NECESSARY HASTE.

       While we the public slowly try to organise against cuts here, there and everywhere, the millionaire cabal is racing ahead with its plans to demolish the NHS as we know it. Of course the Cameron/Clegg duo rhetoric, may not sound like that of wreckers, but what they are doing is wrecking a public service irreversibly and leaving the pieces to be picked over and devoured by greedy profit seeking corporations. The introduction of market forces and competition into the NHS will make it subject to EU competition law and the Gatt free trade agreement, which suits the big corporations but removes any form of control away from representative and volunteer bodies. Fair dealing between the faceless corporations will be the aim, not the health and well being of the people it was set up to attend to, it will be another product to be milked for the benefit of shareholders.

     The same process is being carried out with considerable haste, in education, penal system and defence, with market forces being in the driving seat. Higher education has more or less been privatised with university grants cut by up to 80% and students having to fund the shortfall.

     Of course the millionaire cabal are not unduly worried about the anger of the people as we have a mainly right wing media that does not inform but spits out the free market ideology, the mainstream media is the propaganda unit of the free market millionaires and should be ignored.

      We should, with necessary haste, try to grasp the truth behind the smooth, “all in this together” and “fair and necessary austerity cuts” rhetoric, once all has been privatised, public services, health, education, penal system and anything else that can be turned into a profit, what control will we have over any aspect of society? If it doesn't produce a profit, it will wither and die. How long will it take to get back some semblance of control over the things that matter in our lives? Remember, it took us hundreds of years to get some of the benefits that we currently enjoy, relinquishing them into the hands of the corporate world will turn us into slaves of the corporate beast. A beast more ruthless than most slave masters of the past.

      Nothing short of a pan-European general strike will halt this daring dash of the free market ideology. It is not a country wide problem, it is a pan-European problem and will only be solved when we bring an end to the corporate fascism that is infesting every aspect of societies across the planet.

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GLASGOW MAFIA STRIKE AGAIN.

Subject: North Kelvin Meadow.

       “Time is running out to save an award winning community green space in Glasgow’s West End from Developers”.

        North Kelvin Meadow, a well used and supported green-space in the heart of Glasgow’s West End is now the subject of a planning application to build 115 flats, which if successful, will mark the end of this well loved community initiative.

       The developer New City Vision Ltd (NCV) chosen by Glasgow City Council has now kicked off their drive to gain planning permission for their housing development by holding two public meetings allowing the community to comment on their design. However the fundamental question of whether any housing development is right for this green space will not be up for discussion (1). They expect their main planning application to go in by March 2011.

      Even after two and half years of hard work by the community, GCC have chosen “to carry on regardless with the sale process” and to bulldoze North Kelvin Meadow. They have never consulted with the local people about what should happen to this land. Local people have been looking after this land in the absence of any management by the Council. And this work has been recognized for two years in a row with an award from Beautiful Scotland. They have cleared dumped rubbish off the land, regularly pick up litter, run a community composting service, and have set up community allotments so that local residents can grow fruit and veg. This green space is in constant use by dog walkers, children, and others who appreciate it as a

wild park. They would like to extend their work to provide a permanent resource for the benefit of the whole community. The development by New City Vision will destroy this work and ensure there is one less public resource for the people of North Kelvinside.

     *Douglas Peacock Chairman North Kelvin Meadow Campaign:*

      “This planning application if successful will result in a Meadow and community Allotment being bulldozed, 100s of trees being cut down and a successful award winning community initiative ceasing. Thats not a great legacy to leave the next generation to say the least! This land has never been built on and always used for the local community and that should continue.”

     “Glasgow City Council are out of step on what people are looking for on this issue, this is backed up by the number of politicians voicing their support plus 1000 people to date have signed the petition, that and the overwhelming support from local people asking that this green space not be built on.”

      *SNP Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon* has recently mentioned, in Dec 2010, the plight of North Kelvin Meadow: http://www.snp.org/node/17556

*Notes*

       1. A pre planning application was recently introduced by the Scottish Government to help communities, understand and get up to speed with what a developer is planning in their area prior to its main application for planning consent. This period last 12 weeks. North Kelvin Meadow is one of the first in Glasgow to be in this new process. Crucially though people aren’t being asked, and have *never* been officially asked, what they like to happen to this land. This pre planning consultation is mainly about what should happen to the small amount of open space which currently is shown as a small roundabout within the housing complex e.g. should it be grass, trees, seating, BBQ area, tarmac etc?

      2 *North Kelvin Meadow web site* http://www.northkelvinmeadow.com/ for further information email northkelvinmeadow@gmail.com  

     3. *Images for publication* available for download and use from  http://www.flickr.com/groups/northkelvinmeadow/
     4. *New City Vision Ltd* http://www.cloustonstreet.co.uk/
 
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IT'S A FAIR SOCIETY!!!

    

      According to The Telegraph the “average” UK household spends £24,100 annually on utility bills, rent/mortgage, shopping etc, but the “average” annual income is £23,244. The same survey shows that household bills have risen by approximately £650 in the past year. So it would appear that the “average” UK household is sinking fast into a swamp of debt. This year we are facing increase fuel bills and increase VAT, will the average income be increased to cope with these events? After all, our Millionaire public school thugs keep telling us that they are being fair. Malcolm Tyndall of the grant-giving charity, Elizabeth Finn Care stated, “We have seen first hand that over the past 18 months there has been a substantial rise in the cost of living, but that few people have had their salary rise at anything like that rate. Huge rises in food, fuel and household utilities have left many people struggling financially.”

       Of course this being capitalism, it therefore follows that not all are suffering from this millionaire ConDem's fair society. For example in the Alternative Investment Market, (AIM) listed companies the CEOs have managed to push their “average” salary through the £200,000 barrier up from £168,860 last year. That is an increase of slightly over 6%. Where else would you get a 6% salary increase in this country? So though we have been told of tough economic conditions, lower profits and low wage inflation for you and I, the CEO of AIM companies think that is a good reason to increase their salaries by over 6%, now that's fair!!

Of course we should say something about “average” salaries, it is not quite all like it seems. Take gender, the salary for male is £30,000+ but if you are female then your average drops to £23,000+. Then again how you work, permanent worker average is £23,000+, temporary worker £19,000+ and part time £13,000+, and there are lots of those who drop below the average. So our fair society puts prices up for everybody but your income can be static and below £13,000 or can see massive increases and be above £200,000, now that's fair!!

       The inequalities within this society can never be resolved, the system is built on the exploitation of the many by the few and the state structure is designed to make sure that nothing changes that pattern. Poverty will be the lot of the many, unearned affluence for the few pampered parasites feeding of our labour, unless be destroy the capitalist system of greed for profit. There are alternatives, after all capitalism is a relatively new system and it is man made, not written in tablets of stone. We have the imagination, the resources and the ability to take control of this society and shape it to serve the needs of all those involved in society. We can create a needs founded society based on mutual aid, free association and voluntary co-operation with sustainability at its foundation. We can of course continue to face deprivation while we beg and struggle, and fight over the crumbs the parasites throw our way. It seems an easy choice!!!

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THOUGHT FOR TODAY.

     

      There are many ways of saying that to get the best from humanity we must treat each other with affection, tenderness, love and respect. These principles are at the root of anarchism and are encapsulated in the terms mutual aid, free association and voluntary co-operation. However to get people to listen to or read long winded statements on political theory can be a daunting task. It would be nice if we could find a phrase or paragraph that said it beautifully, simply and sincerely that perhaps could lead to that change of consciousness and opened people's eyes to the possibilities within anarchism. The following, though far from perfect, does come close and is worth reading over a few times. 

       Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine. How can he remember well his ignorance--which his growth requires--who has so often to use his knowledge? We should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes, and recruit him with our cordials, before we judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly."     Walden-H.D.Thoreau

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BLOODY AFGHANISTAN!!!

   

     Afghanistan, the war that no two state officials can come up with the same reason for us being there. Afghanistan, a strip of land on this planet that has been steeped in blood for generations as two empires at different times have tried to make it their own and failed miserably. Afghanistan, a pointless slaughter of innocent people and it appears to be endless. What this costs in human suffering when we take in to account the dead on both sides of the slaughter and the countless physically and mentally damaged is something that is beyond measure.

      Official figures are always on the conservative side as the war mongers try to down play the real extent of this avoidable tragedy, but even these conservative figures stand as an indictment against the state system and its endless wars to bolster the power of its corporate bed fellows.

      For the UK the deaths have risen to 350, 350 young lives lost, 350 families and countless friends lashed by anguish and torment. Then there is those who come home, injured in various degrees both physically and mentally. The figures for UK injuries in Afghanistan for the second half of the of this invasion, 2006 to the end of 2010 is approximately 11,000, then add those suffering mental trauma, that could stay with them for the rest of their lives. Of course what doesn't get much coverage in the media is the deaths and injuries of Afghans, and it is not just those Afghans involved in the fighting, we are talking about innocent women, the aged and children. They have been suffering this sort of bloodshed since the Soviet occupation right through to the present ongoing Western Empire occupation, or should that be, attempted occupation. The West invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and a conservative figure of Afghan deaths since 2006 is put at approximately 7,000. That works out that, for the second have of this bloody campaign the Afghans have lost 20 times the total number British deaths for the entire ten years fighting. Who, with any human compassion can still say, this is a price worth paying?

      Then of course there is the financial cost to the British people. Recent figures put the cost of the UK's Afghan excursion at £190 for every man, woman and child in the entire country, totalling a staggering £12 billion. At a time when the millionaire public school thugs are hacking away at our welfare system, such a total would provide around 23 new hospitals, we could fund an extra 77,000 new nurses or 60,000 new teachers and who knows what difference it would make to any other part of our social services. £12 billion for destruction, slaughter and misery, or £12 billion to improve the the fabric of our society. In this so called democracy, if you had a say, and you don't,yet, which would you choose??

 

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THE PARTY'S OVER!!!

        

       On 29 June 2010, I posted the idea that nothing less than an indefinite Pan-European general strike would be needed to change the shape of society for ever. To free ourselves from the grip of corporate greed and build a society based on mutual aid in a sustainable fashion we have to take control of all those corporate institutions. In a word, occupy, transforming them into institutions that are truly democratic, sustainable and run for the benefit of all in our communities, working in federation with each other.

       There is no point to forming a mass organisation to ask our “Lords and Masters” (the parasites) to please give us back some of our pensions and please don't decimate our health service and could we please have a half decent education system, but leave the greed mongers and millionaire parasites in charge. We created all the wealth on the planet, we own it by our forefathers sweat and blood and by our own efforts. They on the other hand have contributed nothing but control it all. The present economic climate may be our last chance to grasp control and change society for ever. Every ordinary person will feel the effects of the millionaires “austerity cuts”, ever ordinary person has to realise that there is a better way to organise our society without feeding the plundering parasites of the corporate world. We have nothing to lose, they are attempting to take every public asset into private hands and completely out of your control. Social services will be private business, you pay or you do without or rely on charities. This system of leaders, presidents and corporate greed has given us nothing but wars, poverty and deprivation, we can surely manage our lives much better than that.

       Organising to take control of our communities and our workplaces is the only hope left for the ordinary people to create a decent life for themselves and their children. As long as we accept the present system of plundering and exploitation of the many by the few, then we are on an ever accelerating downward spiral to ever greater deprivation.

        The UK Trades Unions recently called for a co-ordinated defence of our conditions, the members should be calling not just for UK co-ordinated action but for that Pan-European general strike, not to protect our conditions but to create that better society which is run for the benefit of all. A truly free and democratic society based on free association, voluntary co-operation, mutual aid and sustainability. To hell with the misery of being exploited to hand greedy shareholders a life of unearned luxury, to hell with Chief Executives firing thousands of workers and walking away with millions of pounds for their efforts. The need for that pan-European struggle is now greater than ever, it is the last line of defence before the millionaire's corporate world grasp every public assets into their greedy profit seeking clutches. 

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GLASGOW'S RADICAL WOMEN.

       Well, the party's over, as the words of the song go, and today that could be literally, as the year ended and also figuratively, as the millionaire public school thugs rip our welfare system apart. Of course in ordinary life when the party's over, we have to get back to the daily grind. In this case it will be realising that we have a helluva fight on our hands if we want a world in which all can live with dignity and free from the fear of deprivation. We now face a period where the thoughts will be of survival, not of parties. However in times of adversity the ordinary people have always shown tremendous resolve and when the come together they are an unstoppable force that can re-shape the world. Glasgow, like most cities, can be proud of its radical history of struggle and at times like these we can perhaps learn from those past battles when we took on the establishment and won. We can also take inspiration from some of those members of the working class that showed selfless dedication to the cause of the ordinary people. One of Glasgow's many working class heroes was Mary Barbour, at a time of tremendous deprivation she organised with other women in the city and took on the British government and won. The battle is known as "The Rent Strikes", perhaps now we can again call on the strength and determination of all those Mary Barbours' that are living in the city today.

    The following is a page from Radical Glasgow's Strugglepedia, where you will find more of Glasgow's heroes and some of the city's struggles.

MARY BARBOUR, 1875-1958

EARLY LIFE.

      Mary Barbour was born on the 22nd of February 1875 in the village of Kilbarchan. She was the third child of seven, her father was a carpet weaver. In 1887 the family moved to the village of Elderslie. Mary worked as a thread twister eventually becoming a carpet printer. The year 1896 saw her marry David Barbour and settle in the Govan Burgh of Glasgow. She joined and became an active member of the Kinning Park Co-operative Guild, The first to be established in Scotland.

GLASGOW RENT STRIKE & WOMEN’S PEACE CRUSADE.

      Mary joined the Independent Labour Party and the Socialist Sunday School. The Glasgow rent strike during the first world war brought her to the forefront of local political activity. Because of large rent increases by the Landlords, the Glasgow Women's Housing Association was born in 1914. It was in Govan that the first active résistance to rent increases appeared. Mary Barbour was instrumental in forming the South Govan Women's Housing Association. As a working class housewife with two sons and her husband an engineer in the shipyards she was well qualified to be energetically engaged in all its activities from the organising of committees to the physical prevention of evictions and the hounding of the Sheriff's Officers. This type of activity soon spread to the whole of the Clydeside area. The situation climaxed on the 17th of November 1915 with one of the largest demonstrations in Glasgow's political history. Thousands of women marching with thousands of shipyard and engineering workers paraded through the streets of the city to the Glasgow Sheriff's Court where the demonstration was near riot proportions. Out of this defiant stand came the "Rent Restriction Act" heralding in a change in the housing system of the city of Glasgow. The act also benefited tenants across the country. Mary's involvement in this struggle had made her a working class hero in Govan and much further afield. Together with Helen Crawfurd and Agnes Dollan, Mary, in June 1916, was instrumental in founding the Women's Peace Crusade in Glasgow. She was a frequent and regular speaker at its many rallies on Glasgow Green.

FIRST WOMAN LABOUR COUNCILLOR.

      1920 saw Mary stand as one of three candidates for the Fairfield Ward of Govan, and elected to the Glasgow Town Council as its first woman Labour Councillor. It was mainly the women's vote that gave her the 4,701 votes that marked her success. During her term as a Labour Councillor she fought for many causes to help the poorest in the community. The range of policies that she pushed for covered a very wide spectrum but all for the benefit of the working class community. Among them were such things as washhouses, laundries and public baths, free milk to school children, child welfare centres, play areas, pensions for mothers, home helps and municipal banks, she also pushed for a campaign against consumption.

FIRST WOMAN BAILLIE.

       The years 1924-1927 saw her serve as Glasgow Corporation's first woman Baillie and appointed as one of the first woman Magistrates in Glasgow. Her council work allowed her to develop her commitment to the welfare of women and children. In 1925 she was chairperson of the Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic, Glasgow's first family planning centre. Mary worked continuously and energetically to raise funds to support its team of women doctors and nurses. Mary Barbour retired from her council work in 1931 but never relented on her work load in committees for welfare and housing and remained energetically involved in Co-operative Committees. In her later years she continued her commitment to the welfare of the poor by organising trips to the seaside for children of the poor. At the inaugural meeting in Glasgow of the Scottish National Assembly of Women she was the guest speaker. At the age of 83 she died on the 2nd of April 1958. Her funeral took place at Craigton Crematorium in Govan.

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ONE BIG UNION.

       Building a new society in the shell of the old. Continuing the necessary policy of a pan-European struggle it makes sense to have that great big ONE union. I keep saying how the opposition, the corporate world and its minders the state are well organised and work together to achieve their aim, control of all assets on this planet, which would be a disaster for both the planet and all of humanity. We have to fight like with like, they are organised across national borders, so likewise we must do the same. From London to Glasgow, to Berlin, to Madrid, to Rome, to Brussels, to Athens and the rest. One way to achieve that would be ONE BIG UNION, focused on the creation of a society that sees to the needs of all, and gets the pampered parasites of our backs.


One Big Union:
* A union that’s open to all workers.
  Controlled by members in their own class interests, rather than by bureaucrats or politicians.
  Membership dues to suit wages for part-time and full-time workers.
* Information, solidarity and the will to win.
* Members throughout the country and across the globe.
Contact us through iww.org.uk

From the IWW constitution:

Industrial:
The industrial process is simply the production and distribution of goods and services. Whether you clean the office at night, serve coffee over the counter, stand behind a desk or sit in front of a computer screen, feed a press, sit in crane, drive a taxi, a truck, a van, or study for qualifications that could put you in a job, you are part of that process. In jeans or apron, overalls, uniform or suit, you are an industrial worker.

Workers:
We define workers by their relationship to how things are produced and distributed. If you don’t hire and fire other workers, if you are looking for work, studying for work, or retired from a lifetime of work, then you are a worker, and do not have the same economic interests as those who control jobs.

of the World:
The ownership of the means of production and distribution of all the essential goods of life is being drawn into fewer and fewer hands, and our lives are increasingly controlled by global corporations. Wars are directed to control natural resources, raising profits regardless of the real cost. Political democracy seems to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Only the working class has a vested interest in building an international organization based on workplace democracy to administer society in the interests of all. join us. Help build a new society in the shell of the old.

Download the application form at iww.org.uk

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LIVE ON £10 A WEEK???

       How would you live on a £10 food voucher a week and no cash? Add to that the fact that you don't have a place to stay, and you are not allowed to work, then think, how do you survive. Of course you would say that it doesn't happen in this civilised country, it must be some other poorer country in the third world. Of course you are wrong, it is here, and it is now, in one of the richest countries in the world, the UK, and don't let the crap they pump out about the need for “austerity cuts” fool you into thinking that we are not a rich, very rich country. This is the situation of asylum seekers who are going through the appeals process. They receive no state benefits of any kind and are not allowed to work to support themselves. So they sleep rough, here, there and anywhere they can find, the lucky ones get bedding down on a friend's couch or floor for a night or two.

        Mr Joseph Nibizi, Manager of the Red Cross destitution clinic where the weekly food vouchers are given out, said that he has seen the number of destitute asylum seekers queueing up for emergency help grow from 860 in January to 1,400 in July. This type of treatment of a human being is a slow form of state execution, no body can survive such conditions, especially in the recent winters we have had. Mr Nibizi, stated that, “These are human beings. They should be given their basic needs.” Of course we all know that in a civilised society they would be allowed to work and contribute and their needs would be seen to, that's what you call being civilised. Any society that treats a human being in such a fasion is away off the civilisation radar, and if we stand by and allow this without a protest and a demand for justice and humanity for all, then we also are away off the civilisation radar.

     You can read the story of one such asylum seeker at Guardian UK.

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NO HINT OF IRONY.

This year the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, making his annual clichéd platitudes spoke of the importance of mutual dependence, fellowship and loyalty during the current economic downturn. He also focused on the need to share the burdens of adversity as some people face testing times amid the downturn.

As he spoke the words; “Faced with the hardship that quite clearly lies ahead for so many in the wake of financial crisis and public spending cuts, how far are we able to sustain a living sense of loyalty to each other, a real willingness to bear the load together? How eager are we to find some spot where we feel safe from the pressures that are crippling and terrifying others?--” there was no hint of irony, standing there as the head of an institution that could be named as, The Christian Investment Corporation, and is among the wealthiest in the land, and has millions invested in the corporate system that is responsible for the “adversity” that thousands in this country are facing. What he was pouring out was some basic principles of socialism, but he certainly didn't want you and I to go out and organise our society under those very principles. Nor was he asking those millionaire thugs responsible for the “adversity” to share their wealth equally with the ordinary people.

No, he was simple trying to sound good and wanting you and I to share among ourselves what little we have, but in no way to try to dismantle the system that causes the “adversity” and construct a system of social justice and mutual aid. No matter what these cloistered preachers spout, they are firmly on the side of the establishment and are ignorant or ignore the fact that, the millionaire bedfellows that they lie down with are the reason we have that “adversity”.

To solve the problems within our society we need neither God nor master, leader nor Monarch. We need people to take control of their own lives and to organise at community level, creating a society built on mutual aid, free association and voluntary co-operation, based on sustainability. We need to rid ourselves of the burden of leaders, preachers, pampered parasites and the profit motive. Only then can we hope to see a society that will see to the needs of all those involved in that society, and the monkeys off our backs.

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OUR SECOND CHANCE!!!

                                          Glasgow George Square 1919.

    Since the failure of the 1936 Spanish Revolution the working class movements have battled on a more or less reformist agenda and it is fair to say that they have won major reforms to their advantage. However at the same time they have become integrated into the modern capitalist system of production. From the late 19th century through to the middle of the 20th century pre the Spanish Revolution there were mass movements with a more revolutionary agenda, In Europe this continued up until the start of the second world war and it was probably this war that saved the European capitalist class. Since then there has been no real revolutionary mass movement in Europe. However with the corporate class making a massive push to devour all the public assets in Europe there has been considerable anger among the working class as the pain to be inflicted on the ordinary people begins to become apparent. The corporate world are probably looking at this as their final victory to take control of anything and everything that can turn a profit, from health to prisons, from social welfare to education and more. This anger can and should be the start of what can only be called the second chance of the working class revolutionary movements. The ordinary people are beginning to see that no matter the government they vote in, nothing changes and that what is happening in this country under a Con/Dem coalition government is happening all over Europe with a 57 varieties of governments from Social-this to Christian Democrats that, from left of centre to right of centre. They all preach a different agenda but follow the same grand plan, the corporate plan.

      There is more pain to come from the corporate plan, and before it decimates the working class population, we have to organise a Pan-European mass resistance to this attempt to plunder all public assets. We mine, make and distribute everything in this world, it is our world paid for by the toil, sweat and blood of our forefathers, we are idiots if we let it fall from our grasp in to the hands of a bunch of pampered parasites. We have this second chance we can't lose it without the mother of all fights. They will do what ever they think is necessary for them to attain victory, our defeat. We likewise, must do everything in our power to achieve that final victory. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren.

                                           France, 2010. 

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

     Because of the savage attack by the millionaire public school thugs, the Merry Christmas gift thousands of council workers will be getting this year will be warning notices of possible redundancy, a Merry Christmas to you to, millionaire Cameron and Clegg. You and the rest of your millionaire chums in the cabinet,(cabal) will be totally and utterly untouched by the vicious cuts you are forcing on the social fabric of this country.

      Social workers, school dinner staff, meals on wheels, refuse collectors, youth workers, home helps, are just some of the people who will be among those receiving such warning letters before the legal deadline date of 1st January 2011. The GMB states that 87,374 jobs so far are likely to be lost in the first wave of “savings”, all this on top of the recent figures that show that unemployment has increased by 35,000 to a staggering 2.5 million, raising unemployment to a rate of 7.9% . It is called “savings”, who or what are we saving, certainly not the living standards of those likely to be thrown on the unemployment mountain.    

     Thousands of ordinary people in this country are facing a very miserable festive season with the further outlook very grim indeed. What is the future for the kids in these families as their parents face the loss of their income for the foreseeable future. We are not talking about the higher earners, these are people who are already struggle to maintain a reasonable standard of living and they are now faced with redundancy, Each redundancy is a human tragedy that will in many cases drag on, sucking the family ever deeper into the mire of deprivation.

       All this on a lie that we need to reduce the”deficit”, which translates as, “we need to get rid of all social spending and transfer all public assets to our millionaire friends in the corporate world” It is a policy to increase the corporate wealth at the expense of the general public, it is a way of guaranteeing the risk to their friends in the bond markets is minimised. It has nothing to do with the welfare of the ordinary people, nothing to do with the future well being of the ordinary people. It is wealth creation for the already obscenely wealthy parasites that own most of this country and will soon own us.

 

       Thankfully resistance is growing with ordinary people from students to pensioners ocupying banks and some of the shops belonging to the tax dodgers brigade. To find out more on this growing resistance to their greed visit; http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions  You can of course form your own group and organise resistance to this savage attack on our living standards, using you imagination and ingenuity. The greater the variety and unpredicability of our resistance the greater the success.

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- ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!!!

       Aberdeen has been in the news recently for some very different reasons. Of course most football fans will know that the city's team is having a crap season. Its council workers are not doing so well either. The council has been trying to get them to take a 5% cut in their wages, though I'm delighted to see that the workers through their union have refused to willing throw themselves into dire poverty. Like everybody else they are facing increased costs in energy and food along with the VAT increase, it is more likely that they will need a 5% increase in wages just to stand still. Another occasion where the name Aberdeen has come to my notice is by way of Aberdeen Asset Management. As its name suggests, it is an asset management company. Its CEO is a Mr Martin Gilbert, no he hasn't taken a 5% wage cut, on the contrary, his basic annual salary went up from meagre £400,000 to a more acceptable £500,000, on top of this he had a nice little bonus of £3.3 million. You would think that might be enough to keep him above the deprivation line, even although it is not a full time job, well he appears to have time on his hands as he is also Chairman of First Group and Chaucer Holdings which brings him in some spending money to the tune of £262,000. How many jobs at more than a quarter of a million pounds can one person hold down. Just a few examples of our millionaire cabinet's mantra, “we're all in this together.”

       The sooner we scrap this greed driven parasites paradise and replace it with a society based on the needs of all our people the better. We know there is a desirable alternative of communities based on mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability, where we can all contribute in the knowledge that our needs will be seen to and we will not be carrying a bunch of greedy parasites on our backs. Also just maybe, Aberdeen Football Club might win the SPL, well that's probably a wish too far.

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NUMBER CRUCHING.

      In times of economic turmoil, with all kinds of predictions from all sorts of pundits, the poor lay person has to turn to the experts for what is the true picture. Sadly economics is no science, in spite of all the economists telling you otherwise. It is a matter of you pays your money and you takes your pick. Turning to the various experts for what is on the cards for our so called “economic future” the figures are as varied as the the old school ties that spout them. Lets take that well informed and nose to the ground profit hungry bunch the Confederation of British Industry, (CBI) they have down graded their previous prediction for growth in the economy from a minuscule 0.3% to and even more miserable 0.2%, after all they should know. However another well informed bunch of experts come up with a different set of numbers, the British Chamber of Commerce lower their prediction, from 2.2% down to a modest 1.9% growth. So the experts say it is all down grading, but if you don't like those figures well just turn to another bunch of experts, the Office of Budget Responsibility. Now, if you're an optimist then these are the boys for you, their star gazing comes up with an increase in growth of 2.3% that's up from their previous prediction of 2.1%. So the future is rosy, or it is miserable, it depends on your chosen expert. What we can be sure of is the fact that what this millionaire cabal of public school thugs are implementing will mean real hardship for millions of ordinary folk and super bonuses for the millionaire club. Ah well, that's capitalism.

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TOMORROW'S WORLD???

     

     Trying to come to understand the full effects of the public school millionaires' slash and burn tactics is difficult, as we have never before seen such vicious cuts to the welfare of the people of this country. We can turn to those outside the government who have the time and the finances to study these things and see what they have to say. One such group is the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and they have just recently release one of their reports on this matter.

       A recent Institute of Fiscal Studies report, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Trust, throws up a very alarming picture of the damage likely to be done by the “austerity cuts” being inflicted on the people of this country by the public school millionaire cabal. According to the report, the slash and burn policies of this bunch of public school thugs, will see the first increase in absolute child poverty for some 15 years. The report states that due to the tax changes alone, introduced by this government there will be a further 200,000 children dropped into penury, plus a further 200,000 working age adults by 2012/13. The governments cuts to housing benefit alone will push a further 100,000 children into poverty.

       According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies report, over the next three years incomes are set to stagnate, this allied to deep welfare cuts, will see an increase in relative poverty of 800,000 children and working age adults plus a rise of 900,000 in absolute poverty for the same group.

      Chris Goulden, poverty policy manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, stated, “It is a reversal of fortune for the poor. The coalition have said that the increases in child tax credits will help but that's sticking plaster,"

        When it comes to cuts to council budgets, we can expect a further set of circumstances that will impact on our lives. We can look across the Atlantic to see how that might affect our way of life. In Detroit, the city is having to make cuts and has planned to cut off city services, including road repairs, police patrols, street lighting and garbage collection in 20% of the city. I wonder how they decide which 20% gets hit.
         In Philadelphia, if you call out the police to the scene of an accident you can be hit with a bill, in some cases $300.

        These are just a few of the little surprises that are waiting for us down the road a bit. Unless we can take control of our own lives and control the society we live, in rather than leave it all to a bunch of public school millionaire thugs. It is your life, why let them control and destroy it, so that their friends in the banking casinos can continue to live the life of unearned luxury.

 

 
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TAX DODGERS OF THE HIGH STREET.

      This is just a few of the big wealthy businesses that are ripping off the British tax payer while the government turns a blind eye and swings the hatchet at public services. We in Britain are being mugged by a gang of public school thugs. As far as I am aware, mugging is a crime against which you are entitled to fight back in self defence, you can legally take what action is necessary to defend yourself. Hit back hard.

BHS:
        BHS is part of the Arcadia group, owned by Sir Philip Green. Well no, not really, because he gave it to his wife, who doesn't actually work there at all, but she lives in Monaco so doesn't have to pay income tax. This costs Britain around £300 million. That's enough to pay the full £9,000 hike in tuition fees for 32,000 students. Or, the salaries of 20,000 NHS nurses.
      To make matters worse, David Cameron sought advice from billionaire Sir Philip Green on government cuts, We are not really “in this together”.

    WHERE DID ALL OUR MONEY GO? 

     HE SENT IT OFF TO MONACO!

VODAFONE:
     Vodafone owes the UK an estimated £6 billion in avoided tax. This money would cover most of the £7 billion per year cuts to the welfare system.
     It's not only Britain where they aren't paying up. Vodafone owes the Indian government £2 billion in tax from buying an India company. This could save millions of people in India dying from starvation.

     THEY SAY TOP UP!      

       WE SAY PAY UP!

LLOYDS TSB:
     The Lloyds banking group was bailed out by the government after taking too many risks with our money. The bail out cost the British public £850 billion, that's 95% of this country's deficit. Yet we are the ones facing cuts – not the bankers.
     In fact these banks are actually promoting tax avoidance by encouraging wealthy customers to channel money through China.
     Pay them a visit and picket their premises, organise demonstrations to let the public know what they are up to. You are being asked to pay the shareholders bonuses by taking a cut in your standard of living, don't swallow the crap, fight back.

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WORKERS CITY, KNOW YOUR HISTORY.

As the millionaire cabal set about doing a hatchet job on the welfare state we will have to  come up with strategies to resist this free market onslaught. As society has changed over the years so our strategies will have to change. Of course we can still learn from the past, our working class history is a rich well of ideas and strategies that can be used adapted and used again. The main thing is to come together in our communities and link those communities in a federation of resistance. Organised resistance is necessary to win this battle against the millionaire corporate take over of our country.

      The Workers City was an organised movement in opposition to the 1990 European Capital of Culture which was intent on branding Glasgow as a tourist centre with a mono culture that in no way showed the rich diversity of culture that sprang from the ranks of the ordinary people. As far as Glasgow's City Council Mafia were concerned there was no working class in Glasgow, just cheap labour to service the tourist industry.

     This short video gives a hint of what Workers City was about, perhaps there are ideas in there that can be reworked and used to continue that working class resistance.

More of Glasgow's working class history HERE.

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