Saturday, 7 March 2009
Bankers contracts & common justice
On the 28th Feb the FT carried a letter defending Sir Ron Goodwin's pension & pointing out that Governments should be defending contact law and accusing Vince of stirring up mob hatred. I sent in a reply as follows which has not been published.
" Firstly I agree that the Government must indeed defend contract law no matter how morally disreputable a specific contract might be. However it is not the Government (or Vince Cable) that is "fomenting as much social
unrest as possible". Sir Fred Goodwin & his ilk, unaided by anyone else, are doing such a superb job of it.
The "mob" has seen tens of thousands of ordinary people, for whom a pension of even one tenth of Sir Fred's is beyond their wildest dreams (3.8 million pensioners have savings of less than £1500), lose their jobs, their homes,
their savings income, their pensions & the value of their shareholding in RBS et al all thanks to the likes of Sir Fred. There needs to be some shame from, & retribution upon, these people. What we get from them instead is the equivalent of an obscene gesture. No wonder the "mob" is incandescent.
The Government does have some legal levers to extract some retribution but it chooses not to use them.The original letter's author is also right when he thus accuses politicians of being part of the cause & "currying favour". We should remember that as recently as the summer of 2007 both Brown & Cameron were making speeches to, & about, City bigwigs telling them, & everybody else, what utterly fantastic folk they were & what a huge contribution they have made to the economy. Brown & Cameron were unusually right about the last bit - except it is a contribution the country could very well have done without."
" Firstly I agree that the Government must indeed defend contract law no matter how morally disreputable a specific contract might be. However it is not the Government (or Vince Cable) that is "fomenting as much social
unrest as possible". Sir Fred Goodwin & his ilk, unaided by anyone else, are doing such a superb job of it.
The "mob" has seen tens of thousands of ordinary people, for whom a pension of even one tenth of Sir Fred's is beyond their wildest dreams (3.8 million pensioners have savings of less than £1500), lose their jobs, their homes,
their savings income, their pensions & the value of their shareholding in RBS et al all thanks to the likes of Sir Fred. There needs to be some shame from, & retribution upon, these people. What we get from them instead is the equivalent of an obscene gesture. No wonder the "mob" is incandescent.
The Government does have some legal levers to extract some retribution but it chooses not to use them.The original letter's author is also right when he thus accuses politicians of being part of the cause & "currying favour". We should remember that as recently as the summer of 2007 both Brown & Cameron were making speeches to, & about, City bigwigs telling them, & everybody else, what utterly fantastic folk they were & what a huge contribution they have made to the economy. Brown & Cameron were unusually right about the last bit - except it is a contribution the country could very well have done without."
Monday, 2 March 2009
Civil Liberties
On page 21 of the Observer of 1st March the story is of police going over the top (sadly an all too common event nowadays) in searching & confiscating personal belongings at a Kingsnorth protest. The facts uncovered by LibDem David Howarth. Congratulations to him.
But on P 6 & 7 of the same paper there is the much bigger story of the 'Liberty Group' conference in London. As the headline says 'Liberty groups unite to defend UK rights'. The paper writes ' Yesterdays gathering was by far the largest civil liberties convention ever held in Britain' . No mention of the Liberal Democrats. Were we there? If not why the hell not? This has been OUR cause for many years & we should be on the front bench & on the platform as a speaker at these events. How on earth did we let David Davies be the 'winding up' speaker?
But on P 6 & 7 of the same paper there is the much bigger story of the 'Liberty Group' conference in London. As the headline says 'Liberty groups unite to defend UK rights'. The paper writes ' Yesterdays gathering was by far the largest civil liberties convention ever held in Britain' . No mention of the Liberal Democrats. Were we there? If not why the hell not? This has been OUR cause for many years & we should be on the front bench & on the platform as a speaker at these events. How on earth did we let David Davies be the 'winding up' speaker?
Monday, 23 February 2009
Watching that marvellous series 'Iran & the West' I was struck by the lack of reference to the impact of Israel on, especially recent, Iranian attitudes. The Federation of American Scientists produces copious evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons. As long ago as 1975 the US was convinced that Israel had them. In 1986 Israel jailed Mordechai Vanunu for whistleblowing. On 26th May 2008 ex-President Jimmy Carter said Israel has up to 150 nuclear weapons. Other estimates are around 80. Yet Israel refuses to confirm that it has any at all. During the Iraq/Iran war tens of thousands of Iranians died from Saddams US weapons yet Post 9/11 Iran gave considerable help to the US only for Bush to lump them in with the 'axis of evil'. Bush then invades Iraq with his British puppy dog wagging its' tail at his heels. That man was the biggest threat to world peace since Adolf. He may have gone, but in 4 or 8yrs another such could easily be elected. Meanwhile Israel bombs Syria 'on suspicion' & without any significant complaint from the west about it & we've seen the recent Israeli 'response' in Gaza. Can ANYONE reasonably expect the Iranians to drop what they are doing on the mere words & promises of Western Politicians? If I was an Iranian you bet I'd want my own nuclear bomb.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
A True Hero
An uplifting piece for a change that brought a tear to my hard bitten old eyes. In the FT of 21st Feb there was a lengthy obituary to a Dutch Doctor, Willem 'Plim' Kolff, 1911-2009. In summary during the Nazi occupation of Holland he helped many people escape labour camps & worse. He also somehow managed to invent & build the world's first successful kidney dialysis machine. It didn't work first time & patients died. The first success was on a Nazi collaborator. Kolff said " We have to treat patients when they need help even if we don't like them". He went on to lead the development of an artificial heart; man made eye; artificial ear; and one of the first sophisticated prosthetic arms. He believed that his work should benefit everyone, not just one individual, so he never patented any of it.
In an era where the philosophy seems to be that if you are not a rotton bastard you are a stupid bastard we can only pray that there are still people like him out there.
In an era where the philosophy seems to be that if you are not a rotton bastard you are a stupid bastard we can only pray that there are still people like him out there.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Fair Play & Taxes
The Government cannot interfere with properly drawn legal contracts however disreputable these might be. We are not going to get rid of the bonus culture, and the damage done by greed and rampant self interest by pleading to peoples better nature.Those that caused the financial system to collapse do not have a better nature. Nor are we going to repair the Governments collapsing tax revenue by conventional means
What the Government CAN do is tax. For this Tax Year, & the next two, ALL income, however derived ( home or overseas) & however disguised, ( including pension contributions), in excess of half a million pounds should be taxed at 100%. This might be unfair on those who maybe deserve their money but no more unfair than the loss of livelihood, home, etc. suffered by ordinary people through no fault of their own. In fact those caught by this tax are already so wealthy that in reality they wouldn't miss it .
What the Government CAN do is tax. For this Tax Year, & the next two, ALL income, however derived ( home or overseas) & however disguised, ( including pension contributions), in excess of half a million pounds should be taxed at 100%. This might be unfair on those who maybe deserve their money but no more unfair than the loss of livelihood, home, etc. suffered by ordinary people through no fault of their own. In fact those caught by this tax are already so wealthy that in reality they wouldn't miss it .
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Words you mustn't use
Setting aside Chris Huhnes gaff over defending the Governments daft decision to exclude Wilders from Britain, thereby giving the visiting nonentity publicity to die for, I am struck by the difference in treatment of Carol vis a vis Jonathan. In my book the latters offence was much worse. When I was small boy in WWII I had a rag doll whose name I must not say and a childrens book about a child I may not name & his little umbrella. Both were much loved & treasured & if they did anything for my views on racism, which is pretty unlikely, the influence would have been one that warmly embraced difference. Well meaning legislation to prevent real abuse is hijacked to promote a quite different agenda. Hypersensitivity is stirred up & freedom of speech goes down the gurgler. We should stop pandering to this nonsense, grow up, get a sense of humour & a life. In terms of improving race relations it is unnecessary intolerance of the trivial that masks the need to be truly intolerant of the important. When I lived in Australia in the 1990's I was often called a 'pommie baaastard' and nine times out of ten it was used to describe a 'mateship' and when it wasn't it was the user of the phrase that was diminished.
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