Election Fever

With the elections approaching , the media are hyping it all up as if some sort of real change is about to be in the offing , and the political party apparatchiks are out and about trying to convince the cynical and sceptical public to vote for their same old tried and tired solutions and policies .

We in the Socialist Party offer something a lot different .

Extracts from previous election statements .

Capitalism is past its sell-by date .

The world can now easily produce wealth sufficient to adequately house , feed , care for and educate the global population . Instead we see hunger, disease and homelessness around the world despite the concerns of governments, charities and popstars. Closer to home, in a "developed" nation like the UK , we see child poverty and an increasing gulf between rich and poor . Rates of depression and anxiety are becoming epidemic .Capitalism is failing : it now acts as a barrier , preventing production being geared to human need . Rather than keep trying to tinker with this system we should start looking beyond it to an alternative : a wageless , moneyless , classless world community based on production for human need , not profit ...

...candidates contesting this election (whether openly pro-capitalist or avowedly socialist) are asking you to believe that they can run this society a little bit better . We’d argue that history shows that the money system actually ends up running them . Their pre-election promises usually amount to nothing .So don’t vote for them - it only encourages the idea that capitalism can be made better. A vote for the Socialist Party in contrast, is a statement that you don’t want to live this way and that you think another world is possible .If you have confidence that humans can live and work co-operatively without the pressure of the wages system, or the rationing system of money , then visit www.worldsocialism.org ...

...What is apparent so far in this election is the extent to which all the parties try and manage the agenda for the election. They all want to encourage the debate to be round the handful of high-profile “flagship” issues where they feel on strong ground.

But its always phrased along the lines of “knocking on doors, we keep hearing that XXX is the real issue of the day”. Funnily enough, we don’t hear the Lib Dems, for example, say “recent canvassing returns indicate that voters actually don’t give a damn about our policies one way or the other”.The assumption is that voters are stupid and can only remember 3 or 4 things at a time, so why give them more than that to consider.What it all means is that the campaign may centre around a handful of issues only. That may appear to appeal to the Socialist Party. After all we are the ultimate single issue party - Abolish Capitalism. But while this is a single issue no-one is pretending that it is a simple case. Sure its not complicated, the case for putting human need ahead of profit, but soundbites don’t do our case justice.

We are also handicapped in the eyes of the modern voter by the fact that we are not in a position to make promises, and what’s more, we aren’t going to “do anything” for anyone. The other parties are falling over each other to be seen to be offering some immediate palliative...

...PEOPLE OR PROFIT
That's the issue in this election, says THE SOCIALIST PARTY . You will have your occasional ration of democracy with the opportunity to vote for a member of Parliament. It's all very well having a vote-but are you normally given any real choice?

Let's face it, if it wasn't for the politician's head on the front of the election leaflet,could you tell which party was which?It's tempting, in the absence of any real alternative, to get drawn into the phoney war that is political debate today.

Whether Labour, Tory, SNP, Lib Dem orSSP they all spout the same promises.But it always amounts to the same thing-they offer no alternative to the present way of running society.

Do you really think who wins an election makes any difference to how you live?

And do politicians (whether left-wing,nationalist or right-wing) actually have much real power anyway?

OK, they get to open supermarkets and factories, but it's capitalism and the market system which closes them down...

...We have endless problems of poverty, poor services and all the issues politicians love to spend time telling you they can solve, if only given the chance.

We don't believe any politician can solve these problems, as long as the flawed basis of our society remains intact. In fact, we believe only you and your fellow workers can solve these problems.

We believe that it will take a revolution in how we organise our lives, a fundamental change. We want to see a society based on the fact that you know how to run your lives, know your needs and have the skills and capacity to organise with your fellows to satisfy them.

You know yourselves and your lives better than a handful of bosses ever can.

With democratic control of production we can ensure that looking after our communities becomes a priority, rather than something we do in our spare time.

We all share fundamental needs, for food, clothing, housing and culture, and we have the capacity to ensure access to these for all, without exception.

If you agree with this aim, then we ask you to get in touch with us, get involved and join in our campaign to bring about this change in society. Together, we have the capacity to run our world for ourselves. We need to build a movement to effect that change, by organising deliberately to take control of the political offices which rule our lives, and bring them into our collective democratic control.

Our candidate makes no promises, offers no pat solutions, only to be the means by which you can remake society for the common good...

...The crumbs or the bakery?
Politics today is a game of Ins and Outs in which gangs of professional politicians compete with each other to attract votes, the gang securing a majority of seats in parliament assuming responsibility for running the political side of the profit system.To win votes the politicians have to promise -- and be believed -- to improve things both for the population in general, as by managing the economy so as to avoid slumps and crises, and for particular groups within the population.

When the economy is expanding or even just ticking over the Ins have the advantage. They can claim that this is due to their wise statesmanship and prudent management. Such claims are false as the economy goes its own way -- expanding or contracting as the prospect of profits rises or falls -- irrespective of which gang of politicians is in office. But making such claims can backfire as, when the economy falters, the Outs can blame this on the incompetence and mismanagement on the Ins. But that's not true either since politicians don't control the way the economy works.

But throwing crumbs to the people (or to carefully targeted sections of the people whose votes could swing things) is not the main purpose of government. Marx once wrote that the government is "but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie". And it's still true. The function of any government is to manage the common affairs of the capitalist class as a whole. This involves a number of things. Sustaining a context in which profit-making can continue. Spending the money raised from taxes (that are ultimately a burden on the capitalist class) in a prudent way on things that will benefit the capitalist class as a whole, such as providing them with an educated, relatively healthy and so productive workforce. Maintaining -- and if need be using -- armed forces to protect sources of raw materials, trade routes, investment outlets and markets abroad. That's what most government spending goes on, and balancing this against income from taxes is what budgets are essentially about.It is only because wage and salary workers, active or retired, have the vote that, occasionally if there's a small margin of money spare, a few crumbs are offered to some section or other of the electorate. No doubt, the pensioners, the home buyers and the families offered a few hundred extra pounds a year will accept these crumbs cast before them by Gordon Brown in yesterday's pre-election budget. Hopefully, they won't accept them as bribes to vote for his particular gang of politicians, but simply because it would be stupid not to pick them up.

Nowadays most people have learned by experience and are, rightly, just as cynical about the politicians and their promises -- and crumbs -- as are politicians about how they get people to vote for them. But cynicism is not enough. This should be turned into rejection. The game of Ins and Outs, to decide which gang of professional politicians should manage the common affairs of the capitalist class, only continues because most of us agree to take part in it. But by voting for them we in effect give them the power to keep the capitalist system going. And that, not which particular gang of politicians happens to be in office, is the cause of today’s problems since built-in to capitalism is putting making profits before satisfying people’s needs.

Socialists are only too well aware that most people put up with capitalism, and go along with its political game of Ins and Outs in the hope of getting a few crumbs out of it, because they see no practicable alternative. But there is an alternative... Politics should be more than individuals deciding which politicians to trust to deliver some crumbs that they think will benefit them individually. It should be about collective action to change society.

About taking over the whole bakery.

from B Gardner and D Lambert previous election addresses

Oh Lord

Acoording to the BBC:-

Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay , a leading Conservative Party donor , is still a tax exile three years after agreeing to become a UK resident to gain a peerage . When Lord Laidlaw was proposed for a working peerage in 2004 he agreed to a Lords' Appointments Commission request to renounce his tax exile status.

Last year, he was named as Scotland's second richest person, with a fortune of £730 million from conference and media enterprises. Laidlaw loaned the Tory party £3.5 million.

The Lords' Appointments Commission will "name and shame" him in a forthcoming review, but has no formal power to revoke his peerage.

Socialist Courier happily adds his name to our list of social parasites .

More Oily Profits

Continuing the Socialist Courier saga of the riches to riches story of the fortunate few .

Executive directors at Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy reaped the rewards of the oil and gas industry and shared in a £25 million cash-and-shares boardroom bonanza .

The company's directors' pay bill more than doubled, with chief executive Sir Bill Gammell netting £5.5 million in pay, benefits and shares.

In 2006, Gammell's basic pay and benefits increased 37% to £986,716, including a bonus equivalent to 100% of his £480,000 salary, plus further benefits worth £26,716. His short-term earnings were dwarfed, however, by a gain of £4,496,549 from the vesting of shares awarded under a long-term incentive plan (LTIP).

Exploration director Mike Watts pocketed £4.3 million. Watts also had reason to celebrate Cairn's share-price success in a year when his basic pay package climbed 31% to £581,844. This included a £350,000 salary and £210,000 bonus. Watts chalked up a gain of £3,724,869 on vesting of LTIP shares.

Group general manager Malcolm Thoms netted an LTIP gain of £3,359,503 to add to a £504,435 pay package.

Jann Brown, who succeeded Kevin Hart as finance director, and Simon Thomson, legal and commercial director, joined Cairn's board last November. They each enjoyed an LTIP share gain of nearly £1.7 million , as did Phil Tracy, engineering director. Brown and Thomson also each pocketed a £200,000 bonus .

Hart, the previous finance director , meanwhile, was paid £660,430 in his final year as a director before stepping down on November 17. He made a further £3,359,503 under LTIP.

This followed a series of bumper discoveries in Rajasthan, India , which saw the share price, which stood at 370p in January 2004, reach £25 last May.

Vote Socialist Party

Laying it on the line , with no weasel words , no kissing of babies , no false promises , no political platitudes .

And here once again , a clear , concise challenge for the voters to think before they choose .

Where no SPGB candidate is standing , declare for "World Socialism" by writing it across your ballot paper .

Tesco check-out

Going shopping ?? Getting the groceries ??

The UK's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, will smash its own national record this week when it unveils annual profits totalling more than £2.5bn, or close to £5,000 profit every minute.

Tesco business sales up from £39.4bn a year ago to an expected £42.7bn - more than the GDP of Peru.

Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has been named the most influential unelected person in the UK by a Guardian Unlimited panel .

One of the panel, Isobel Larkin of the TUC , said, "His future influence and actions on the effects of climate change, globalisation of the UK workforce, ethical trading and suppliers who employ vulnerable workers will be critical in determining whether his nomination is as a force for good or ill."

A reminder that it is Capitalism and the capitalists need to accumulate and accumulate that is the driving force in to-day's society and the striving for profits that determine the nature and future of the world ... unless , of course , we change the system .

ESCAPE 2

The previous item brings to mind the story that an old Glasgow speaker was fond of telling from the outdoor platform.
An Eastern potentate was visiting a Glasgow factory when the lunch-time hooter sounded and all the workers made a bee-line for the canteen. "Look out, sir. Your slaves are escaping." "Don't worry, Omar. Wait 40 minutes." Sure enough 40 minutes later the hooter sounded and the wage slaves streamed back into the factory. "Amazing", cried the eastern visitor. "I must buy some of these magic hooters." R.D.

ESCAPE 1

The Observer has a supplement each week called "Escape", containing articles about various holiday destinations, and, of course, many advertisements for holidays. Why do they call it "Escape"? It is targeted at all the people whose jobs are so boring or so stressful that they feel they can stand it only if they can get away for a short break in the summer. And the enormous size of the holiday industry shows that there are very many such people.

But how can such a holiday be called an "escape" when it is of strictly limited duration, and all the holidaymakers know they will have to go back afterwards to the very same conditions which made them long to "escape" in the first place? "Escape" is clearly the wrong word. Whoever heard of a daring escape from prison or a prisoner-of-war camp, when the successful escapee celebrated his release by going back in two weeks' time to the main gate and asking to be re-admitted? R.D.

Well Oiled

Next time you fill up your car at the petrol station think about B.P. retiring boss , Lord Browne .

Due to retire this coming July , it is estimated that his parting reward will be £5.3 million and a pension pot of £21.7 million which will provide him with a million a year . Add to that shares worth £14 million and performance-related shares that could be worth up to £30 milllion over the coming years. His accumulated wealth could potentially add up to £72 million .


LORD BROWNE'S PAYOFF
Leaving present
£5.3m
Pension pot
£21.7m
Accumulated shares
£14m
Share options
£1.4m
Performance shares
Up to £30m
Total
£72.5m

This , of course , when the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board criticised B.P. for cost-cutting orders from senior executives in BP's London headquarters that impaired safety at the Texas City refinery resulting in an explosion which killed 15 people and injured hundreds more and that those executives failed to provide effective safety leadership and failed to provide effective oversight.
The report accused BP's process safety management of being wracked with "material deficiencies", adding that the company’s failure to learn from mistakes at its Grangemouth refinery in Scotland contributed to the Texas incident citing a series of three serious incidents at the BP refinery in Grangemouth Scotland , in 2000 . BP officials wrote that meeting "cost targets" played a role in the Grangemouth incidents .

MOON PLOTS AND MOON PLOTTERS

Sir Patrick Moore, presenter of the Sky at Night programme, celebrated the programme’s 50th year by a skit involving him using a time machine to go back to his first programme on the BBC. It was all good fun, the moon and what it was made up with was guessed at in those days and some things he got correct.
Patrick then forwarded himself 50 years into the future and guesses were made at what could happen then, he spoke with Brian May who used to be the leading guitarist with the Queen and congratulated him on his Live Aid concert on the moon.

Live Aid on the moon? Fifty years from now! Now there is progress!

In a capitalist world the race to exploit resources can lead to war. The common ownership of planet earth remains the most important task the working class must achieve, this article demonstrates the futility of leaving the planet in the hands of people who believe the moon and the rest of the solar system is there for their benefit.

Who owns the moon? Some think it is an American, because he is selling plots and making a very good living apparently.
From his office in Nevada, entrepreneur Dennis Hope has spawned a multi-million-dollar property business selling plots of lunar real estate at $20 (£10) an acre.

If Patrick has guessed the future correctly we shall be listening to Live Aid urging us to contribute what little we have while capitalists plot over the plots on the moon.

The Moon, claims Prof Jerry Kulcinski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, could become the Persian Gulf of the 21st Century.

‘If we had gold bricks stacked up on the surface of the Moon, we couldn't afford to bring them back. This material - at several billion dollars a ton - is what makes it all worthwhile.’

What’s it to be Live Aid or Socialism? I know my choice.

Wall St Wealth

Normally, Socialist Courier exposes the wealth of our local Scottish capitalists but on this occasion the Independent has revealed just how financially rewarding it is to be an American stock-market speculator and parasite .

Chief executive of Morgan Stanley bank , John Mack , took home $41.4m (£21m) last year but Trader Monthly , the journal of investment hedge fund managers , showed that even he would not have made their Top 100 List . The average take home pay of the 100 on the list was $241million and the total earnings for the list was $24.1billion.It is not a list of net worth and does not take into account stocks, options or anything other than cash made in the year .

T. BOONE PICKENS , oil trader , $1bn-$1.5bn

JOHN ARNOLD $1.5bn-$2bn , Mr Arnold's fund ended the year with a 317 per cent profit on its estimated $1bn of assets. About half of the fund is believed to be Mr Arnold's own money, cash he made at Enron

JAMES SIMONS , $1.5bn-$2bn , controls $24bn in assets and charges clients 5 per cent a year to look after their cash

EDDIE LAMPERT $1bn-$1.5bn , one of the doyennes of the buy-out industry, snapping up companies in the retail sector such as Kmart and Sears, and raking in cash through his $18bn (£9.1bn) ESL Investments fund.

STEVIE COHEN $1bn , whose hedge fund manages $5.5bn in assets and is one of the busiest trading businesses - made net returns of 30 per cent.

Socialists have always agreed with Sir Harvey Jones , a former chief executive of ICI commenting on modern capitalism - "Business is getting more corrupt...The stock market ... has purely become a gambling den..."

Who owns the Moon

In a previous blog we reported on the possible future exploitation of the Arctic regions . Here we pass on a BBC report on how The Moon is now up for grabs .

Nevada, entrepreneur Dennis Hope has taken advantage of a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and he has been claiming ownership of the Earth's Moon - and seven planets and their moons - for more than 20 years. Hope says he has so far sold more than 400 million acres (1.6m sq km) , that has already made him $9 million (£4.5 million).

But the real development that is about to take place is that, within a matter of decades, the Moon will be much more than a scientific outpost; it could become a vital commercial frontier.

President George Bush in January 2004 committed the US to returning to the Moon by as early as 2017. He said the US aimed to establish a long term lunar base by around 2020.

China - which has already successfully launched two manned space missions - has announced a similar timetable.

Russia, for nearly 50 years one of the world's leading space powers, may not be far behind.

Europe, Japan and India have also expressed an interest.

Large private companies and rich entrepreneurs have also seen a new business opportunity.
One of the biggest is US space contractor Lockheed Martin, which is currently developing technologies that will enable future lunar residents to exploit the lunar surface.
In particular it is working on a process which will convert moon dust into oxygen and water. It may even be able to turn it into rocket fuel.

But this is peanuts compared to what scientists believe is the real prize lying in the moon rocks.

Data collected from the Apollo Moon landings have indicated that large deposits of an extremely rare gas called helium 3 are trapped in the lunar soil. Plans are already afoot in the US and Russia to strip-mine lunar helium 3 and transport it the 240,000 miles (385,000km) back to Earth.

The Moon, claims Prof Jerry Kulcinski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison , could become the Persian Gulf of the 21st Century.

Rich Ba**ards

450 skilled staff at engineering company Weir Group at Cathcart were recently given notice of impending redundancy , whereas , the Herald reports that the company's chief executive Mark Selway banked £999,737 in 2006, £94,000 more than in the previous year and more than twice the £484,000 he was paid in 2004. In addition to a basic wage of £531,940, Selway received a bonus of £448,800 and other benefits worth £18,997. Selway's maximum bonus has been increased from 85% of salary to 125%, putting him on course to pocket nearly £700,000 in annual bonus alone from 2007.

Weir's company secretary Alan Mitchelson, 57, was paid just under £500,000 - £60,000 more than in 2005 and almost double his total remuneration two years previously. Mitchelson's package comprised basic pay of £283,350, a bonus of £200,250 and other benefits worth £14,615. For Mitchelson, the maximum potential bonus has risen from 75% of salary last year to 100%.

Weir's non-executive directors shared £363,258 in 2006, 12% more than the previous year, and will get more in 2007. Chairman Sir Robert Smith, who received £147,000 last year, had his remuneration increased to £175,000 on April 1. The basic fee for non-executives rose from £35,000 to £40,000 on the same date.

Commenting, Kenny Jordan, regional officer at trade union Amicus, said:-

"Our members' reward for those profits has been a below-average pay offer and uncertainty about the future of their jobs..."

I have news for union official Jordan - Capitalism doesn't exist to reward workers and it's from exploiting workers through the wages system that those profits arise in the first place .

Meanwhile , elsewhere , Keith Cochrane, former chief executive of transport giant Stagecoach, was paid £321,050 for six months work following his appointment as group finance director in July 2006. This included a bonus of £129,375 and the maximum potential bonus has risen from 75% of salary last year to 100% meaning bigger potential bonus next year .

Some have it very good , eh ?

It is the same , same old story which the Socialist Party is determined to work to end for once and for all .

Fat Cat Capitalism

Continuing our exposure of those over-paid lackeys of capitalism as reported by The Herald.

Scottish Widows chief Archie Kane's pay package has soared by nearly 50% in just two years - Lloyds' annual report shows that Kane earned £1,252,000 last year, a 36% increase on the £919,000 he banked in the previous 12 months and 46% more than in 2004. Last year's package included a basic salary of £500,000 and a performance bonus of £715,000, together with other benefits worth £37,000.

Kane also saw his pension boosted by £715,000 in 2006. This gives him a personal retirement pot of £4.4million and entitles him to an annual pension of £265,000, up from £240,000 in 2005.

Lloyds TSB's annual report also reveals that basic pay rates and potential bonuses for the bank's executive directors were greatly increased from January 1 this year. Kane got a 10% rise in his basic salary, to £550,000, and his potential bonus was increased from 150% of salary to 200%. Kane could earn £1.1m in bonus alone in 2007.

The maximum potential bonus has been increased for all Lloyds executive directors from 150% to 200% - with the exception of chief executive Eric Daniels, for whom it has risen from 175% to 225%. Last weekend it was disclosed that Daniels received a 27% jump in his total pay last year to £2.4million .

Although Socialist Courier directs browsers attention to these income inequities , we do so , not out of shallow envy . We do not advocate increased equalisation of income . We simply wish to point out that these privileges and disparities are built into the capitalist system and that the whole edifice has to be abolished , not just the unpalatable parts .

Scottish Poverty

More on Government poverty figures , further to our previous blog on poverty .

Almost one million people in Scotland are living in relative poverty, according to latest figures.
The statistics showed that 980,000 Scots were living in relative poverty (after housing costs) in 2005/06 - an increase of 20,000 on the year before.

The statistics showed that the number of working age adults in relative poverty was up by 30,000 to 620,000.

The figures showed a standstill in the number of children in relative poverty (250,000) and absolute poverty (150,000). 12% of all youngsters live in absolute poverty.

The figures for the number of pensioners affected by relative poverty remained at 150,000.

And according to another report from Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes . More than 1.7 million households have become "fuel poor" since 2003 as a result of rising bills . Overall three million households spend more than 10% of their income on electricity and gas - the definition of fuel poverty, the group said. In 2001 the government said it wanted to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 - another political spin yarn from Labour .

"For thousands of people, the prospect of a warm and comfortable home is now a luxury that they cannot afford," Nicholas Doyle, a spokesman for the Partnership said. "The stark reality is that many people from low-income backgrounds are now faced with the unenviable choice of deciding whether to heat their homes or provide for their family ."

Capitalism Cannot be Reformed

From The Guardian

New figures showed the first rise in the number of children living in relative poverty in nearly 10 years.

Despite New Labour's key promise to halve the problem by 2010, today statistics revealed a 100,000 jump in the number of children living in relative poverty last year.
Official figures showed that 2.8 million children were living below the relative poverty line in 2005/06, with the figure rising to 3.8 million after housing costs were factored in. This represents an increase from 2.7 million and 3.6 million respectively on the previous year.

The chief executive of Barnados, Martin Narey, called it a "moral disgrace"

Colette Marshall, the UK director of Save the Children, added: "The child poverty target, supposedly one of the government's chief priorities, is now in serious jeopardy. If the government is genuinely committed to the target of halving child poverty by 2010 then urgent action and investment is needed, not just the piecemeal measures that have been announced so far."

What we said in June 1999 :- "Poverty is an inescapable part of capitalist society. It can be abolished, but only when there is a fundamental change in how we organise society. That is way beyond any policies or even concepts of the Labour Party."

What we said in April 2002 :- " Because it relies on the uncertainties of the market system and the use of money, the hope of any Labour government ending child poverty is impossible. Labour and Tory governments having been making the same promise for many years and they have all failed. "

To fight the same old welfare reform battles over several decades is demoralising enough, but when previous reforms are put into reverse the case against the system which puts profits before needs is stronger than ever.

A longer life, who benefits the most?

Altering atoms in food, it is claimed, could increase our life span.
The Metro, march 26th 2007.
Worms fed nutrients containing natural isotopes reportedly lengthened their life by a tenth. Scientists believe they may have found a way to slow the ageing process and say that, if further tests are successful, the implications are profound.
The article names some of the scientists and gives more details concluding that, preliminary findings indicate that ‘this approach can potentially increase lifespan without adverse side effects’.
Living longer is a problem in capitalism; the recent debate re increasing the retirement age and pensions still goes on. So who benefits the most if this all proves a reality?The answer is not difficult to find, members of the capitalist class will continue to live a life of wealth and luxury while making sure we retire at further distant retirement ages, that is unless we the working class refuse to abolish the capitalist system and the adverse side effects.

Another Banker

Further to the previous post , according to the BBC

A Barclays Bank executive earned £22million in salary, shares and bonuses last year, becoming the highest earner among firms in the FTSE 100 index . The total pay for Bob Diamond, head of Barclays investment banking service, dwarfed chief executive John Varley's salary and bonus package. Mr Diamond's basic salary was just £250,000 - with the rest made up of bonuses and cashed-in share options.

So are you struggling to pay your bank account over-draft off ?

Another Bunch of Bankers

From The Herald :-

Just exactly where are some of those bank charges that you are paying going to ? :-

Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBOS, banked a pay and benefits package worth £1.75m last year for 5 months work , the bank's annual report revealed . Hornby's 2006 remuneration included a cash performance bonus of £606,000

Peter Cummings, chief executive of Bank of Scotland Corporate , had a salary of £547,000 swollen by a performance bonus of £825,000, which took his total package including other benefits to £1.5m.

Jo Dawson, formerly group risk director and now chief executive of the insurance and investment division from March 1 pocketed £514,000 for the year, including a bonus of £211,000.

Benny Higgins, spirited away from Royal Bank of Scotland by HBOS to head the retail banking division, was recruited on a basic salary of £625,000 but with the potential to earn £2.75m in a full year. He received £1.1m in 2006 after joining HBOS on May 1, including a bonus of £435,000.

Sir James Crosby , the ex-chief executive of HBOS banked £1.2m in his final year.

Who owns the North Pole ?

An article about one of the lesser discussed effects of the global warming .

It could open the North Pole region to easy navigation for five months a year, according to the latest Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, an intergovernmental group. That could cut sailing time from Germany to Alaska by 60 percent, going through Russia's Arctic instead of the Panama Canal.

Or the Northwest Passage could open through the channels of Canada's Arctic islands and shorten the voyage from Europe to the Far East.

And provide easier routes to Arctic areas that the U.S.Geological Survey estimates holds as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas and Russia reportedly claims its slice of the Arctic sector possesses a potential in minerals approaching $2 trillion.

And the geo-political effect - a scramble for sovereignty over these suddenly priceless seas.

" We all realize that because of global warming it will suddenly be an area that will become more accessible" said Peter Taksoe-Jensen, head of the Danish Foreign Ministry's legal department.

Norway and Russia have issues in the Barents Sea; the U.S. and Russia in Beaufort Sea; the U.S. and Canada over rights to the Northwest Passage; and even Alaska and Canada's Yukon province over their offshore boundary. Canada, Russia and Denmark are seeking to claim waters all the way up to the North Pole, saying the seabed is part of their continental shelf under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Norway wants to extend its claims on the same basis, although not all the way to the pole.

Canada and Denmark have both staked their claim to Hans Island , half-square-mile of barren uninhabited rock, just one-seventh the size of New York's Central Park, wedged between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Danish-ruled Greenland , at the entrance to the Northwest Passage , with flags and warships.

Canada says the Northwest Passage is its territory, a claim the United States hotly disputes, insisting the waters are neutral. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged to put military icebreakers in the frigid waters "to assert our sovereignty and take action to protect our territorial integrity."

Russia contests Norway's claims to fish-rich waters around the Arctic Svalbard Islands, and has even sent warships there to underscore its discontent with the Norwegian Coast Guard boarding Russian trawlers there. "Even though they say it is about fish, it is really about oil,"

In 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the sovereignty issue "a serious, competitive battle" that "will unfold more and more fiercely."

Capitalism - cut-throat competition

“ This is pocket money for me.”

(Subscribe to the revolutionary press)

According to the press , Japanese property mogul Genshiro Kawamoto , one of Japan’s richest men , has handed over three of his many multi-million-dollar homes in Oahu’s most expensive neighbourhood to homeless and low-income native Hawaiian families.Dorie-Ann Kahele’s accepted the key to a white-columned house worth nearly €3.8m. Her family will live in the mansion rent-free.Kawamoto plans to open eight of his 22 Kahala neighbourhood homes to needy Hawaiian families, who will be able to stay in the homes for up to 10 years.

Kawamoto laughed when asked if he was concerned about losing money on the effort, saying: “This is pocket money for me.”

Kawamoto owns dozens of office buildings in Tokyo and his been buying and selling property in Hawaii and California since the 1980s.He has been criticised for evicting tenants of his rental homes on short notice so he could sell the properties, as in 2002, when he gave hundreds of California tenants 30 days to leave. Two years later, he served eviction notices to tenants in 27 Oahu rental homes, saying they had to leave within a month. He said he wanted to sell the houses to take advantage of rising prices.

I believe readers of this blog will tend to agree with the comments of the neighbour who stated:-

“Everyone’s paying homage to him, but in reality, he’s the problem,” said Mark Blackburn, who lives down the street from Kahale’s new home.“Houses are homes. They’re made to live in; they aren’t investment vehicles.”

And it is also suspected that Kawamoto's real motive is to drive down local property values so he can buy even more houses .