a tip-off from a middleman who was arrested earlier this week, the Indian Express daily reported. Two people, including a doctor, were arrested while three others who had recently been operated on were taken to hospital, the report said. Two men who were yet to be operated on were also rescued. Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal told the paper that the labourers were paid between 50,000 (1,250 dollars) and 75,000 rupees for a kidney. The kidneys were later sold by doctors for between 800,000 and one million rupees, Lal said, citing information from those arrested Thursday. (Yahoo News, 25 January) RD