The Greatest Heist on Earth

There is a disease infecting Britain, the Government would have you believe. No it's not that new NHS superbug that has been in the news. And its not a result of that cloned meat saga either. And it's not even a new combined strain of Bird & Swine flu (which logically should cause pigs to fly). The disease is 'deficit denial.' What it essentially boils down to is  that if you even think of oppossing any of the proposed Government cuts to 'waste' which so far include school buildings, police numbers, free school milk and probably soon the luxury of a working colour TV, you are in fact suffering from 'deficit denial' much akin to denying the autheniticty of the moon landings or that wearing  a tin foil hat stops the CIA from listening to your thoughts. Unfortunately the accusation of 'deficit denial' don't exactly fit with the other excuse for these cuts which go along the line of 'well Labour would have cut anyway". Sadly it cannot, unless your a paranoid schizophrenic, be both.

With every week that passes the risk of terrifying 'double dip' recession looms. Despite sounding akin  to rollercoaster at Barry Island, a 'double dip' would be the ultimate imperical evidence that the Governments slashing has led us on the road to economic ruin. I do not pretend to know whether or not a double dip is around the corner and my guess is that most so-called economic experts cannot for sure know whether we will avoid staring into the economic abyss. But the Bank of England has downgraded growth forecasts in response to the Governments budget and forecast that inflation will rise. Not a positive response. Indeed the Bank also has stated that the only thing that has kept the UK economy afloat and unemployment down is the lingering effects of the Stimulus package which the Tories opposed.

The government likes to boil these problems down to simple arguements that follow along these lines "Any small business or family has to tighten their belts when hard times hit ... blah blah blah ... lets throw those scroungers off benefits..." The continual referencing to the UK as some sort of Mulitnational corportation or the 'UK PLC' reveals how they trully see this country as. A profit making organisation and believe me your not the CEO. They are. The State is not a business. When a business fires an employee their off the companies book's for good. But when the state is responsible for someone's unemployment it has to continue to pay them unemployment benefits. When the private sector is weakened and the public sector is getting slashed back and VAT is going to hit consumers who is going to be spending?

These arguements tend to get in the way of the media narrative of the 'unavoidable' deficit reduction, ignorant of the fact that a mere 3 months ago a majority of people in the general election voted for parties that didn't want to start cutting the deficit this year. Nick Clegg just two days before the election stated that it was "obvious to an eight year old" that the cuts shouldn't start until next year until the allure of ministerial cars waved beofre his face and Clegg is now the mouthpiece for the savage cuts to tame the 'unavoidable deficit' and peddles the great delusion of our times that the recession was caused by "overspending". Unfortunately for Nick, facts are stubborn things. Public debt as a perecentage of GDP was actually higher under Thatcher than under Labour in 2007 before the recession. The reason for the deficit is the £850 billion bailout of the private sector.

What we have lived through may be the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in history. We bailed out the banks that caused this recession, with the money of poorest tax payers in this country for their greed and irresponsibility. AIG, Lehman Brothers and HBOS didn't collapse because of 'big government' but because their wasn't enough Government oversight. And now the banking elite who organised the tax payer funded bailout for the richest people in our society are  demanding that we pay once again by slashing the funding of our public services to restore 'market confidence' rather than demanding back our money from banks which have now returned to profit. The Non-Executive Director's, the CEO's and the Bank Chairmen must be asking themselves, in the words of Mel Brooks, "Where did we go right?"

By Dominic from my blog: A Public Service Announcement

Back of the Queue please.....

While electrification arrive at the station on time (if at all)?

There are many serious problems facing the Wales of today.....

One of them you may think, is not the electrification of the South Wales Main Line. But you'd be wrong. The proposed 1 Billion pound investment would decrease journey times by a whopping 19 minutes, yet it is vitally important to Wales economic survival, let alone future growth in the Welsh economy. 

The South Wales Main Line (SWML) which goes from Swansea all the way to London is the main route in and out of South Wales. It comes as no surprise then that this main economic highway takes much of the business up and down to London (Global Economic Centre) and allows Wales to take some benefits from London prosperity. Or so you would think!

Presently, Wales has a huge 0% of its railway lines electrified. Scotland's rather pessimistic wikipedia article on Transport decries Scotland as having " Only 29% of the rail network in Scotland (by routes miles) is electrified, as opposed to 40% across Great Britain as a whole.". If that is below average then one could assume that England has an even higher percentage... So what happened to Wales?

Well after much ado, the Labour Government finally committed money to the electrification of this line, and all was looking rosy for Wales' economic competitiveness.... 

Then comes the tories...... but not like the old ones, these new trendy tories came equipped with all the rhetoric needed to sway votes (in England) into voting them in. For example, during the launch of the conservative manifesto in Prestatyn, David Cameron and the gang committed his party to electrification of the SWML. A lovely promise, which is now 'under review' by the coalition government. So what? Many things are 'under review'? indeed, however a look at what other projects have escaped 'review' and received firm commitments from the government cause doubts on our very own electrification....summed up nicely here in Rail News. Philip Hammond has assured that, a £1 Billion tart up of manchester and newcaste metros, £18 Billion Hih speed rail link and £18 Billion on the new CrossRail are assured.

So Why is this wrong? well, quite simply, Wales is the lowest performing country in the UK at the moment by a country mile. GVA is 75% on average of the UK average, and it gets worse...in this article by the BBC, a study by the influential Oxford Economics, Wales has the lowest projected growth out of the whole UK. So, against the backdrop of cuts and Dai Cameron's rhetoric of 'helping businesses grow outside of London', how can this cut be justified? Wales is clearly the victim of Tory apathy, or even worse the Conservatives are purposely ignoring the needs of South Wales in favour of more 'voter sympathetic' territory.

The Welsh Assembly hasn't got the power to change this, nor the finances. 300 Million short as it is, Wales cannot do what Scotland has done and create effective change from the one eyed London based decision making. A vote for Yes in the referendum will help this, but will not change the travesty that will be the unelectrified rail network in Wales, the last part of the UK without electrification and one of the last in western Europe.

Josh

All You Need is Love

I know this is slightly more to do with American Politics than British but I felt it was an important development.

November 4th 2008. A day to remember for all? Despite the euphoria of Obama's victory that evening something sinister was ratified in California, ironically one of the most 'liberal' states in The US. Proposition 8 as it is known, overturned rulings of the Californian Supreme court and amended the constitution of California to ban Gay Marriage. Proposition 8, thankfully, was itself overuled yesterday and hopefully for good.

I am not gay, neither are any of my close family. I have many friends who are, but to be truthful it is obvious the issue of gay rights has never affected me personally. The struggle for equality of all peoples is not a cause to be fought by only those who are affected. If it were not for good men and women who were white that braved persecution by association during the Civi Rights struggle and Apartheid how much longer would these systems have existed? The same is true for gay rights. Many who read this blog will notice how I often reference s.28 as one of the most shameful acts of the Thatcher years. And I believe this because I fundamentally believe that gay rights are civil rights and another articulation of the cause for equality.

Here in Britain we have come a long way since the 1980's. Civil Partnerships now allow Gay couples to enter into legal equivalent of mariage. The Human Rights act has been used to allow the same rights of succession in housing for gay couples. One of the most encouraging aspects of the last decade is now even the Conservative Party support Civil Parternships and gay rights. And even more suprisingly I believe, for the most part, its genuine. But the hesitation from many to recognize gay marriage reveals a nagging conservatism. Civil Partnerships not marriage. Seperate but equal (or sort of equal)? That is not full equality and the situation in the United States where only a few states allow any legal arrangement is much worse.

Part of my frustration is an inability to understand why so many people in California, of all places, voted not to espouse their beliefs, not to enrich their own lives but to deny their fellow citizens, their fellow human beings, the same civil rights they enjoy. Why can't they have what you have? How would you feel if someone told you that you can't marry? And then there are those who try to use religion to divide, moralize and to degrade the lives of others. My own religious beliefs enforce my beliefs on this issue even more rather than conflicting them.  Did the people who voted for the gay marriage ban ever consider "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?

The love of a fellow man or fellow woman is inextricably linked to the love of all our fellow man. The same compassion we all feel when we see injustice because of an arbitrary difference that we happened to be born with. In a world, where it seems all too often that the most selfish urges of human nature are always prevalentt and the evils of greed that lurk within all of us govern our actions, it sometimes seems a magnificent stroke of luck that one person would wish to commit the rest of their life with another. With teenage pregnancy rates sky high and merely 50% of marriages succeeding we should be so thankful that peope still wish for the chance to marry. And thats all it is. The Chance.

The history of these struggles tell us that in the end the forces of change will, in the final analysis, overcome those who would stand in the doorway and block the halls of progress. One day, even in the United States, equality will come. "The Moral Arc of the universe is long", Martin Luther King told us, "But it bends towards justice."

By Dominic from my blog 'A Public Service Announcement'.

[Published online at www.thefreshoutlook.com]

Trade Unions prepare to protest against Tory plans to cut jobs.

by Katie Murdoch


The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has called for a “day of action” on 20 October. The civil service union plans are a response to David Cameron's government's intentions to cut public spending in the Comprehensive Spending Review, to be revealed in October.


The union is also urging Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation of national trade unions in the UK, to organise a similar protest on 23 October. The TUC plans to discuss the protests at its conference in Manchester in September. David Cameron rejected an invitation by the federation to address the conference.


PCS also plans to hold another demonstration on 3 October, outside the Conservative Party Conference.


The Fresh Outlook interviewed Richard Simcox, Press Officer from PCS. He told us:


“With these protests, we want to build alliances with other unions who can hopefully make our voice stronger in opposition to the government plans to cut jobs. The protests will be a way of pressurising the government to rethink such huge cuts in employment, and will be a visual representation of our opposition to the spending review.


“From the Comprehensive Spending Review, we can expect anywhere between a 25 to 40 percent cut in jobs. We feel that by doing this, David Cameron's government are, in effect, punishing the public for the wrongdoings by bankers, etcetera, in the financial crisis.”


The PCS union does not accept the need for public jobs cuts. We believe there are alternative ways to help recover the economy, and causing detriment to the public by making thousands of people redundant is not satisfactory.”


Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, warned that he would lead a walk out when Mr Cameron spoke.


The RMT has tabled a motion at the TUC conference urging "co-ordinated strike action and national demonstrations" against the government's cuts.


Mr Crow said: "The TUC has to be the launch pad for the fight back against the coalition government's decision to launch an all-out class warfare through their unprecedented attack on our communities, public services, welfare state and transport system".


Rob Holdsworth, Press Officer at TUC, spoke to The Fresh Outlook about the protest plans.


He said: “The plan of action for the TUC regarding the protest will be decided through a motion at the conference in September. PCS have put forward the motion to organise a union-wide protest. At the conference, members will have the opportunity to engage in a wide debate on the motion, and can also make amendments if they wish to.


“The TUC has consistently opposed the public spending cuts by the Tory government as it believes such harsh cuts so soon have the potential to derail the already fragile economy. There is likely to be some form of protest towards the Comprehensive Spending Review, but exactly how it will be organised and what form it will take will be decided at the upcoming conference.”




The announcements from unions to conduct protests come as the government's freeze on what they call "non-essential advertising" drastically cuts the amount of work the Central Office of Information department receives, resulting in a job loss of 287 from a workforce of 737.
The COI turnover on advertising and marketing was down around 52 percent in June this year compared to the same period in 2009. David Cameron's government has made it clear that this reduction in spending is more than likely to continue.


Chief executive Mark Lund said: "COI has always adapted to meet the requirements of government and the changing media landscape. A leaner COI is in line with new government priorities.


"Our future will be grounded in continuing to deliver excellent communications to achieve government aims, in the most cost efficient and effective way possible."

Owen Smith, MP for Pontypridd, commenting on why the coalition government's proposal for cutting MPs is wrong:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/08/02/cut-in-mps-will-marginalise-wales-91466-26977064/

(Published through online newpaper The Fresh Outlook: http://www.thefreshoutlook.com/index.php?action=newspaper&subaction=article&toDo=show&postID=2410)

Backlash of Academies Bill from MPs and Unions.
By Katie Murdoch.

The passing of the Academies Bill was rushed through parliament, according to Liberal Democrat MPs. Six MPs voted for an amendment to the Bill, calling for more deliberation with parents.

John Pugh, an MP who voted against the Bill said; “To change the status of a school without allowing the parents at the school a decisive voice is extraordinarily hard to justify."

The other Lib Dems who supported the amendment were Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and Poole N), Andrew George (St Ives), Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South), John Leech (Manchester Withington) and David Ward (Bradford E).

The Bill was passed by a majority of 92 MPs, with 317 votes to 225, but has received backlash from senior Labour and Lib Dem figures. Vernon Coaker, former Labour Minister of State for Schools and Learners also argued that the Bill should be amended to ensure that parents are consulted before a school chooses to become an academy. British trade union UNISON, has slammed the rushing of the Bill, calling it “reckless” and arguing that it will “cause chaos” in communities. The union conducted a survey which showed that only 4% of people want schools to be run by private companies.

The Fresh Outlook spoke to Paul O’Shea, UNISON Cymru/Wales Secretary. He told us:

“There is no evidence from existing academies that they raise standards. In fact, for more disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including those with special educational needs, there is a very real risk that the loss of local authority support around a whole range of special needs would hold back their achievements and inhibit their life chances.

“Furthermore, academy status could have very serious ramifications for their employees putting at risk important factors such as national pay and conditions for support staff, planning, preparation and assessment time, limits of working time – all factors which currently benefit the employee, but the education system as a whole.

“There is also a substantial amount of evidence which demonstrates that academies reduce and sometimes excludes the voice of both parents and staff from key-decision making affecting the whole school community, and so disenfranchises local communities – yet we’re expected to believe the Con-Dem’s “Big Society” rhetoric. This certainly does not feel very “Big Society” to our members.”

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education defended the Academies Bill, saying that he believes that the Bill will improve school examinations “so that they rank with the world's best.” He further argued that “less prescription in the curriculum, more rigour in our examinations” will improve education for children in schools.

Under the Bill, schools which have been ranked as "outstanding" by OFSTED will be pre-approved and eligible for a fast track conversion to an academy. Other schools will also be entitled, but will have to apply for academy status. Primary and special schools will be eligible to apply, allowing a primary, secondary and special school to operate within one academy federation structure. It is thought that current funding for schools will remain the same.

The Anti-Academies Alliance - an organisation supported by education unions, parents organisations and many MPs including Dr Ian Gibson, former Norwich North MP, has argued that the Bill will “dismantle” the school system.

The independent organisation said, “Academies are not covered by general education law which means that their students and parents have fewer rights than those of schools in the maintained sector. Academies should be brought under the umbrella of general education law and the recently published education and skills bill should be the vehicle used to achieve this.”

The backlash to the Bill has increased dramatically since Mr Gove used parliamentary measures usually used for national emergencies to rush through his Academies Bill. He has expressed that he intends the Bill to move forward ready for schools to apply for academy status in September. However, only around 35 schools have shown interest in becoming academies, a number far less than MrGove had expected.

Déjá Vu All Over Again.

If your suffering from a case of collective déjá vu from the echo chamber of wall to wall coverage of 'The Big society' you may not be criminally insane. Because this idea has been tried and tested by an ample amount of characters from the political rogues gallery.

John Major's laughably attempted to relaunch his Government of 'bastards' using the slogan 'Back to Basics'. Despite the press labelling it as a moral crusade after numerous sex scandals involving Tory Ministers in the 1990's, Back to Basics was actually about "accepting responsibility for yourself and your family and not shuffling it off the State" as the Tories said. Back to Basics, most political commentators agree was one of the largest catastrophes of the 18 year Tory Government. But a more recent comparison exists. In 2004 George W. Bush launched what he called 'The Ownership Society'. The crux of this agenda was to encourage citizens to save for their retirement independent of the State and to also release the education system from the 'shackles of the state' and encourage ordinary parents to take responsibility for their children's education by setting up their own schools (sound familiar?). But the reality of the agenda resulted in the legacy of a "crumbling infrastructure in the USA".

What David Cameron is seeking to do is, substantially, copy exactly from the same Text book as Thatcher, George Bush and Carol Vordeman (did you ever see her on Question Time??). The only difference is that this time, the Tories have figured out how to sell this toxic product. If you dress it up using airy-fairy rhetoric and describe it using this years political buzzword "progressive", then you can sell any thing. Instead of 'shrinking the state' or 'slashing public spending' they will call it 'empowering individuals' or promoting 'responsibility'. Why I bet that these bunch of people could convince you the Khmer Rouge were merely dealing with stresses on public spending. All too often the mask slips of this slick salesmanship. The 'Big Society' actually scared voters during the election and one Tory Insider even desrcibed it as "complete crap". The public are not stupid. They can see through this disgraceful attempt to destory the welfare state.

The truth is the Tories don't believe in a small state. Oh sure, they believe in removing the safety net for our most vulnerbale. But in most other regards they hold the same statist tendencies that shamed New Labour and in many cases went, and continue to go, even further. The Tories crippled local government and starved it of funding. Thatcher abolished the Greater London Authority because it was run by left winger's whom she disagreed with. The enactment of s.28 by Thatcher made the state a moral arbitrator and said that homosexuality was wrong and not to be promoted in schools and we see a resurgence of this moralising with the Marriage Tax allowance. Not to mention the destruction of the manufacturing industry in Wales, Scotland and the North which crippled our communities. And now they talk of empowering communities.

With the advent of 'free schools', increasing private sector involvement in public services and the slashing of public spending the Tories are beginning demostrate that behind the lofty rhetoric the same Right Wing wet dream remains. No wonder that the private health company Tribal said in response to the Governments latest plans to reform the NHS that it looks forward to the "de-nationalization of the NHS in England". Whatever you wish to call it, 'Back to Basics', 'The Big Society' the fact remains that 'The Ownership Society' really means 'Your on your own'.