Unfair.

 

 

            GREAT Britain, well I suppose it all depends on which side of the fence you sit. To the ordinary citizen of Great Britain the the word GREAT is a joke. Every day we have more reports of buildings with crap RAAC concrete all nearing the end of their lives, from schools, hospitals, public buildings and who know what else. We have an education system in meltdown, a transport system that is not fit for purpose, a health service that is falling apart at the seams, poverty is on the rise, homelessness is on the rise, child poverty is on the rise. More and more families depend on food banks and can't afford to heat their homes, while struggle endlessly to pay their way. We have social services that fail miserably to look after the elderly, infirm and those in need.

                                            Image courtesy of Trussell Trust.

            However, on the other side of the fence in GREAT Britain, the millionaire/billionaire class has added unimaginable amounts to their personal wealth. Large corporations are roping in mountains in profit and handing out millions to their CEO and their shareholders. Great Britain, a divided society with opulence, privileges and power for the few, and a harsh struggle with poverty and deprivation always a close neighbour for the many, who know all to well that there is nothing GREAT in these conditions.

 Image courtesy of Compensation Cafe.

          All this happens with our consent, we pay the managers of the system to handle our affairs and this is the hand they deal us. They won't change the system as it benefits them and their cronies immensely. If we want to change the system, then it is up to us the ordinary people. We must in solidarity, take control of our communities, our workplaces, our towns and cities and bring this insanity that spawns poverty, inequality and gross injustice, crashing down, we can build a better world if that is what we really want.

                                      Image courtesy of Economic Policy Institute.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info      

No Vote.

 

        At the moment all the bubble and squeak on the media is "the election" who will be voted in to wear the crown for American imperialism. What seldom hits the headlines is who, with power over our lives, we never get the opportunity to vote in or out. The financial institutions, investment banks, fund managers, the corporate CEOs, a coterie of parasites that make up the financial Mafia that control the levers of this economic system called capitalism. That gang of expensive suits that make their decisions behind closed doors, far from the prying eyes of the public, but who control how the society that public inhabits, will be shaped. They dictate directions to elected parties by means of extravagantly funded "lobbyists", all legal, but with gifts, opportunities and donations as persuaders, to oil the greasy hands of our political ballerinas. There is no such thing as a poor member of Parliament, all those who enter that edifice to imperialism, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, leave much richer than when they entered.

        Instead of concentrating on those participants in our national farce of "Lairs and Corruption" competitions, sometimes known as elections, we should be paying much more attention to those we don't get an opportunity to vote on, the parasite class, the financial mafia and their bedfellows. That's where the real power in this greed driven insanity lies, that's the ones who hold and the reigns of power, who hold the wealth and bask in a swath of privileges, all gleaned from the toil and sweat of you and I. 

 

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

When The Abused Pick Their Abusers.

      Well today is the day, the day when many of the abused run around selecting their abuser. They do it with an attitude of anticipation, they feel that change is in the offing. In spite of this process never having produced any meaningful change in the past, they harbour that insane thought, somehow, this time will be different. The babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, will of course be screaming at you all the intricacies and permutations possible in this charade of smoke and mirrors, attempting to reinforce the illusion that it is you that rules the country. However, choosing your abuser, never allows you to choose the abuse. 

     At 81, I have lived through many elections, (Crooks and Liars competitions), and at the start of each, the promises from the participants is always much the same, they will lift children out of poverty, the will end fuel poverty, they will solve the housing crisis, they will improve social services, education, health and welfare. The very fact that these promises keep coming up at the start of each Crooks and Liars competition, is proof that they have always failed. 

      So what's the betting, that once this new cabal of abusers take up the reins of power, each successful contestant will get richer, and when the next Crooks and Liars competition comes around, they will troop out the very same promises that they made at the last one. Another 5 years of failed promises, but the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, doesn't say something?

      Don't expect justice to handed to you my a bunch of millionaires sitting in a gilded palace, or freedom to be granted to you by a cabal of privileged parasites wallowing in the obscene pomp and splendour of the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. Freedom and justice is something you have to take, at your level with your community, it is not a gift granted to you from above. Like I keep saying, we don't need them, to make the world a better place for us all, they do need us to keep them in their bubble of wealth and privilege.

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

Plundering The Till!!!

     A brief description of our political system, greed, corruption, cronyism, secret deals to line pockets of friends and associates, operated by a bunch of rich two-faced duplicitous callous Oxbridge parasites. I think that is a reasonable and fairly accurate summary of this festering cancer we call capitalist "representative democracy". 

       We could all get on with our daily lives if this bunch of suited mobsters were wheeling and dealing and divvying up their own loot, but unfortunately it is our tax money, they are shuffling into their mates pockets. It's our NHS that is being sliced into money making packages for the greed merchants in the corporate club. It's our social services that are being slashed, to allow their business buddies to step in and provide them, at a profit of course. 

     Is there anyone out there who still believes this cabal of thieving Oxbridge parasites, have anything but the interests of their own class in mind, as they wheel and deal in those corrupt corridors of power, in that decadent encampment on the banks of the Thames, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption?

     The following is from The Sum Of Us:

     A Tory MP's mates are about to get an £80 million payout from the NHS. At stake is a 10-year contract to provide high-tech medical imaging to cancer patients in five counties. The "winning" bid comes from a private company called Alliance Medical -- whose board of directors includes Sir Malcom Rifkind, Conservative MP for Kensington.

     It's suspicious enough to see a government contract going to a company led by a sitting politician. But it gets worse. There's a rejected bid from a consortium of NHS hospitals -- and that bid would cost the government £7 million less than Sir Rifkind's! For his services to Alliance Medical, Sir Rifkind receives about £60k per annum, so it seems that the company makes quite a profit off his friendship.

     Let's ask the NHS head office: does having a Tory on board make for better medicine? Make your contracting policies transparent so that we can tell!

What's happening is clear. This is another attempt to steal our NHS and hand it off piece by piece to private corporations that will charge us more and serve us less. The government happily announced that this contract was going to a private company -- but hid the fact that Alliance was underbid by a state-run group!

     Healthcare advocates say it's almost impossible to get a glimpse into this kind of procurement deal. That has to change. Privatising the NHS affects us all, yet we're being shut out from the decision and denied public oversight of contracts that take public funds. Whether it's a favour for Sir Rifkind's cronies or simply a willful waste of money, the result is to blind our eyes and yank the NHS from our hands.

     Tell NHS England to put its procurement process where we can see it, and stop sneaking in handouts for corporations and politicians!

Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Deanna, and the team at SumOfUs 

More information:

NHS Contract Awarded To Private Firm Despite Rival Bid Being “£7 Million Cheaper” Buzzfeed, 27 January 2015

'Selling off NHS for profit': Full list of MPs with links to private healthcare firms, The Mirror, 27 November 2014

Privatisation of the NHS means that
a job the state could do for £73 million is going
to a corporation that wants £80 million.
We don't know how many other handouts
are going to corporations and politicians' mates
-- but we want to find out.
Sign the petition to make NHS contracting processes transparent
and show us where the money's gone!

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

Is Revenge Sweet?

     I suppose I could call myself an old person. Through all those years I have seen the system under which we live, use and abuse friends and family. I have had relatives ravaged and destroyed by war, seen others sink into the swamp of poverty, and the system rolled on painting the illusion, that hard work will sort everything out. If that was the case I should be a very rich old guy, as my father worked hard and ceaselessly as a coal miner all his life, but we struggled all our life.

     Throughout my life, I have always taken the stand, with many others, of trying to change the system to one that benefits the ordinary people, its been a long haul and the system is still there, still using and abuse friends and family, still painting that illusion, that we will all do well if only we will work longer and harder.

     Looking globally, the signs are encouraging, more and more people in more countries are standing up and fighting, with the realisation that the system is unjust, corrupt, rotten to the core, and must be changed.

     However I have waited a long time and saw a lot of poverty and misery inflicted on innocent people, and perhaps I'm getting a wee bit bitter. I saw the image below and felt that it now seems to suit my desires more than I would have said some years ago. Is revenge sweet?

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

Beyond Capitalism.

 This from A World To Win:

      This People’s Inquiry offers a chance to share ideas and information about the related crises facing humanity. It is open to individuals, campaign groups, trade unions, academics and students. Working together, we can deepen our knowledge and work on solutions.

       Climate change has passed a tipping point and extreme weather is just one of the results. The global economic and financial system has entered a renewed, deeper crisis. Anger at the way political systems are corrupted by corporations and lobbyists is at boiling point.

      There is worldwide opposition and resistance, but as yet no shared strategy for getting beyond capitalism. Reaching the point where we achieve such a strategy is the main purpose of the inquiry.

We have suggested six areas for the inquiry together with some questions that will help focus our work:

• The ecosystem, including climate change and species loss
• Global economy and finance, where the 1% rule over the 99%
• The state, democracy and social rights (like health and housing)
• Ideology and philosophy – dialectics of liberation   
• Culture, education and sport – how they can help set us free
• Networks/organisations/strategies for revolutionary change

A World to Win is proposing a three-stage process:

1. Gathering evidence through papers, web references and contributions from individuals and groups. People can bear witness about their own situation or campaign, through text or by sending video or audio files.
2. Face-to-face meetings in different locations, and on-line meetings, to assess and discuss the evidence, draw conclusions and make proposals.
3. A working group, which contributors will be invited to join, will discuss the results and collaborate on the contents of a draft final report that maps out a way forward.

The inquiry is hosted on A World to Win’s network platform. Please register to post material,  make comments and get the inquiry under way!

Paul Feldman
Communications editor

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

Greece, Breathtaking Deprivation.

      Greece, a land of contrast, stunning scenery, abject deprivation, unbelievable sunsets, 62% unemployment among the young, beautiful beaches, an angry population.

       Greece has become a symbol of the western world’s retrocession on all levels during the last few years. Inspired by the campaign “Promote Greece” that aims to show Greece’s nice face to the world, we aim to go a step further: to stop camouflaging the misery of Greek society with beautiful beaches and breathtaking sunsets. To stop lying about Greek hospitality. To disconnect modern Greek democracy from its ancient roots.

      Economy is not the main problem; democracy is! 

The real problem is about:

- how political elites have taken unpopular and undemocratic measures.

- the thousands of lay-offs of public servants, in order to meet Troika’s instructions and get the next loan, sorry “rescue package”.

- how the rulers pass new law amendments that will bring more misery in society, with compendious processes without even discussing them in the Parliament.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

They're Only Here To Help You!!

    A mortgage is for life, but your house might not be!! Enjoy.

ann arky's home.

"Whodunnit"

       I haven't said much on the "horse meat scandal", I see it all as just one of the many aspects of the profit driven system that we have allowed to dominate our lives. The very nature of getting wealthy on the backs of others requires subterfuge, somebody has to be conned somewhere. This is just one, that for whatever reason, that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, has decided to trumpet. It is not the only "scandal" that weaves its way through the smoke and mirrors of this corrupt and exploitive system, it is just the one that is in the news.

I found this an interesting article from Socialism or Your Money Back:

 Customer to the Butcher: A pound of mince, please
Butcher to the Customer: Aye, neigh bother.

      Who is responsible for the horsemeat scandal?  "Not us’ say the government (even though they cut the number of food inspectors). ‘Nor us’, say the supermarket bosses. "Us neither" say the suppliers. "It wasn't us" say the abattoirs. As in every good ‘Whodunnit’ drama, we are looking for a bad guy. The French and then the Romanians were first to be blamed, now it is organised crime and the Mafia. The Swedes blamed the French company Spanghero who also deny the charge. The Netherlands said the Cyprus-based meat vendor Draap that sold the meat to Spanghold was responsible, and the company’s track record would suggest the Dutch had a point. In 2012 Draap was convicted of selling South American horsemeat labeled at German and Dutch beef. Draap — run by a trust in the British Virgin Islands — is owned by the company Guardstand, that in turn owns part of the arms dealing company, Ilex Ventures. According to prosecutors in New York, convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout owns Ilex Ventures. Guardstand’s sole shareholderis Trident Trust, which sets up companies in tax-free nations. Guardstand helped set up Ilex.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

MORE BULLSHIT FROM AN EXPENSIVE SUIT.

       As a rule, every time a politician opens their mouth there is a mixture of bullshit, arrogance and ignorance. The flag carrier for a “compassionate capitalism” the Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, is no exception. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph he said he had nothing against the rich, as long as they made their money, “the hard way”. This of course perpetuates the myth that in this society all you have to do to get rich is work hard. Well Ed, my father was a miner all his life and worked extremely hard. He never took a holiday, in those days the mines closed for the “Fair Holidays” but they always needed a crew to go down the mine on a daily basis during the holidays to check on gas, flooding and roof collapses. My dad took that job year after year. I don't know of anybody who worked harder, he didn't drink nor gamble, but we were poor, we never got rich. Get wise Ed, to get rich in this type of society you have to exploit people somewhere along the line, hard work doesn't get you rich. Another bullshit outpouring from Ed, during his interview was, "My dad was sceptical of all the Thatcher aspirational stuff, but I felt you sort of had to recognise that what she was talking about struck a chord. I want to save capitalism from itself," so Ed is one of those, “there is no such thing as society, only individuals” What he and Thatcher considers “aspirational stuff” is just an unleashing of personal greed and to hell with the community. A society of “me” “I” and “what can I screw from this deal”. Ed also wants to “save capitalism from itself”, well, please Ed don't bother wasting your time, it can't be turned into a nice compassionate system where we are all rewarded for our efforts. Don't bother trying to save capitalism from it self, it is a lost cause, capitalism is exploitation, capitalism is corruption, capitalism is injustice. You and your “fairer capitalism” bunch are perpetuating a system the breeds deprivation, corruption and greed, there is no way you can build a fair society on those foundations. Ed you and your bullshitting mob are the problem, get out of the way and let the people control their own communities and society in a non-capitalist way.

 ann arky's home.

FIBRE OPTIC PARASITES.

        You and I know that the system stinks and is corrupt from top to bottom. It is a system of making money from nothing and those who make nothing make the most money, and have most control over our lives. It is a system of parasites feeding of the daily lives of the ordinary people. Capitalism used to be those with money investing it in making things and making more money, but things appeared. Now those with money make money from thin air and get rich faster than ever imagined and at the end of the day they have produced nothing, except more money for their money making smoke and mirrors trick.

It's  great system, who'd want to change it!!

This from The Drum:

Trade parasites feeding at the heart of the ASX 

By operating at the speed of light high frequency traders can "feel" a buy order coming and can dart in front of them.

        In the Australian Securities Exchange's Sydney data room, which is about the size of a big lounge room, there are six "cuckoos". These are the banks of servers installed by high-frequency traders.

        They sit against the wall opposite the ASX servers and each is connected directly into the host by a fat fibre optic pipe. Each cable is precisely the same length by agreement with the ASX so that none gets an advantage; if one server is closer to the input, its cable is looped around to lengthen it.

      Think about that: one less metre of optic fibre carrying data at 299.8 million metres per second - that is, the speed of light - would give one share trader an unfair advantage over the rest. It suggests that something pretty quick is going on.

        The question is whether it's fair to the rest of us; whether those six parasites with their suckers fastened directly into the heart of the ASX should be allowed to get away with it.

Continue READING:

ann arky's home.

CAN YOU BUY LEGISLATION??

        We all know that "our elected" representatives sitting in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are not shy of listening to the big guys in the corporate world and seeing to their particular needs. Why, you might ask? Well most of "our elected" representatives are all angling for a nice cushy lucrative job in that very corporate world, so it is a case of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. So while they are being bought, (wined and dined) by their corporate paymasters, what time will they have to look at your particular problem? Especially if it conflicts with the interests of those very rich corporate paymasters. 

I'm a Cabinet Minster, Ive been networking.

         This from Care2.

           The last time I checked, government officials were supposed to act with their constituents in mind. So why is it so easy for rich executives to get access to them?
One thousand, eight hundred pounds can buy you a lot of things, including access to senior government ministers, which is a boon for energy industry executives. »
         The Chemistry Club runs previously banned networking events providing company executives with valuable access to key decision makers, including senior MPs, special government advisors and cabinet ministers. For this service, companies are, unsurprisingly, happy to pay up to £1,800. At its climate change events, executives from Shell, BP, and Gazprom get the opportunity to have quiet words with the government officials who decide on energy and environment policy.
Dubious, paid-for networking events like these are, at the very least, on the borderline of corruption and have no place in the UK.
Tell the UK government to stop allowing lobbyists the opportunity to influence government policy to such an extent. »

ann arky's home.

WE ARE AWARE.

What the ruling oligarchy must now be aware of is that we are aware. We are aware of their lies, we are aware of their corruption, we are aware of their unbridled greed, we are aware of their brutal exploitation of people and planet, we are aware of their money making wars, we are aware of the world wide poverty in the midst of plenty. We are aware that the police are not there to detect crime, but to protect their wealth and their power. We are also aware of the changes we want to make, we are aware of the fact that the present system cannot be sustained, nor do we want it to be sustained. We are aware of the society we want and will create, a society based on the needs of the all the people. We are aware of the fact that this can only be brought about by the destruction of the old profit driven system of greed. We are aware that this will be a hard and sometimes bitter struggle, but we are aware that we are the 99%, so, we are aware that we will prevail and our grandchildren will inherit a world that we are proud to hand them, We are aware that the awareness is global and the world is changing and we are aware that we are that change.

ann arky's home.

THEATRE, FARCE, ELECTION,---IT'S ALL THE SAME.

     

      It is that time again, yes, your wish is my command. Well not my command, those strange creatures we see every four or five years, they normally go under the heading of politicians. Though we don't see much of them between times, we do hear a lot about them, there is their phony expenses, their dodgy business dealing and their suspect relations with people in high places. Then there is their waffling and babble and those endless photo opportunities. Now it is the theatrical season, the phony actors are taking to the stage. Yes, it's election time.

VOTE!! WHIT HIV THEY EVER DONE FUR US?

      As the election nears I feel I'm in the promised land, well the promises are there, but that's about as near as I'll get. Each of the parties offer what they think you'll want to hear. More jobs, safeguarding essential services, a curb on excessive bonuses, more control of the banks, improvements in the NHS, better education opportunities for our kids, you name it, they'll offer it. Each one through that chiselled in smile or a face of gravitas go through their little spiel, their prepared pathetic little act, doing their damnedest to look honest and sincere. Sadly these are features that are completely unfamiliar to them, so they fail miserably.

     After the election there is the game of musical chairs, a wee reshuffle in the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, then the new actors (the politicians) settle in to the gravy train, keeping their snouts very close to the pig trough and become invisible in there constituencies. You and I, on the other hand, go back to our daily grin of struggling against cuts in our standard of living, unemployment, cuts in pensions, attacks on the National Health Service and a decimated education system, while trying to bring up our kids and taking care of our elderly parents.

 

     The only change in our lives after the election is the crop of new smiling faces plastered across the papers and TV screen. Vote? Why? On election day throw a party for your friends and family, take the kids away for the day, visit old friends, paint the house, read a book, just don't vote. Leave election day for the parasites to vote for themselves, after all that's what the election is all about, them.

 

 

ann arky's home.

VICIOUS LIES FROM GREEDY, VICIOUS LIARS.

       As the well manicured twins from the millionaires’ club down at the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption go ahead with the financial world’s plans to decimate the living standards of the working class, they are still, without laughing, muttering that blatant lie “we are all in this together” You and I are looking at a massive rise in unemployment, savage cuts to social spending, cuts in benefits, a shattered education system, reduced pensions, working longer to to get that lousy pension, if you have a job at all, and on top of that they are now about to rip apart the health service and turn it into a market governed grouping of private enterprises, in other words the privatisation of our health service. They are about to create a society where if you want something you buy it, at a profit to some corporate body. Of course if you can’t afford it then you do without and that will apply to health, education and special needs plus a host of other things that a civilised society should provide. While we, the ordinary people, are supposed to take this, the friends of this millionaire cabinet are still laughing all the way to the bank. For example, last year a certain Mr Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, faced the burden of austerity with an £8 million pay package, his previous year's earnings. Another of the millionaire cabinet’s friends who is in this with us is Marc Bolland of Marks & Spencer’s his contract could net him approximately £15 million for the following year's pay check. As you can see, we are all in this together.

        The most blatant lie about this whole affair is the fact that they keep repeating, “there is no alternative” what shit, and it is ideological shit at that. This is the biggest handover of public assets to the private sector that we have ever seen. You and I and any member of the working class know that we could create a society that would see to the needs of all our people, we know we have the ability, imagination and resources to create a society free from the profit motive, based on mutual aid and sustainability. We know we do not need that army of pampered, well manicured parasites that rip us off day and daily. We, the working class, are facing what is probably one of the biggest challenges that has arisen in capitalism, we now have the ability to organise across the whole of the European continent on an almost instantaneous basis. What is happening in this country is happening across Europe, it is a united attack by the financial institutions of corporate capitalism, it surely makes sense that we should respond with a united attack on those institutions that aim to destroy our already meagre standard of living. Local strikes, marches and demonstrations can be ignored and dealt with without too much trouble to the system. However a national general strike would be a different matter and much more difficult for the system to handle, a pan-European general strike would be impossible for the system to cope with, and would be our opportunity to restructure society to our aims based on that fair and universally desire, of a society free from the fear of deprivation and exploitation.

 

 

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