Category Archives: Vested interests
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/
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The Chinese government encourages land reclamation and organic growing
Little Donkey Farm, a small-scale fruit and veg farm near Beijing, is free from both chemical pesticides and fertilisers and genetically manipulated seeds and is co-funded by the Chinese government.
The farm delivers boxes of naturally grown fruit and veg to urban customers, as well as providing small allotments for urban families to grow food for their own consumption.
The families receive guidance about food growing and a chance to escape their tiny high-rise homes and hard-working lives in a concrete, metal and tarmac urban jungle.
Food sovereignty
Tracy Worcester, who visited the farm recently, points out that unlike China, food sovereignty is not a priority in the UK where 49% of fruit and veg farmers in the UK fear that they are likely to go out of business in the next 12 months.
In China, the government’s Rural Revitalisation Programme and food security policy gives subsidies to farmers to grow food, unlike in the U.K. where most subsidies go to NetZero programmes, like planting trees and growing bird seed, that for some obscure reason trump growing food.
Rural Revitalisation
To improve the quantity and quality of land available for growing food, the Chinese government gives the farmers subsidies to reclaim land formerly used for manufacturing, while the British government gives planning permission to cover our precious food-growing land in solar panels as opposed to placing them on roofs.
Promotion of organic farming
To promote organic farming, the Chinese Government also subsidises organic fertilisers to help to grow the sector, whereas Tracy gets no subsidies for her chemical free fruit and veg market garden.
The Chinese want to increase home grown food and improve the quality, while globalists in the UK government sign free trade agreements that allow cheap, substandard food imports to undermine our farmers and perpetuate a race to the bottom in food quality and undermine our food security. Tracy fears that the ultimate goal is to syphon all the profits from Britain’s skilled independent farmers into Big Ag coffers. She comments:
“Under the veil of abating climate change, transnational corporations are driving the world to modernise agriculture with Agri- tech factories run by scientists using GMO seed, chemical pesticides and fertilisers, AI, robots and drones”.
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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.
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MP says their religion is not the doctrine of this land; very true, the prevailing doctrine is the survival of the wealthiest
Conservative MP Paul Scully said that – during a discussion on BBC London – in parts of Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, Sparkhill there are no-go areas.
He added that this is mainly because of doctrine, people using, abusing in many ways, their religion because it’s not the doctrine of this land, to espouse what some of these people are saying.”
Representatives of 14 organisations based in Tower Hamlets, have said that for a senior Conservative to say that some parts are “no-go areas” is untrue.
They stress that the problems faced in the area are economic mismanagement and prejudice. About 51% of children live in poverty – in the shadow of Canary Wharf where some of the highest earners in the country are to be found – “that’s the real issue faced here” (Guardian).
Eleanor Steafel during her investigation of Sparkhill, quoted the Conservative Mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, who wrote:
“It really is time for those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs and experience the real world”.
Walking around the area she saw a relaxed, harmonious, multicultural neighbourhood just as it was when the writer left Birmingham seven years ago.
She reported that the latest crime figures show that crime the area is no higher than in many others around Birmingham with 265 crimes reported in December, 116 of which were categorised as violent or sexual offences. For example, it was safer than Kingstanding, a predominantly white area to the north of the city, where 253 crimes were reported in the same month, 129 of them violent.
Without naming a religion, though the context clearly showed a reference to Islam, Paul Scully correctly said their religion is not the doctrine of this land.
A Todmorden contact gives many examples of “their religion”, including: Koran: 2:219 “(When) they ask thee how much to spend (for the benefit of others) say: what is surplus to your needs”. On decision-making, he summarises:
- Those affected by a policy would have an input
- This input would be extended to all affected by the policy.
- The policy would have to promote a fair distribution of any wealth accrued.
- The policy would be amended to have the approval of all concerned.
See also Environmental Ethics in Islam
And this voice from the House of Lords is one of many giving evidence that Britain’s doctrine is the survival of the wealthiest
The rot begins at the top. Most political parties and too many Members of Parliament sell themselves to the highest bidder. The monied classes don’t dole out cash, they make investment and the return is compliant legislators, ineffective laws, toothless regulators and a state that privileges their interests. Through the revolving doors, cognitively captured corporate grandees are parachuted into regulatory bodies. In such an environment abusive practices have been normalised.
Frauds and malpractices are central to capitalism. Organisations at the top want to remain there and are not averse to bribery and irregular practices to secure business. Too many challengers want to be masters of the universe too . . . Thus, there is an endless cycle of corrupt practices. Those who play cat-and-mouse games are lauded for their entrepreneurial skills and are highly rewarded.
There are rip-off practices in almost every sector and it is hard to find any big corporation that is pristine. Insurance, mobile, and broadband companies are always willing and able to fleece customers unless they move around. Gas, electricity and train companies milk captive audiences through excessive charges. Water companies routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and dodge taxes. Pharmaceutical companies rip-off the National Health Service through extortionate prices for drugs. Private equity controlled care homes are siphoning-off vast amounts of cash by shifting profits to offshore tax havens through carefully engineered intragroup transactions.
And more is added here by Prem Sikka, Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, Labour member of the House of Lords and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.
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2. Dissent is being suppressed and corporate feudalism is flourishing: Alan Simpson
In From farce to (corporate) feudalism Alan Simpson writes about the dangers of Parliament’s retreat from reality.
The parliamentary call to ‘protect the sanctity of MPs homes’ is turning into a front for the wider criminalisation of public protest around public buildings, corporate headquarters and parliament itself. Even the right to project ‘protest’ images onto the House of Commons is being thrown into the ‘criminalisation’ melting pot.
And corporate feudalism is flourishing under the cloak of nominal democracy:
- Local authorities have had billions cut from their budgets and are being forced into bankruptcy.
- A fire-sale of public assets invariably follows.
- Corporate fiefdoms are protected above all else. The government completely funded Network Rail’s costs during the rail disputes. Dividends and bonuses ran on time, even when the trains didn’t.
- Every single privatisation in Britain has left corporate owners richer and the public poorer – for example the salami slicing of NHS services through private procurement and PFI schemes.
The real debate ought to be about how to re-socialise public services (on a not-for-profit basis) without saddling the public with unaccountable centralised bureaucracies.
Britain’s problems don’t rest with today’s protestors – be they Netanyahu’s opponents or NHS workers, climate protesters or environmental activists. The problem is parliament itself.
Corporate feudalism prospers under the cloak of nominal democracy; to escape it we will have to change the politics, not cull the protestors and find transformative answers to today’s most towering problems.
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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”.
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Multinationals have taken control of Britain’s transport, energy and water: now land is the target
Colchester Council Watch, ‘keeps an eye’ on the council’s ‘doings’. On its website Rachel Mathews, a community film maker, interviews Sandi Adams about her research into the impact UN agendas are having on British farmers (15m video).
The UN Global Compact is committed to work with governments, business, academia and civil society to galvanize the sound policies, actions and leadership to create inclusive, resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems that deliver for people, planet and prosperity.
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), with the support of bodies like the World Economic Forum, engages the foremost political, business and cultural leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas with sponsors including Bill and Melinda Gates and two banks on a Global Innovation Platform, with an interest in Agritech.
Points made in the Colchester Council Watch farming crisis video
Ministry officials have visited farmers offering subsidies which are conditional on them cutting sheep, beef and dairy production and setting up businesses on their land.
In North Somerset this agricultural land is to be used for renewable energy generation
This map with the areas marked below. was taken off the council website after Sandi Adams highlighted these plans.
Businesses to be set up on farmland include:
- Controlled Environment Agriculture includlng vertical farming, aquaponics, aeroponics and hydroponics, growing undercover below LED lights & using robots.
- GMO crops
- Large-scale farming with drones spraying and fertilising and heavy machines impacting soil
- Swathes of land covered with solar panels which are vulnerable to hailstines and – as storms become more violent – the damage seen in Nebraska (below).
- Developing insect biomass; insects are rich in proteins and nutrients (Science Direct). High profit margin insect meal in Europe and the UK is largely restricted to the petfood sector, but could become a sustainable food source. addressing potential food shortages and environmental concerns.
Fears are expressed that degree-only corporate large-scale agritech farming, pioneered in North and West Yorkshire will become the norm – and even that it will be state-controlled.
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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?
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“Why, in the UK, can you now potentially receive a longer sentence for “public nuisance” – non-violent civil disobedience – than for rape or manslaughter? Jonathon Porritt
In an article summarised below, Jonathon Porritt writes: “The right to peaceful protest is still a basic human right. But you sure as hell wouldn’t know that here in the UK”.
I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m astonished at the lack of concern/interest on the part of “mainstream environmentalists” as we slide inexorably into a police state – perhaps they don’t actually understand what is currently going on out there.
Peaceful protesters are being prosecuted and convicted under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, for the criminal offence of “Public Nuisance”, which is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment:
- the Public Order Act 2023 is being used to further criminalise peaceful protest.
- In some recent cases, presiding judges have forbidden environmental defenders from explaining to the jury their motivation for participating in a given protest or from mentioning climate change at all.
- Civil injunctions have been issued to hundreds of individuals. A breach could mean imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
- Defendants on trial for public nuisance, after a peaceful protest, were forbidden from saying the words climate change, fuel poverty and the civil rights movement.
- Trudi Warner, a retired Social Worker, is being prosecuted for Contempt of Court for holding up a sign outside of a court defending the right of juries to decide a case on conscience.
- Tim Hughes, a 73-year-old clergyman, was arrested in November 2022, and charged with Conspiracy to Cause a Public Nuisance. He was on remand in Wandsworth Prison for 6 weeks, then released on bail in January 2023, subject to wearing a tag. His trial is not scheduled until February 2025.
George Monbiot (“It’s a Plutocrat’s World – and all Dissenters are Swiftly Crushed”) asks: “Why, in the UK, can you now potentially receive a longer sentence for “public nuisance” – non-violent civil disobedience – than for rape or manslaughter?
Peaceful environmental campaigners are being held on bail for up to 2 years, subjected to electronic tags, GPS tracking and curfews. Even before you’ve been tried, let alone found guilty, your life is shredded.”
And he tellingly adds exactly why these deep injustices are now becoming commonplace:
“Why is all this happening? Because the UK, the US and many other nations have become closed shops run by the Plutocrats’ Trade Union. Inequality demands oppression. The more concentrated wealth and power become, the more those who challenge the rich and powerful must be hounded and crushed”.
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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.
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Political Concern 