Crooks & Liars!!

 

Image courtesy of University College London.

        Once again, in this country, we are approaching what they call elections, what I prefer to call "National Crooks and Liars" competition. Having been aware of these competitions since my teens and now 90 years old it is obvious to see the pattern. The contestants raise themselves into a frenzy, spouting the most barefaced lies with such conviction as they can muster, wear a particular colour tie to denote which camp they are aiming to be part of hoping for a lucrative job and fat pay check with pension and expenses.

       Flunkies leading the Crooks and Liars to their new lucrative job.

                                                      Image courtesy of The Guardian.

          You have all heard the lies and should know them off by heart. "We will end child poverty in X number of years", "We will end the scourge of poverty across our land in X number of years". There other favourite lies they like to spin, "We will end homelessness in X number of years by building X number of house every year." Of course after the "Crooks and Liars Competition" is over things settled down to the usual backhanders to friends and cronies, double dealing and second and third jobs with the various companies that bought them during the competition to safeguard their wealth and profit making. So where does that leave you and I, well as usual right where we always end up, struggling for a decent life.

         The following information is taken from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2024 report.
            Poverty has increased, close to pre-pandemic levels
2021/22 22% approximately 1 in 5 UK population were living in poverty, that accounts for 14.4 million people.
Among them 8.1 million working age adults app 2 in 10 living in poverty. 4.2 million children (app. 3 in every 10)
It has been almost 20 years and 6 prime ministers since the last prolonged period of falling poverty
          In the 1980s, under the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher, there was then an unprecedented rise in poverty even at a time of high income growth, This has not been reversed, meaning current levels of poverty are around 50% higher than they were in the 1970s. 

            Lots of people will give reasons for The Thatcher push to poverty, but rest assure none of these reasons were for the benefit of the ordinary people.
          So, with these facts in mind, do you think it is worth bothering to support any of those in this ridiculous charade of "Crooks and Liars" Competition??

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Work Hard???

 

                                                   Image courtesy of Blogs.Iris.

          In Scotland there is a saying "wha's like is" in my opinion not that many in the developed world. A recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation research reveals that in this oil and whisky country, almost half a million individuals are living in "very deep poverty", an increase of 300,000 since last March. They also found that poverty among working people was growing and 10% of employees were locked into persistent low pay. Those worst hit by this capitalist created poverty are women and ethnic minorities. Following the capitalist work ethic that work lifts you our of poverty, is another spewing of bullshit, as 60% of children living in poverty have at least one parent working. Compare this with those parasites at the other end of wealth scale. Anders Holch Povlsen, who is the owner of Danish retailer Bestseller and has a 25 per cent stake in ASOS, he has managed to grasp a personal fortune of £6.5billion, which is up by £500million compared to last year. Not bad for a 49 year old. Then we have the Easdale brothers, James and Sandy with a £1.363billion fortune based on transport and property acquisitions. Let's not forget the  Edinburgh lassie JK Rowling, she added £30million to her fortune, making her worth £850 million.

Image courtesy of  IX Magazine.

        Now do you think any of these and other millionaire parasites, work that much harder than factory workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, nurses, and those in a host of essential jobs that keep this country going and create that wealth that these parasites plunder? Think about it, we create all that wealth, why can't we share it among all our people?

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Not News!

    This is just a wee blast from the recent past. I penned this about three years ago, but felt I wanted to spout it all again, as it is a train of thought that never leaves my mind. "When will we ever learn"

Too Old For The News.

    Something about living a long time, news never seems like news. Recently the Joseph Rowntree Foundation announced that almost one third of the UK population are living on an inadequate income. In its statement it said that during 2014-15, approximately 19 million people were surviving on less than the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). Mired in that 19 million group of desperate people are six million children, roughly 45% of all UK children, and 1.8 million pensioners. These depressing figures are up from six years ago when they were quoted as, 15 million, or 25% of the population.  

       Why do I not see this as news? Well has it ever been other? It is just bubble gum and candy floss to plaster across that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media. Through the years, as I have seen governments come and governments go, I have been reading figures like this. Under one government the figures improve slightly under the next they deteriorate, so we switch governments again, and the process goes boringly but brutally on its destructive way. Yes we the ordinary people wrestle small gains here and there, but slice by slice they are taken away from us, and we have to start all over again in the constant struggle to try and get a decent standard of living. Poverty has soared and then slightly abated, homeless has grown and then slightly abated, child poverty has increased and then slightly abated. However, none of these problems have ever been addressed  and solved. Nor can they, the system is incapable of solving these problems, or surely it would have done so by now. Have no illusions, the system has the wealth and the resources to sort it all out, but doesn't. Based on the profit motive, these problems are actual results of the system, a few must gain while the majority must lose, that's capitalism. So if you wish to see that 45% of UK children ceasing to be a statistic on a poverty scale, if you wish to see those 1.8 million pensioners live the remainder of their lives in reasonable comfort, don't ask for better allowances, organise to destroy the system that is responsible for these statistics of misery and anxiety. We must accept that it is a class war, and at the moment we are losing, but we have the numbers, the ability, the resources and the imagination, to turn that tide and be the winners of that better world for all.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The UK, Land Of Monarchy And Child Poverty.

          The UK, fifth largest economy in the world, it is awash with wealth, it carries on the back of its people the imperial edifice of a pomp swamp of monarchy and all the aristocratic parasites associated with such a menagerie. Wealth flows freely, but only in certain quarters.

      Since the 2008 "crash" the UK, like lots of capitalist countries, embarked on a policy of "austerity". This was the acceptable euphemism for the scheme to allow the rich financial Mafia to regain their massive gambling loses, by plundering the public purse. Eleven years on and we are told, "austerity is over" but where do we stand?

Well has "austerity" worked? You bet it has, with UK's billionaires having seen their net worth rise by 112% from £258billion to £547 billion since 2009. The previous 12 months saw the biggest jump in the UK super rich in six years, the City of London now boasts 80 billionaires up from 72 last year, more than any other city in the world.

       Well while this "austerity" plan has worked for the super rich, how do we at the other end of this master plan fare?

     Well it is not quite the same story, we the people got clobbered. We have suffered an ever decreasing standard of living, child poverty is increasing, workers in poverty has been increasing. What has been plunder from our social services has fed the super rich as they prance around the world in their private jets and super yachts.

         Joseph Rowntree Foundation research reveals that in the UK child poverty has been rising since 2011/12. with 4.1 million children in the UK living in poverty, a rise of 500,000 in the last five years. 4 million of those in work are living in poverty, a rise of more than half a million over five years. In work poverty has been rising faster than employment, driven almost entirely by increasing poverty among working parents. Two sides of the capitalist coin.

      These appalling figures among the ordinary people of this country are not just statistics, they are lives. Lives stunted in health and well-being, the potential of our children destroyed, an increase in stress among families, the breaking up of families, people pushed to homelessness, hard working people put under strain to the detriment of their emotional and physical health. All this, not as an unavoidable set of circumstances, but by the deliberate policies of the chosen few who play the corrupt game to the advantage of their rich cronies. It is called capitalism, and any attempt at trying to turn this exploitative, profit driven system into something with a shred of humanity is doomed to failure, it is not in the nature of the beast. It has to be totally dismantled and replaced with a system of justice, fairness, co-operation and sustainability that sees to the needs of all our people, in a word, anarchism. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The UK, Abject Poverty In The Midst Of Obscene Wealth.

      A recent report states that the UK government is presiding over “significant and growing” hunger, the report warns that one in five children in the UK live in homes that are severely food insecure, this is the worst level of child hunger in the EU. The same report states that 2.2 million people in the UK are classed as severely food insecure, this translates into the fact that the UK is responsible for one fifth of all severely food insecure people in the EU.

        So the rich UK has an army of adults and children who are classed as severely food insecure. It has another army luring in the shadows of this corrupt exploitative system, the army of homeless. According to Shelter at least 320,000 people in the UK are homeless. The report also states that this is a year-on-year increase of 13,000, up 4%. It puts the national figure at around 1 in 200 people in the UK as homeless. It also states that these figures are probably an under estimate as it doesn't take into account, the sofa-surfers, those sleeping in sheds and cars etc. 

       Another hallmark of this rich UK society is poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's recent 2018 report states:

 This research reveals that, in our society: 

• Child poverty has been rising since 2011/12; 
• 4.1 million children are living in poverty, a rise of 500,000 in the last five years; 
• Four million workers are living in poverty –a rise of more than half a million over five years; and 
• In-work poverty has been rising even faster than employment, driven almost entirely by increasing poverty among working parents.

        Then there is that other army of those on benefit being driven to destitution by never ending cuts in social services, a rapidly crumbling health service, and an education system that has vacancies that can't be filled, and a vast number of teachers off with stress.
     All the signs of a poor country, debilitating social conditions that blight the lives of millions, but in this case it is a very rich country and the conditions in the country are created by deliberate choices made by those in power. There is more than sufficient wealth and resources in this country to see to the needs of all our people, the choices are ideologically chosen.
     In the midst of this swamp of poverty and deprivation, our "lords and masters" are spending billions on weaponry. We have had the usual chest thumping and flag waving at the UK's recent acquisition of two monster aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The cost of building these monstrous imperialist weapons of mass destruction is in excess of £6 billion. Of course this is a drop in the bucket to the final cost when completed and fitted out with its fancy super expensive F-35B stealth fighter jets. Each jet comes with an eye-watering price tag of £78 million. The UK with its army of hungry and homeless, is buying 48 of these imperialist testosterone pills to kit out its two mammoth carriers, but is planning to buy a total of 138 to complete its battle group. That would come in somewhere around the £14+ billion, then add a cool  £6+ billion building costs. Thanks Loam for the link. Details of this mad imperialist chest thumping extravaganza here: 
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50903.htm
         Of course the billions spent on these two brutes of indiscriminate killing machines is just a small fraction the UK spends on weaponry just to be the side-kick of the imperialist USA.
          This shows where the privileged parasites that control this country put their priorities, certainly not in the well being of the people, but in the defence of their power and wealth at the expense of the people.
           In the words of the song, "When will we ever learn---"

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Too Old For The News.

 

        Something about living a long time, news never seems like news. Recently the Joseph Rowntree Foundation announced that almost one third of the UK population are living on an inadequate income. In its statement it said that during 2014-15, approximately 19 million people were surviving on less than the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). Mired in that 19 million group of desperate people are six million children, roughly 45% of all UK children, and 1.8 million pensioners. These depressing figures are up from six years ago when they were quoted as, 15 million, or 25% of the population.  

       Why do I not see this as news? Well has it ever been other? It is just bubble gum and candy floss to plaster across that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media. Through the years, as I have seen governments come and governments go, I have been reading figures like this. Under one government the figures improve slightly under the next they deteriorate, so we switch governments again, and the process goes boringly but brutally on its destructive way. Yes we the ordinary people wrestle small gains here and there, but slice by slice they are taken away from us, and we have to start all over again in the constant struggle to try and get a decent standard of living. Poverty has soared and then slightly abated, homeless has grown and then slightly abated, child poverty has increased and then slightly abated. However, none of these problems have ever been addressed  and solved. Nor can they, the system is incapable of solving these problems, or surely it would have done so by now. Have no illusions, the system has the wealth and the resources to sort it all out, but doesn't. Based on the profit motive, these problems are actual results of the system, a few must gain while the majority must lose, that's capitalism. So if you wish to see that 45% of UK children ceasing to be a statistic on a poverty scale, if you wish to see those 1.8 million pensioners live the remainder of their lives in reasonable comfort, don't ask for better allowances, organise to destroy the system that is responsible for these statistics of misery and anxiety. We must accept that it is a class war, and at the moment we are losing, but we have the numbers, the ability, the resources and the imagination, to turn that tide and be the winners of that better world for all.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

I Daniel Blake.

       Last night Stasia and I went to see the Ken Loach film, "I Daniel Blake", we both found it the most powerful and moving film we had seen. We left the cinema traumatised, not because we didn't know the facts and all the statistics of the system before hand. In my case I felt that I wasn't watching a film, I was looking through a window at the real life of real people. Real, honest decent people, being slowly destroyed through an inhuman bureaucratic system designed to attempt to fit people, through a confusing and humiliating process, into non-existent jobs, fit for work or not. A system of slowly breaking down the self respect of the individual. A system callously set up by faceless bureaucrats, devoid of human empathy, knowing that it would fail in its stated aims. If anybody sees this film, and leaves the cinema without a gut wrenching desire to pull down and destroy this vicious inhumane system, they have lost their empathy with humanity.

       Some of the figures to back up the film. In this extremely rich country of approximately 65 million, 13.5 million live in poverty. This breaks down as 7.9 million working age adults, 3.9 million children, and 1.6 million pensioners. There are over 1 million individuals in work in the low paid industries who live in poverty. This breaks down as, residential care workers, 130,00, accommodation and catering workers, 360,000, and in that back bone of the consumer society, the retail trade, 460,000 of these workers live in poverty.

     There were 2,380 individuals who died shortly after their Employment Support Allowance was stopped. Between December 2011 and February 2014, a staggering 50,850 individuals claiming ESA died, of those 7,200 had been judged, by this bureaucratic killing machine, as fit and able to return to work.

      This is the traumatic reality that crushes so many honest decent people, who through no fault of their own, find themselves, entangled in the vicious claws of this inhuman, callous and  destructive bureaucracy, operated by robotic rule obeying, automatons. A system designed to silence them through frustration, humiliation and the destruction of their self worth, and at the same time save money by getting rid of social spending.

     As one commentator said, "I Daniel Blake" is a rallying call for the dispossessed, I wouldn't be surprised if you wake up one morning and find your local job Centre with large graffiti saying, "I Daniel Blake".  "I'm Spartacus", solidarity is the weapon to defeat this festering nightmare of injustice and inequality called capitalism.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Smoke And Mirrors Of "The Recovery".

       The Cameron-Osborne Bullingdon Club duo, are patting each other on the back and congratulating themselves on the UK recovery. Of course from where them live, in the millionaire bubble, it is certainly all very bright and rosy, with more millionaires joining the club. However, from where you and I live, it is a very different story. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the number of impoverished households has more than doubled since the days of Maggie Thatcher. Research also shows that due to the increase in the cost of living, a full-time job is longer likely to prevent you from falling into poverty. The result being that one in six of those adults who are in paid work, can now be classified as poor.

 

From The Independent:

      The Poverty and Social Exclusion project, based on interviews with more than 14,500 people in Britain and Northern Ireland carried out by eight universities and two research agencies, reported:

• More than 500,000 children live in families who cannot afford to feed them properly
• 18 million people cannot afford adequate housing conditions
• 12 million people are too poor to engage in common social activities
• About 5.5 million adults go without essential clothing
  

     The survey showed that the percentage of UK households which lacked “three or more of the basic necessities of life” has increased from 14 per cent in 1983, the year that Margaret Thatcher was re-elected (around 3 million), to 33 per cent (around 8.7 million) in 2012, despite the size of the economy doubling in that period. Researchers used the “three or more” formula as it is directly comparable with methods used to study poverty and deprivation in 1983. Academics said the findings dispelled the myth that poverty is caused by a lack of work or by people shirking work. Almost half the “employed poor” were clocking up 40 hours a week in work or more.

    Another interesting fact from The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, regarding the Cameron -Osborne "recovery", is that approximately 50% of the 13 million people in poverty in the UK, live in household where someone works. It is also said that between 2008-2014, cost of essentials had risen by almost a third, and you and I know that in the same period, incomes have fallen by approximately 10%.

     These are the cruel facts of the Oxbridge millionaires recovery, wealth flowing rapidly up to those who already have far too much, while those who create that wealth are getting an ever shrinking share. Ah the wonders of capitalism.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Don't You Know That There's A War Going On.

From The Progressive Populist:

      "For days, images of the Philadelphia public school system have haunted me. More than 30 children in one class share 11 math books. Bathrooms locked because there aren’t enough hall monitors. What’s most heartbreaking is to know that just a few miles away other school students attend some of the highest rated public and private schools in the nation, where they are lavished with cutting edge technology and enrichment opportunities.
        Then there are the images of elected officials turning a deaf ear to the protests of the students, teachers and parents angered at the extreme cuts. And the image of the Philadelphia Board of Education voting to cancel the contract with the teachers’ union. Shame on the board and shame on everyone else who blames Pennsylvania’s and American’s crisis in public education on teachers or believe the solutions to the problem all involve taking money out of the pockets of these highly skilled professionals." Read the full article HERE:

       Does the above sound familiar?

        If there is anybody out there who still can't see that we are in a brutal global class war, they must be blind. In country after country the  flag at the masthead of the powers that be is, "AUSTERITY". An ideology being directed by the financial Mafia, which is made up of individuals and institutions of unimaginable wealth. Their wealth is increasing by means of plundering all public assets, if it belongs to the public, it has to be transferred to private hands at a bargain price. All public spending must be curtailed and where possible eliminated. Incomes have to be squeezed, cheap labour is a wonderful wealth creator for the leeches that feed off our backs.

       The world is awash with wealth, but more and more of it is being syphoned into the coffers of that small band of parasites that make all the rules, to guarantee such an outcome. It is no accident, it is a well thought out policy driven by greed, at our expense.

        Here in this country, official figures showed that disposable income available to households fell by 1.7 per cent between the end of last year and the first three months of this year, the biggest fall since early 1987. A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation stated that a typical couple, both of whom work full-time, who have two children, would now need an annual income of just under £39,000 to maintain a “minimum” standard of living. Another result of this global class war being waged against the ordinary people, is the fact that the amount of money needed to afford ordinary, not luxury, food, clothes and leisure activities, has risen by 25 per cent since the so called "crisis" in 2008,

        As this global class war goes on unabated, this country has seen an explosion of food banks, hardly a sign of an economic recovery for us the ordinary people. In the year 2008/09 the number of people receiving food parcels from these food banks numbered, 25,899. The latest figures for 2013/14 puts that number at 913,138, almost one million people seeking free food to survive. The increase in the number of food banks is continuing, averaging two more a week opening. Where will it end, will it be when we all depend on food banks? 

           Do we just get on with it and accept that the multi-billionaires who are engineering this plundering of our wealth, after all we create all of it, will one day be compassionate and start to reverse the process? Or do we accept that it is a global class war, act accordingly and start to take back all that we created, creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people and gets the parasitic leeches off our backs, once and for all.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Nation Of Paupers, Knee Deep In Wealth.

      And still, from the mouths of the parasite class of politicians and their masters the corporate world, the crap keeps coming, ” Work hard and you will get on”. But it's now a truth, that working in this country, is more likely to make you poor. For the first time since records began, there are now more working families living below the poverty line, than in workless and retired families combined. Living standards of those in work in this country have been decimated to the extent that there are 6.7 million working families living below the poverty, line compared with 6.3 million workless and retired. We are talking about 13 million living below the poverty line in one of the richest countries in the world. These facts fly in the face of the millionaire cabal sitting in The Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, who are spouting about growth and recovery. Growth and recovery for what section of society?

      According to recent report published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, job insecurity is common place among millions of people, and one in six of the total workforce has has claimed Jobseekers' Allowance at some point in the last two years. It also points out what we all know, that the fall in median income over the last two years has wiped out all the gains of the last decade. The report also points out that the proportion of low paid jobs has increased and three fifths of these are done by the over 30's. Plus there are now 5 million people being paid below a living wage. Adding to this depressing picture of deprivation in the midst of wealth, is the policy of sanctions, depriving those in poverty of that meagre pittance that barely keeps them alive. No matter which group of our class we look at, poverty looks back at you, the largest group living in poverty are working age adults without dependent children, a staggering 4.7 million.

         Take a good look at this picture and ask yourself why? Is it because there is no wealth in this country? Is it because we are a very poor country? Is it because we don't know how to distribute that wealth in a more equal fashion? Or is it because we are controlled by a greed bunch of millionaires who do the bidding of the corporate world? Well we know we are a very rich country with an abundance of skills, and I'm sure we all know how we could distribute the wealth much more fairly. So I guess it's because we are controlled by a greedy bunch of millionaires who do the bidding of the corporate world. Well now we know the answer, how do we set about sorting the problem?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk