Thursday, July 31, 2008
Investors first and foremost
Profits were £992m in the first six months of 2008 , £5m-per-day profits .
"This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them". Centrica's chief executive said.
One-in-three pensioners are likely to be in fuel poverty this winter Age Concern's head of public affairs said.
MINIMUM WAGE? FORGET IT!
"Hand crafted in 1974 this noble spirit of rare breeding has been cosseted and nurtured during its long maturation in the beachside warehouses. Undaunted, warmed and comforted by the finest sherry wood, the result is a spectrum of delight with flavours of chewy caramel, crushed hazelnuts, chocolate and warm hints of liquorice, cinnamon and orange peel.
At last this great masterpiece has been awakened for you to enjoy. Sip and savour the very heart of Jura and feel every beat of Island life…
Vintage 1974 / 648 bottles produced / 70cl / 44.5% ABV / £500.00" RD
BEHIND THE BRAVADO
DYING FOR WORK
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
JUNKYARD CAPITALISM
THE PERFECT WORKER
Socialists used to say that the capitalist's idea of the perfect worker was one who left school at 15, worked 50 weeks a year for 50 years and dropped down dead the first day he went to collect his pension at the post office. We will have to amend this ideal blueprint in view of the Ugandan official's view. Ideally he would die on the Thursday so that his family could attend his Saturday funeral without missing out on a day producing surplus value for the owning class. RD
NATIONALISED REDUNDANCY?
Northern Rock has announced that it expects to make about 1,300 staff redundant as part of its plan to restructure the troubled bank.
It hopes to limit the number of compulsory redundancies to 800, while 500 staff will leave voluntarily.
Northern Rock was effectively nationalised at the beginning of this year after it was hit by a shortage of funds as a result of the credit crunch.
IT’S AN ILL WIND
People treating themselves to chocolate and sweets as the economy worsens has helped fuel a 28pc jump in profits at Cadbury, according to its chief executive.
The London-based confectionery company, who makes Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum, reported pre-tax profits for the first half of £143m on revenues up 14pc to £2,653m.
However, the results were boosted by strong currencies, which increased the total profits growth from 12pc to 28pc. Cadbury's shares rose 1pc to 631.5p, as the company said it was on target to meet analysts' forecasts for full-year sales growth.
"No matter how bleak things look, people will always go for those small, affordable treats," Mr Stitzer said. "We see confectionery as a particularly robust category."
LUCKY WHITE HEATHER?
THEM AND US
(Observer, 27 July) RD
HE SHOULD KNOW
(Observer, 27 July) RD
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Picking Sides for Another Go?
World trade talksreportedly fail | |
Marathon talks in Geneva aimed at liberalising global trade are reported to have ended without agreement. The trade talks collapsed after China, India and the US failed to agree on import rules. This politely called "Failure to Agree",is indicative of the aggressive, competitive nature, of the capitalist system .When talks turn to trade war and ultimately real war. |
WELCOME TO CAPITALISM
MINISTER UNDER FIRE
UCATT General Secretary Alan Richie said: "It is exactly this kind of subservience to business which is causing Labour to haemorrage grassroots support"
SELF EMPLOYED APPRENTICE?
Monday, July 28, 2008
FAT CAT SALARIES
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The crazy logic of capitalist economics
Scottish prawns are being hand-shelled in China, Atlantic haddock caught off Scotland is being prepared in Poland and Welsh cockles are being sent to Holland to be put in jars before going on sale in Britain.
Meanwhile, products grown overseas are taking circuitous routes to Britain. African-grown coffee is being packed 3,500 miles away in India, Canadian prawns are processed in Iceland, and Bolivian nuts are being packed in Italy.
“We are producing food in one corner of the world, packing it in another and then shipping it somewhere else. It’s mad.”Dawnfresh, a Scottish seafood company that supplies supermarkets and other large retailers, cut 70 jobs last year after deciding to ship its scampi more than 5,000 miles to China to be shelled by hand, then shipped back to the River Clyde in Scotland and breaded for sale in Britain.
The company said it was forced to make the move by commercial pressures. “This seems a bizarre thing to do but the reality is that the numbers don’t stack up any other way,” said Andrew Stapley, a director. “We are not the first in the industry to have had to do this. Sadly, it’s cheaper to process overseas than in the UK and companies like us are having to do this to remain competitive.”
Haddock is one of the fish most commonly caught by British trawlers, but Tesco sends its Atlantic haddock for processing to Poland where labour costs are lower. It is then driven more than 850 miles to Tesco’s depot in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
Traidcraft coffee, sold at Sainsbury’s, is made from beans grown in Bukoba, Tanzania. Once the coffee is cultivated, it is driven 656 miles to Dar-es-Salaam and then shipped 3,250 miles to Vijayawada in India where it is packed. The coffee is loaded back on the ships and transported another 5,000 miles to Southampton. It is then driven 330 miles to Gateshead and is finally driven to Leeds for distribution to Sainsbury’s stores.
Sainsbury’s organic fair trade rice, produced in the lush foothills of the Himalayas, is shipped to Lille, France, rather than Britain, to be packed. It then makes a second journey to end up on Sainsbury’s shelves.It is not just fair trade coffee that is sent from country to country. Instead of directly importing coffee beans from Costa Rica for their instant coffee, Sainsbury’s and Tesco first send them to Germany. The final product then undergoes another 500-mile lorry journey to get to Britain.Similarly, French-grown walnuts sold in Waitrose are sent to Naples to be packed. The retailer’s Brazil nuts from South America are also transported to Italy before being sent to Britain.
The industrialisation of the food chain means even small firms are being forced to ship their produce abroad for processing. Pilchard fillets, produced by the Pilchard Works in Cornwall, are sent on the overnight ferry to France because there is no suitable processing plant in England. The pilchards are canned in Douarnenez in Brittany, then returned to Cornwall. Similarly, Welsh cockles – produced by Van Smirren Seafoods – are driven across Britain to Dover and then transported to Yerseke in Holland. They are pickled and put in jars before being sent back to Britain.
Caroline Lucas, the Green party MEP, said: “Ultimately, the price is paid by all of us in the shape of higher greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and congestion, and food that is both less tasty and less healthy.”
Friday, July 25, 2008
WORDS OF WISDOM
A SCAREY FUTURE
THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR ?
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Right now there are hundreds of campaigns globally for fossil fuel divestment as a strategy in the fight against climate change. Many are pr...