Category Archives: Conflict of interest
Monbiot: Some democracy, this.
Homes, gardens and streets are being flooded with raw sewage, recreating, in theme-park Britain, the 18th-century experience (Sky News).
George Monbiot recalls that at the first televised Prime Ministers Questions, on 28 November 1989, the Labour MP Bob Cryer (below) pointed out to Margaret Thatcher (video. 6.36 mins) that there was widespread public anger about her proposed privatisation.
“Millions of people, over the years, have bought and paid for a comprehensive system of water supply and disposal through the rates. When items are sold off which people already own, it is regarded as legalised theft.”
Mrs Thatcher replied that “water privatisation I believe will go very successfully indeed. And perhaps therefore we had better wait and see so that we can pontificate in the light of the facts.”
Having waited and seen, Monbiot comments, we can pontificate in the light of facts, to the effect that Cryer was right and Thatcher was wrong.
He outlines the water companies’ business strategy:
- they load themselves with debt to finance dividend payouts;
- they load the future with costs as they fail to build the infrastructure – such as new reservoirs and pipes – required to meet our growing needs
- and they load the rivers with excrement to avoid the expense of upgrading their plants.
Who has benefited from Margaret Thatcher’s shareholder democracy schemes?
Since the industry was privatised in 1989, the companies have borrowed £64bn. During this period,£78bn has been paid in dividends. A Guardian analysis in 2022 found that 72% of the water industry in England was by then in foreign ownership, including:
- the Chinese state,
- the Qatar Investment Authority,
- the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority,
- the US company BlackRock and other private equity firms,
- the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing
- the Malaysian magnate Francis Yeoh
- and opaque investment vehicles based in secrecy regimes.
The reality is that power and profit have migrated offshore.
If the government temporarily renationalises Thames Water, it is likely to acquire most of the company’s £18bn debt. Yet Thames still plans to issue more dividends to its shareholders, while raising bills for its customers by 40%.
No-one with a prospect of power can bring themselves to admit all this, because they live in fear of the billionaire media, party donors and the rest of the unelected infrastructure of economic power.
George Monbiot points out: “To achieve what almost everyone wants, we will have to fight almost everyone in power. The Conservatives who privatised water and the Labour governments that failed to renationalise it were not responding to the demands of the people, but to the interests of predatory capital. Some democracy, this”.
Endnote: filling in more details today:
https://www.monbiot.com/2024/05/13/the-underground-economy-of-politics/
o
o
o
o
o
Political parties have outlived their usefulness and no longer serve productive purposes
Isn’t It Time to Rid Ourselves of Political Parties?
This question was posed by America’s Dr Jabari Simama – retired educator, senior fellow with Government Technology, who argues that political parties have outlived their usefulness and stand in the way of getting anything positive done.
He points out that the two-party system that dominates electoral politics today has contributed to grotesque amounts of money being spent on political campaigning with the two major parties, controlled by the same corporate interests and beholden to billionaires, and continues:
“I maintain that parties of all sizes and purposes have become problematic”.
“When I was elected as an Atlanta city councilman, it was in a nonpartisan contest. I enjoyed the nonpartisan environment because it required me to work hard to gain support of my colleagues by arguing the merits of my proposals — not merely appealing to their political parties.
“I believe we have arrived at a time and place where political parties have outlived their usefulness and no longer serve productive purposes.
“It is time to turn our attention to other methods of electing candidates for office. Reforms like nonpartisan elections and other approaches that are not reliant on one being a member of a major party should be given serious consideration. It is time to return the focus to the needs of the people”.
“Political candidates and elected officials who swear to work for the greater good shouldn’t have to swear an oath to a political party as well”.
A member of Britain’s House of Lords has written in detail about corruption in Britain, describing government as defenders of offending corporations and rarely proactive in curbing corrupt practices. He states that the political system is opaque and unfit for purpose.
To avoid the power-hungry and corrupt moving into the seats of power, voters could – and should – choose from local independents standing for election, whose personal lives, aptitudes and records of community service are well known. Britain can only be rebuilt by the honest and caring.
0
0
0
o
The government’s compulsory dipping programme caused at least 500 farmers to contract debilitating health problems
In 1905 the first references found by the writer to the provisions of the Sheep Scab (Compulsory Dipping Areas) Order appeared in Hansard, the official report of all Parliamentary debate
Organophosphate pesticides (OPs) were in use from the 1950s and Hansard records that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food had compelled farmers in the UK to make yearly dips from the 1970s until the late 1980s and biannual sheep dips became compulsory in 1984. They were not labelled as ‘deadly poison’ until the 1990s.
At least 500 farmers across the UK were later diagnosed with chronic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and other debilitating health problems after using OPs to protect their sheep against parasites, under the government’s compulsory dipping programme which ran until 1992 (Tom Levitt) .
In 2006 the USA’s National Library of Medicine reported that the World Health Organization had identified OPs as ‘the most common cause of severe acute pesticide poisonings, some of which have resulted in deaths’.
In 2015 Hansard recorded an account by Jessica Morden, MP for Newport East, of the case of Stephen Forward who started dipping sheep in 1979 at the age of 17.
The symptoms of OP poisoning have been devastating for Stephen. At 53 years old, he is unable to walk 30 yards and has not been able to work since 1996, and the effects have severely limited all aspects of his life. The poisoning has also given him sensitivity to medicines that might have been able to help. Stephen’s medical records relating to Guy’s hospital were lost by his GP—that appears to have happened to others in a similar situation—but through his dogged persistence he now has some copies directly from hospital.
MP Jim Shannon who has worked alongside the Northern Ireland Organophosphorus Sufferers Association highlighted a common problem in reported cases: “One of my constituents, Ernie Patterson, was referred from Northern Ireland to Guy’s hospital here in London for treatment and tests. Unfortunately, his medical notes went missing and he now has no recourse to any help or assistance. Does the hon. Lady agree that the loss of such important medical records is a disgrace and requires investigation?”
Jessica Morden (above left), who recently intervened in another government responsibility, the infected blood scandal, called for a full inquiry, independent of DEFRA, “to allow us to question why farmers might have been compelled to use this chemical with no guidance if governmental research pointed to health impacts. She asked:
- Was compulsory dipping stopped because MAFF knew it was affecting farm workers’ and farmers’ health?
- If so, why did it not say so?
And added: “We need an answer to that question in particular”.
However, farm minister George Eustice rejected all calls for an inquiry into whether farmers were misled over the use of a dangerous chemical.
MP Neil Parish, chair of the influential environment, food and rural affairs select committee, told the Guardian that if ministers failed to properly investigate the issue he would during his upcoming term in office, but he did not.
Richard Bruce has drawn attention to a paper published in 2018, confirming the dangers of OPs and the benefits of Coenzyme Q10 (The British Journal of Neurological Nursing).
It was written by Dr David Mantle (Regional Neurosciences Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and Dr Iain P Hargreaves ( Liverpool John Moores School): Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences.
The paper’s abstract noted that the problem of poisoning in sheep farmers caused by exposure to organophosphate-based sheep dips has become increasingly apparent. Symptoms include fatigue, muscle pain and neurological problems. There is no specific treatment for this condition but the authors have reviewed evidence that oral supplementation with CoQ10 may provide effective symptomatic relief for farmers suffering from OP sheep dip poisoning.
The editor finds that Gold Fleece OP Sheep Dip is still available but not sold online. Buyers are required to provide a copy dipping licence number to buy the product.
Richard Bruce’s restrained comment: “Good to see science is catching up with what we were saying in the 1990s before everyone was silenced”.
o
o
o
o
As repression increases, will Britain follow Pakistan’s lead and imprison those whose policies antagonise vested interests?
A TALE OF TWO LEADERS
The writer met Imran Khan at a Green Network conference (Warwick University 1996) and was able to talk with him one-to-one. He recalled visiting a farmer (in Pakistan) growing food intensively, who wouldn’t dream of actually eating it or offering it to a guest and kept a plot for growing food organically for domestic use.
He was knowledgeable about the various issues raised and also about the advantages of reforming the monetary system. He and his wife saw the potential of what is now called quantitative easing – if used for the common good – at a time when bankers and economist were vehemently rejecting such proposals. He later served as Chancellor of Bradford University – spearheading a project by Bradford’s Peace Museum for the 2011 Olympics (Telegraph & Argus)
After his retirement from cricket, Khan became an outspoken critic of government mismanagement and corruption in Pakistan and opposed the Pakistani government’s cooperation with the United States in fighting militants near the Afghan border. He also launched broadsides against Pakistan’s political and economic elites, whom he accused of being Westernized and out of touch with Pakistan’s religious and cultural norms (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Imran Khan (right) has now been imprisoned as a threat to those in power and their allies.
Time Magazine reports that preliminary results from Thursday’s election in Pakistan show that independent candidates affiliated with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have a chance of securing a plurality of legislative seats despite myriad irregularities, which continued through polling day, designed to hobble such an outcome.
And – also in the 90s – at a peace seminar in London the writer sat next to a sulky Jeremy Corbyn (left) who was probably ‘having a bad day’. He then seemed a very different person from the benevolent one she voted for in 2017 and 2019 and she wasn’t inclined to talk to him at all.
As Labour leader there was no need to imprison him, instead – not only did the state media embark on a programme of character assassination – but the enemy within, senior party officials and MPs regarded as trustworthy colleagues, were revealed as having deliberately undermined him (Independent) and now lead the currently decimated Labour Party.
Now, many are asking, like Jonathon Porritt and George Monbiot “Why, in the UK, can you now potentially receive a longer sentence for “public nuisance” – non-violent civil disobedience – than for rape or manslaughter? (Political Concern).
If the current trend continues, will huge crowds like those who attended Corbyn’s rallies be treated as rioters? And will many – like Imran Khan – have long trials and incur extortionate legal fees or be arrested and imprisoned?
o
o
o
o
Vote for caring and incorruptible people with a track record of local service – or fail, as Martin Wolf warns
Diana Schumacher (right) wrote:
“I look not first at a candidate’s manifesto, but at their c.v. and past record. I try to see/meet them at the hustings if possible, and only then look at their manifesto.
“I tend to vote for the person who l think will best represent my interests and that of the local community in Westminster. In other words I vote for the PERSON and not the Party, and hopefully this will be someone with integrity and concern for social and environmental issues.
“Such people seem to be rare, I admit, and one often has to accept some degree of compromise.”
Economist Martin Wolf writes about the low esteem in which our politicians are held (FT 5th February)
“According to The UK in the World Values Survey, from King’s College London, only 17% of British people were “highly satisfied” with their political system, against 32% dissatisfied. Canada, Germany and Australia are in rather better shape.
“Such dissatisfaction must be corrosive. After all, how many able people will devote their lives to a strenuous and poorly paid career whose practitioners are distrusted, if not despised?
Yet democracy depends on having decent, competent and respected politicians.
Martin Kettle, assistant editor of the Guardian (right) comments that too many MPs have the wrong priorities, too many lack the right competence and too many behave badly, adding “This country needs a new generation of trustworthy political leaders – in all parties – with the right priorities and the ability to lead”.
Unless this happens, Martin Wolf predicts, the cynicism of the public is likely to grow. At worst, posturing will go on substituting for radical policy, leading to prolonged stagnation and declining public confidence. This is a path to failure.
o
o
o
o
0
o
The judiciary was not influenced by pressures from wealthy individuals, the media, powerful politicians or the government
The Constitution Society describes an independent judiciary as one of the cornerstones of the UK constitution – not influenced by external pressures, whether they be wealthy individuals, the media, powerful politicians or the government (Ed) to whom, in this respect, they set an example.
Greta Thunberg and four co-defendants appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (above) after previously denying breaching the Public Order Act 1986. She was accused of breaching section 14 of the act by blocking the entrance to the hotel in which oil executives had been meeting at an Oil Energy Intelligence Forum.
District Judge John Law (right) said “It is quite striking to me that there were no witness statements taken from anyone in the hotel, approximately 1,000 people, or from anyone trying to get in,” the only helpful footage he received was “made by an abseiling protester”.
“There was no evidence of any vehicles being impeded, no evidence of any interference with emergency services, or any risk to life.”
He dismissed the public order charge saying that the protest was “throughout peaceful, civilised and non-violent; the protestors were not guilty of breaking the law when they refused to follow police instructions to move on during a climate protest.
BBC correspondent Sean Dilley commented that the judge was scathing about the police’s decision to impose unlawful restrictions on Greta Thunberg and other climate protesters. Put simply, he didn’t see any need to interfere with the legitimate right of demonstrators to assemble to the extent they did. He felt the tactics used breached the lawful rights of protesters on 17 October and he said that conditions were so restrictive as to be unlawful.
Outside court, Greta Thunberg made a statement alongside some of her co-defendants: “We must remember who the real enemy is, what are we defending, who our laws are meant to protect . . .
“History’s judgement against those who deliberately destroy and sacrifice… resources at the expense of humanity, at the expense of all those who are suffering the consequences of the environmental and climate crisis… and at the expense of future generations, your own children and grandchildren will not be gentle.”
o
o
People or profit? Farnborough Airport applies to increase the number of flights
A Farnborough spokesperson said the airport, which mainly serves private jets, is an “important gateway for business aviation connectivity with the majority of flights being operated for business and corporate travel purposes”.
Its application focussed on six advantages of increasing the flights – two stressing that this would:
- Provide employment and training opportunities within the community by generating local employment and enhancing community funding
- Facilitate the UK’s growth ambitions by providing essential connectivity to UK trade and enterprise.
Local MP Michael Gove has written to Rushmoor Borough Council raising objections to the planned expansion, saying “I am concerned that any expansion will inevitably increase pollution and will also lead to the loss of quality of life, peace and amenity for my constituents who live under the flight path”.
The Woking News and Mail published ten weighty objections to the expansion, including these:
- There is only an average of 2.5 passengers per flight,
- 40% of the planes flown are empty,
- and the Climate Change Committee objects to expansion plans until there’s a way of mitigating aviation emissions.
Todd Smith (above), a former airline pilot who ‘quit flying for the climate’ and is now an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, said: “Flying is the fastest way to fry the planet and private jets are the most polluting way to fly. Surely it’s a no-brainer to ban private jets and stop expanding these luxury airports in the midst of a climate crisis?” (Deutsche Welle)
A local resident and a mother of two was appalled at the airport’s plan to expand when we should be banning private flying completely. We need to be taking drastic steps to ensure a liveable world for all our children, not increasing our use in fossil fuels.
The climate activist Greta Thunberg has joined local residents and Extinction Rebellion activists to protest against the airport’s expansion plans, saying:
“The fact that using private jets is both legally and socially allowed today in an escalating climate emergency is completely detached from reality.
“There are few examples that show as clearly how the rich elite is sacrificing present and future living conditions on this planet so they can maintain their extreme and violent lifestyles” (Guardian)
(Ed) However, as our parliament has a preponderance of the rich elite and other MPs hoping to join them, they might well accept the application which will – in the short term – further their interests.
oOOo
COMMENT
A reader in Wales: That’s why they spend so much money on space travel. To find Planet B
o
Broken Britain 48: elect honest public-spirited MPs who will not ignore issues or automatically back wealthy corporates
The Post Office scandal has at last been fully exposed and understood by the general public.
The FT’s editorial board writes: “The human suffering caused by the Horizon scandal has dented citizens’ belief that the courts and public authorities will protect them from abuse by those in authority. Speeding up action to provide redress is vital to rebuild that confidence — and to deter other organisations, public or private, from ever behaving in similar fashion again” (FT editorial).
That is the understatement of the year
It will take far more than that to rebuild public confidence. In an earlier blog it was observed that the 99% appear to be powerless in this destructive two-party see-saw and successive governments serving the interests of big business, which are – on the whole – environmentally, socially and economically destructive.
Half a century ago a large number of people were infected in the NHS with hepatitis C and HIV, after receiving contaminated clotting factor products and only now has a compensation system been agreed, certainly far too late for many and probably too low and too slowly released (BBC ). After seeing the impact of the Post Office drama it is said that a new account of the experiences of those who received contaminated blood is to be made
Such a drama could be the second in a series with numbers 3,4 and 5 recording the treatment of poisoned farmers (left, the late Brenda Sutcliffe, Littleborough, Rochdale, Farmers Guardian link broken), nuclear veterans, airline pilots (the late Richard Westgate, below), pesticide spray victims (Georgina Downes) and others, whose appeals have been summarily dismissed and are still waiting for a fair hearing.
Martha Gill writes of the great need for whistleblowers; what is actually needed is a majority of public-spirited MPs who will not ignore these issues or fight tooth and nail to prevent their benefactors losing money.
The FT’s editorial board proposes that speeding up action to provide redress will rebuild public confidence, but after many years of delay, denial and lost documents far more will be needed to deter other organisations, public or private, from behaving in similar fashion again.
Public confidence could be gradually regained over time if – as similar cases inevitably come to light – it becomes standard practice to hear each one quickly, with heavy penalties for the loss of vital documentary evidence – a routine ploy – and prompt payment of the court’s awards.
o
After 60 years of official deception and denial, Britain’s surviving nuclear test veterans receive a medal: too little, too late
On the 28th November 2023, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP spoke in a debate about Nuclear Test Veterans’ Medical Records (extracts with added link and emphases)
British nuclear test veterans have now rightly received medallic recognition for their service, and for that I am very grateful to the Government, but the Minister must know that behind their proud smiles, those veterans are really struggling.
They—and sometimes their wives, widows and descendants—have reported making repeated requests to gain access to the results of their blood or urine testing samples which they recall being taken during the nuclear testing programme.
Sadly, many confirm that their service medical records do not include the test results, and they just do not understand why. The issue is relevant to the current health concerns of many veterans and their descendants and the treatment they need for anaemia, leukaemia and rare genetic conditions . . .
In 2011, a Ministry of Defence health study found that 83% of survivors had between one and nine chronic health conditions, and further surveys of nuclear veterans report that miscarriage rates are three times higher among their wives and that their children have 10 times the usual number of birth defects.
However, despite the clear health risks and the apparent causal links to the conditions experienced by many nuclear testing veterans, very few war pensions are approved unless veterans can clearly show information proving risk and the impact on health. Such information would include, for example, blood and urine samples demonstrating high levels of radiation exposure, but information from successive Defence Ministers or potential record holders has been inconsistent and unclear on whether there were tests, whether records were kept, where they were kept and whether records are now accessible for searching.
My constituent’s grandad, John Morris, is just one nuclear testing veteran who has suffered and who has been trying to locate the relevant information so that he can apply for a war pension. He was a Royal Engineer and served on Operation Grapple on Christmas Island, and he witnessed four nuclear explosions. He told me that one day he and his colleagues were told to sit in the open air with their backs to the explosion. Shorts and shirts were the norm, but on this day they were told to wear Army-issued sunglasses and find a cloth to put over their eyes. They were then hit with a flash 1,000 times brighter than the sun. His hands became an X-ray, as he could see every bone and every joint, and he was then hit with the heat blast. It was so intense that the palm trees scorched, as did the men’s backs.
On his return from service, John’s first-born son tragically died suddenly at four months old due to birth defects that John believes were linked to radiation. John himself has since been diagnosed with cancer, and at age 26 he developed pernicious anaemia, a blood disorder linked to radiation. John gave multiple blood samples during his service, but they cannot be found on his main medical records. When he asked for details of the blood test, he was told: “Everything you have received was all that was held in your Army personnel and medical file.”
John’s story is matched by countless similar battles for test and medical information by other nuclear veterans . . .
Medicine, Conflict and Survival (1999) recorded that among the nearly 5,000 children and grandchildren of this group of more than a thousand veterans, there are 26 cases of spina bifida alone – more than five times the usual rate for live births in the UK. The report continued:
“Nearly half the health problems among the offspring of the nuclear weapons tests veterans reported in this study consist of the same dermatological, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal conditions from which many of the men have also suffered.
“Among the 2,261 children of 1,041 veterans, more than 200 skeletal abnormalities were reported, including more than 30 cases of short stature and 18 spinal problems, mostly curvature and scoliosis. More than 100 skin conditions were reported, mostly eczema and dermatitis, in many cases described as congenital. Over 50 of the children are already suffering from arthritis and similar conditions, although they are only now entering their thirties. Hip deformities were reported for 19 children and kneecap deformities for 14. More than 100 of the veterans’ children reported reproductive difficulties; 24 women reported problems with their ovaries. This pattern of morbidity was repeated in the grandchildren, though there seems to be some diminution of the effect.”.
And yet, in 2022, the headline of a scientific report in the journal Nature stated that there was ‘No evidence of increased mutations in the germline of a group of British nuclear test veterans’.
–
A national disgrace: British farmers compelled by government to use toxic sheep dip, those receiving infected blood transfusions from a government agency and no doubt other sufferers. have shared the experience of denial and deception (especially loss of documentation) that these veterans have experienced. A forthcoming plea from Kazakhs, who fear the resumption of Russian tests will show a link to photographs of nuclear-test-affected children.
o
COP28: Loss and Damage fund $475 million agreed, but $525 billion needed
The following two paragraphs come from a detailed exposition of the loss and damage fund in the Indian Express.
“The loss and damage fund first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year, is a global financial package to be overseen by the World Bank to ensure the rescue and rehabilitation of countries facing the cascading effects of climate change.
“The term refers to the compensation that rich nations, whose industrial growth has resulted in global warming and driven the planet into a climate crisis, must pay to poor nations, whose carbon footprint is low but are facing the brunt of rising sea levels, floods, crippling droughts, and intense cyclones, among others. The changing climate has impacted lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, cultural traditions, and identities”.
The need of the hour is several trillion dollars, according to ‘Finance for Climate Action’, a UN-backed report – cover right. (London School of Economics).
On the opening day of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched.
- The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million —
- host UAE pledged $100 million,
- Abu Dhabi promised $100 million (precisely one-eighth of the profits generated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in 2022 (Porritt).
- the European Union promised $275 million
- $17.5 million from the US
- and $10 million from Japan.
Jonathon Porritt was not impressed:
He wrote in his blog about “The waves of phoney positivity emanating from CoP28 in Dubai”, explaining that the financial damage caused by climate change every year is already around $400 billion – 1,000 times as much, and rising every year. He continued:
“But research shows that 55 vulnerable countries have suffered $525 billion combined climate crisis-fuelled losses in the last 20 years. The number is estimated to reach $580 billion per year by 2030.
“The only outcome from CoP28 that would get massive media attention would be a firm agreement to phase out (not phase down) our use of fossil fuels within a fixed period of time. The chances of that are close to zero”.
=
COMMENT
JN: I think that the problem is money, understood as a universal measure of “value”. The fossil fuelled part of the economy is not Wealth anymore, it is Illth and doesn’t have a future. Wealth is now renewable clean energy, sustainable resources, and the regeneration of natural systems. In all countries we must not wait, but pull out our money and work from making Illth and put it into making Wealth.
o
o
Political Concern 