Rise of the filth

When we were kids, the police were known by their more mellifluous title of “the filth“. They managed to gain this nickname, by insisting on turning up and supervising any group of teenagers standing around doing nothing. The result was not only a bunch of teenagers standing around doing nothing, but a bunch of police standing around doing nothing, and both groups inherently disliking and mistrusting each other. The difference between the two groups standing around doing nothing, was that the taxpayer didn’t fund teenagers to stand around doing nothing. If public funds were directed more at the kids, maybe we wouldn’t have been so bored we ended up standing around doing nothing, and maybe the police could concentrate on, you know, their job.

As we grow up, we learn to respect the police a little more. You note that they protect your property rights and at times, it must be difficult for them. And, we all love Gene Hunt. We suddenly respect what they do a little more, because we know we’d need their support if our house was broken into. Granted, that support would turn up 45 minutes after the actual brake in, take notes, and then spend the rest of the evening not actually finding your stolen stuff and instead supervising the next generation of bored teenagers in case they light up a spliff; but it’s nice to know they exist. But the respect we have for the police, does not give them the freedom to be vicious thugs.

The Metropolitan Police in London seem to have gained even more reason for the public to refer to them as “filth” recently. They are a formidable force of filth. Whenever they are on TV explaining themselves, I find I am more and more inclined to dismiss everything they say, as a crock of shit.

This tendency toward my absolute dismissal of everything the Met say (so that’s The Met, The CBI, and The IMF), stems entirely from the fact that they are, in fact, a crock of shit. First, the shooting in the head seven times, of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station, by the Met, because he looked a bit like a terrorist. Despite an IPCC investigation, which found that not only did the Met kill an unarmed innocent man, in the most violent of ways, but they tried to cover it up. It stated the Met:

made or concurred with inaccurate public statements concerning the circumstances of the death. The alleged inaccurate information included statements that Mr de Menezes had been wearing clothing and behaving in a manner which aroused suspicions.

The Chief of the Met at the time, Sir Ian Blair even tried to suppress an investigation, wishing instead to conduct an internal inquiry. Internal inquiries always clear the party involved. It is the equivalent of being your own judge at your murder trial. You’re not likely to send yourself down. Later, it became known that Metropolitan police surveillance officer codenamed “Owen” had deleted files off his computer, that involved a recording of deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick saying that de Menezes was not a threat at all.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided it would not press charges against anyone in the shooting of de Menezes. Shooting an innocent man seven times in the head apparently doesn’t even come under manslaughter.

And then we move onto the infamous G20 protest in London in 2009. The Met used the kettling technique to contain the crowd. A bystander on his way home named Ian Tomlinson had a heart attack and died during the kettle. First, the Met denied they had anything to do with his death. Suddenly, a youtube video appeared, showing PC Simon Harwood hit Ian Tomlinson with a baton, and then push him to the ground with ridiculous force, about a minute before Tomlinson had a heart attack and died. The police do not help him off the ground, instead they stand there, smug, doing nothing. A fellow bystander helps Tomlinson back to his feet.
Again, the Crown Prosecution Service said that they were unable to bring any charges against PC Simon Harwood. Harwood was known to have taken his police number off, and covered his face, to avoid detection. In 2009, a second and third postmortem on Ian Tomlinson revealed that he had died as a result of massive internal bleeding caused by a shock to the abdomen. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to point out that Harwood first hit Tomlinson with a baton, to the abdomen, and then shoved him to the floor…… a pretty closed case.

This is where the Met tend to act like great saviours in a land of crazed Anarchists, just trying to protect us all. They released a statement four hours after Tomlinson had died, stating that the police had noticed a man collapse, and had tried to rush in and help him but were bombarded by missiles from protesters. Those damn protesters. The only problem was, another youtube video surfaced, minutes later, after Tomlinson had collapsed. It shows police surrounded him, but not actually helping. It shows a female protester trying to help and saying “these are the bastards that did it“, and curiously, absolutely no “missiles” at all. This video surfaced just after The Sun, in its vast attempt to insult all protesters whilst masturbating furiously over the wonders of The Met, lead with:

“Man dies as bottles lobbed at rescuers.

POLICE were battered with beer bottles and cans as they desperately tried to save a dying man at the height of the G20 riots in London last night. But when cops struggled through the crowd to reach him, they were pelted with missiles. They finally got to him and set up a cordon as two ambulances rushed to the scene. ”

It’s amazing “journalism“. The Sun appear to have received a press statement from the IPCC, and manufactured a story around it. What is even more amazing, is that Harwood was hired by the Met, even though he had previous disciplinary action taken against him over the past decade. The Met are hiring lunatics.

Skip forward to the Student Protest in London last week.
Alfie Meadows, a Philosophy Student from Middlesex University is found wandering in a dazed state covered in blood, by his Philosophy Professor also at the protest. Meadows had been struck on the head by a police baton, with such force that he required brain surgery. The Met were kettling again at this point, and when the Professor begged them to let him and Alfie out of the kettle, they only allow Meadows to leave….. on his own……. in the middle of London……. needing brain surgery. Despite students and reputable professors from across the Country all claiming the violence started after kettling began, and after several unprovoked horse back charges by police took place, the media and the government still seem intent on keeping quiet on the subject of police brutality, instead choosing to focus their crocodile tears on a bit of paint on Charles’ armoured car.

This monday night, the BBC conducted a shameful interview of a man named Jody McIntyre. They asked him if he’d been throwing rocks at the police and if he were a “revolutionary” attempting to paint him as violent. The reason for this, is a video surfaced showing a Met officer pull Jody McIntyre ……. from his wheelchair…… which he can’t operate without the help of his brother, because of his celebral palsy, and dragged across the street. The BBC interviewer asked him if he’d provoked the attack….. by wheeling toward the police…. the muscular, trained, armed police. The BBC surely shouldn’t be acting as a mouthpiece for the angry right wing who are stuck in a tornado of shouting “omg it’s political correctness gone mad” arguing for “sanity” whenever it suits them, but claiming rather outlandishly that they’re second class citizens whenever someone with slightly darken skin complexion gets a job ahead of them? They aren’t the Daily Mail. Although The Daily Mail took it one step further, by comparing McIntyre to Andy from Little Britain, with the quite insufferable turd Richard Littlejohn stating:

“…he should have kept a safe distance.

Jody Mcintyre is like Andy from Little Britain.
‘Where do you want to go today, Jody?’
‘Riot.’
‘Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather go to hear Bob Crow speak at the Methodist Central Hall. You like Bob Crow.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘So, we’ll go there, eh?’
‘Riot!’
‘Ken Livingstone will be there, too. He’s your favourite.’
‘Riot!’
‘All right, then.’
Five minutes later at the riot . . .
‘Don’t like it.’ ”

Littlejohn apparently thinks disabled people should not stand up for what they believe in, and if they dare to, they apparently shouldn’t complain when police drag them out of their wheelchair.

The Tory Party aren’t exactly the friends of disabled people, what with cutting adult social care funding for those suffering a disability. But Tory Councillor Phil Taylor took it one step further, when, on his blog, he said:

” Although he presents himself as a cerebral palsy victim in a wheelchair he does not mention that by his own account he walked up the 9 stories of stairs of the 30 Millbank building during the student riots of 10th November.”

- How utterly irrelevant. Even if he did an elegant handstand, all the way up the stairs, with a cartwheel finish, into a double somersault….. it still doesn’t justify police dragging a kid from a wheelchair and throwing him into the street.
Taylor posts a quote from McIntyre’s website, in which Taylor highlights certain areas of the text, that in Taylor’s odd opinion, paint a picture of a disabled kid who deserves to be pulled from his wheelchair by The Met. Let’s take the sections of McIntyre’s blog that Taylor highlighted one by one:

The sun was shining on the morning of November 10th, and our blood was boiling.

- Yup. That was the feeling among all 50,000 of us. I was there too. We didn’t go down to show how happy we are with the Coalition. Absolutely no reason to highlight this. Also, John Major, the former Tory Prime Minister, and a man who lost his personality in the 1970s, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, that Labour’s attacks on Coalition policy……. “makes my blood boil“. The violent bastard. The Met need to be kicking the shit out of the ex Tory PM for that. They can count on Phil Taylor’s support too!

We passed Trafalger Square, and half way down Whitehall found ourselves approaching the main bulk of the demonstration, which had assembled there. It was an endless sea of people, but unfortunately, they had been corralled by police and NUS stewards into one lane of the dual carriageway. Me and Finlay immediately set to work, tearing down the metal barriers which separated the two lanes.

- Good! I’m glad someone did. We were squeezed in. For a guy in a wheelchair, it couldn’t have been easy. Even if he were stood up and walking, it couldn’t have been easy. I moved a barrier twice, to make a bit more space. There was no reason for the divide whatsoever. Taylor wasn’t in the mesh of people being held together like sheep.

A group of 200 followed, including me in my wheelchair, and Finlay pushing at full speed.

- Erm, okay. So he quite likes to go fast. I’d hate to see how angry Taylor gets at the Paralympics. “THEY AREN’T DISABLED!!! THEY’RE GOING TOO FAST TO BE DISABLED!!!” presumably.

We continued down the sixty stone steps at the other end of the Treasury road without so much as a pause for breath. We were on the rampage.

- It’s a figure of speech. He wasn’t literally on a rampage, shooting innocent bystanders (or pushing them over inducing a heart attack). It is a figure of speech, and its a soundbite. Like when Taylor himself refers to a man in his constituency who said “I see broken windows as being totally justified compared with the damage being done to the public sector. This is just the beginning“, as a “Leftie, nutter headbanger“…….. he isn’t literally saying that the man quite likes to bang his head, nor is he even suggesting that the man in question listens to music one might “headbang” to. Figure of speech, Phil. The same sort of figure of speech that he used, when in his latest blog about a rather useless cowboy builder, with the phrase “It took a lot of kicking and screaming from local councillors to get this site sorted out“……. if we are to go by Phil’s new found literal approach to sentences that quite clearly, aren’t meant that way, we must presume that local councillors Taylor is speaking of, literally did kick and scream……. the violent thugs.

It was an epic mission to the top. Nine floors; eighteen flights of stairs. Two friends carried my wheelchair, and I walked.

- Having just spoken to my lovely girlfriend Ashlee about the effects of cerebral palsy (she is a physio at a disabled kids school, and deals with this everyday), she has informed me, after watching the BBC interview herself, that of course McIntyre can walk, but judging from his posture, and the way he spoke and his twitching, he would find it difficult to get too far without help. It would take him a long time to get to where he was heading, he wouldn’t be able to balance himself properly for very long at any one time, and he’d get overly tired very very quickly. So, he should be commended for fighting for what he believes in, at the same time as going through the trouble it must have been to achieve it. But, the fact remains, the police considered it perfectly okay to pull a man from a wheelchair and drag him across the street. Phil Taylor, is a tremendous scrotum. His entire blog is drivel. Right winged, miserable, vicious drivel in which anyone slightly left of Reagan is considered a thug. It is people like Taylor that make me proud to wear the badge of the Left Wing, with pride.

Tory Blogger Guido Fawkes waded in on the subject, stating on his blog:

“Jody Macinytre, radical pro-Palestine supporter and sufferer from cerebral palsy”

- They are his only two attributes apparently. He also isn’t “radical” pro-Palestine supporter, although even if he was, i’m not sure why that’s a bad thing. Fawkes continues:

“However he has revelled in, and incited, violence on his website……”

“Macintyre can’t hide behind his disability when the police treat him like any other violent trespassing thug. It’s called equality…”

- Yes he can. Because he’s disabled. And the police are fully armed, trained guards. And also, because 1) he wasn’t trespassing, and 2) he wasn’t being violent. What a horrible sense of equality Tory bloggers have. Disabled people causing no problems are apparently just as equal as the rest of us causing no problems, in being beaten by the Met. We should all be thankful for that little gem of equality.

The point is, despite the talk of violence from protesters…. the only serious injury, was caused by the police, and the only shameful attack on a disabled man, was caused by police. The media tend to tread carefully with the issue, because criticising an institution like The Met, who they clearly still consider to be a reputable source, could provoke anger amongst right winged commentators like Phil Taylor and Guido Fawkes, who would inevitably refer to the BBC as “left wing” if they dared to criticise the police. The Government keep telling us that the “full force of the law” will come down on violent student protesters, but never mention any such repercussion for Police. The Met are not on a higher moral plateau. They are dangerous, provocative, murdering, violent, lying…………. filth.

A Tory England

Quote of the cuts day has to go to Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson, to Nick Clegg in the Commons directly after the Chancellor’s cuts package was announced:

Somewhere between the ballot box and your ministerial car door opening, you changed your mind on everything.

This particular brand of Conservatism is interesting. It is of course very Thatcherite. It is no different to what it was in the 1980s. Actually it is different because it is far more severe. It can easily be dressed up in lovely new inclusive phrases like ‘The Big Society’ and ‘Progressive Conservatism’ despite the fact that in less than ten seconds, the Chancellor can announce 490,000 expected job losses in the public sector, whilst his backbenches cheer gleefully. It’s easy to call it fair and necessary. But when, along with half a million job losses, we hear the Chancellor say:

“The Employment and Support Allowance, given to people unable to work due to sickness or disability, will be restricted to one year”

… it is virtually impossible for anyone who has even a fundamental understanding of the word ‘fair’ to be able to justify the madness.

Yesterday’s spending review was ideological. It does not matter how many times Cameron says it isn’t, it is. It will devastate lives. £1bn is being saved by 2013 by cutting Child Benefit, yet £2bn is being given away to companies earning £350,000 a year, also by 2013. Most Conservatives are in politics for this very reason; to role back the Welfare State for the poorer and instead enlarge the Welfare State for their friends in business. When 490,000 people are instantly made unemployed, and the entire Conservative benches in Parliament stand up smiling and screaming, their faces beaming uncontrollably, waving their Parliamentary papers in the air with overwhelming joy; one finds it difficult to accept their rhetoric that this is ‘tough’ on them. It seems this is their moment in the spotlight. They were supremely happy yesterday. They have spent years hoping this moment would come.

It has been a successful attack by the Tories and they have, I will admit, been amazing at getting their side of events across and gaining mass support for their plans. They have achieved this, as far as I can tell, in four ways:

1) Absolutely 100% blame Labour for everything.
It is clear that the Coalition has been told to mention the debt left by Labour as much as possible. It is perfect justification. Every Minister interviewed will refer to Labour’s legacy within about five seconds of being questioned. It is largely illogical because the debt left by Labour was firstly, very much needed, and secondly, is not actually dire.
The problem with this view is that up until recession hit, the Tories pledged to back Labour’s spending pound for pound. So, by suggesting that Labour spent thirteen years on a spending spree, the Tories backed it fully. Then when the banks collapsed, and people’s homes and lives were put at risk, spending rose to keep people safe. This had to happen to offset the problems suddenly caused by huge unemployment. This isn’t the State’s fault. It isn’t the Government’s fault. Spending had to rise. What use is it cutting unemployment benefit during a time when unemployment is at an all time high? That is Tory logic. Allow the recession to run its course. Allow people to lose their homes and their jobs and to worry about how they are going to feed their kids. So next time when you complain about Labour’s debt, actually consider why we are in debt.

2) Make sure the faults of the Private Sector are ignored.
It was the financial sector that failed miserably. They risked everyone’s savings to enrich themselves further. But it isn’t just the banks that messed up. Since the early 1980s wages for workers have stagnated. They have hardly risen at all on average. Yet, the wages of the very wealthy; the owners, have increased ten fold. Take Sir Philip Green, the new Tory Party investigator of Civil Service pay; he owns a company called Taveta investments, which is registered in his wife’s name who happens to live in a tax haven. He has successfully avoided paying tax worth up to £285mn. At the same time, he awarded himself £1.2bn in a single year personally, whilst telling his work force (the people who actually make that money for him) that they must now increase contributions to their final pension scheme by half and work up to five years longer to receive it. He also uses sweatshops in India. BUT WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. Now, you can only sustain unjustifiably large wages, like that of Mr Green if profit remains high. If your workers are being squeezed as much as possible, and have less disposable income to spend consuming and so enriching the very few, how do you do that? The solution was easy. You offer them easy credit, like a Topman Store Card. They then pay more than they usually would but over a longer period of time. Thus, the little man is squeezed further, but the guy at the top makes more. But apparently this is perfectly fine. The Public Sector, the sector that bailed out the Financial sector, is apparently entirely to blame.

The problem as I see it, is that surplus profit was not being recapitalised in beneficial causes. Instead of expanding and looking into new forms of production, the owners of capital were buying up assets on the stock market. When this is amplified by million and millions of people, we suddenly have a problem. You buy assets on the stock market, hoping you will get a pretty handsome return in the future. But you understand that might not happen. You are gambling. The City of London and New York recklessly gambled our money away, they are entirely to blame.

Whilst David Cameron likes to suggest that National debt is like household debt; he’s wrong. Not only is household debt nothing like National debt (I can’t suddenly raise taxes, if i go into the red, nor can I print my own money), but this neoliberal experiment, that the Tories kick started in the 1980s, actively encouraged us all to get into debt. This is why the banking sector collapsed. Because debt was encouraged. Secondly, personal debt is not always a bad thing if it helps improve the future. I am in debt, to pay for my education, which I hope will allow me to get a better job and be able to provide a better life for my future family, than I would had I gone straight into a job I did not want to do. This debt is an investment. Public debt is also an investment, especially if it keeps as many people in their homes and jobs as possible; which Labour understood (bare in mind, I am not a Labour voter), and which the Lib Dems understood before they were offered a bit of power. Public debt is not always a bad thing. It is often needed. It provides investment and a safety net.

The Tories, with help from their friends in the Media (Conservative Director of Communications: Andy Coulson, used to be editor of News of the World) have shaped political discourse in this country to an apathetic and largely moronic population, beautifully. The Sun (owned by Murdoch, who also owns News of the World) ran a double page spread last Monday entitled “Britain’s benefit blackspots”. A guide to the worst areas of Britain for benefit fraud. Altogether, they noted that Benefit cheating costs the UK taxpayer £900mn. You may think that is a lot. But according to research by the TUC and Tax Research UK, Corporate Tax avoidance, and personal tax evasion (i.e – Lord Ashcroft and his non-dom status) costs the UK taxpayer close to £25bn. That’s about 30 times more in lost revenue. Enough to wipe out the deficit in about eight years, without the need for a mass of public service cuts.

It is also suggested that public service workers are over paid. Now, given that wages have stagnated for most workers in the Private sector, i’d suggest that this is the fault of the Private sector. These bastards should pay more, not attack the public sector.

The Tories ran the 2010 campaign on the idea that a rise in National Insurance was an evil ‘tax on jobs’. Today, they just killed off 50,000 jobs in 20 seconds. But, it’s the public sector, so apparently it’s okay. The massive consequences on communities and small private businesses, will become apparent very soon. The Tories will try to claim it is all Labour’s fault. It isn’t.

The public sector, furthermore, is not inflated. Public spending during the 1960s was far higher than at any time during the 00s. Wages were rising beautifully during the 1960s too.

3) Make sure the public believes, whether true or not, that this is the only way.
The cuts that have been made, did not have to be so severe. They are overly harsh. We are a Triple A credit Country. 80% of our debt matures in 14 years, not a couple of years. We have the 5th largest economy in the World still. And we have the 3rd largest currency reserve in the World. And a very strong currency actually. So whilst you may believe everything the Tories tell you about how awful Labour were; it suggests to me that if the Tories were in power when recession struck, they’d have offered no help, spent absolutely no extra to keep people in homes and jobs, and then most probably blamed Unions.

The current debt in the UK stands at 64% of GDP. After World War II, it was 180%. More than double now. Japan has a debt of 194%. The USA has a debt close to 73% of GDP. In fact, between 1920 and 1960, for that forty or so year period, UK government debt did not fall below 100%.

4) Gain support from sources that apparently are credible.
George Osbourne yesterday listed the people who agreed with him. We’ll take them one by one now. Firstly, he listed the IMF. The IMF is a neoliberal organisation that only ever proscribes harsh economic treatment to solve problems. They destroyed Ghana beyond recognition. Malaysia refused to accept anything the IMF demanded, and now Malaysia is doing just great. The IMF can also be blamed for half fucking up Ireland. Last week the IMF said that bank regulations were failing – We all fucking knew that two years ago. Nice of them to join us. Great source George. Secondly, he mentioned the CBI – the Confederation of British Industry. The business owners union. The same people who told us all that introducing minimum wage would destroy business in Britain. The same people who suggested that students are a drain on society, and yet they all went to university when it was free. They are businesses, looking to enrich themselves further, they have no sense of social responsibility, nor do they care if you cannot afford to eat. They would like to see no Welfare State and the NHS privatised. The CBI attempted to justify a huge amount of Corporate tax avoidance (discussed earlier) with….

Legitimate tax planning – undertaken by companies that operate globally – should not be confused with so-called tax avoidance

Thirdly, he mentioned the Bank of England. The institution responsible for the welfare of the economy. The institution that failed to see the biggest financial crises ever from taking place, even though that is its specific job. The same institution whose Deputy Governor Sir John Gieve admitted that they knew that the financial sector was out of control, and had no idea what to do about it. Another great choice for a source.
And lastly, he mentioned the 35 businessmen who signed a letter and sent it to the press advocating everything they are doing. These businessmen are not economists. They do not know how to run an economy. They are under the impression that a business haven is ideal for all of us. Contrary to that opinion, i’d say otherwise. Nevertheless, they signed the letter. Who are these businesses? Well, one of them is Paul Walsh of Diageo, who I shall mention shortly. He has been given a role as an advisor to David Cameron. Vested interest number 1. Another is Nick Prest, Chairman of AVEVA. AVEVA has just been awarded a contract to supply Babcocks, who are to build the two new aircraft carriers unveiled by the Tories. Vested interest 2. Another, is John Nelson of Hammerson Investors. Massive tax avoiders, and are quite happy to even tell us that’s what they do, on their website. Perhaps I will refuse to pay any tax ever again and refer to it as ‘tax efficient’. Vested interest 3. Another is Moni Varma, Chairman of Veetee who admitted that Conservative HQ asked him to sign the letter. Not a vested interest, but an idiot nonetheless. Another is Philip Dilley, Chairman of Arup, who has just been given a place as an advisor to David Cameron. Vested interest 4
The letter itself was drawn up by Next Chief Exec. Lord Wolfson. Wolfson has donated close to £300,000 to the Tory Party and is now a Tory Lord. Vested interest 5. Another is Sir Christopher Gent, non-executive chairman of GlaxoSmithKline. Gent has donated around £113,000 to the Tory Party. Vested interest 5. Isn’t it amazing? Why are we taking them seriously? Why aren’t their vested interests mentioned? I think I will email my logic Tory MP and let you know what his response is.
Next, David Cameron has created a sort of business council. This includes Paul Walsh; the CEO of Diageo PLC, who has moved ownership of British alcohol brands offshore to avoid tax. Martin Sorrell, whose company WPP has moved entirely offshore to avoid tax. And CEO of Glaxosmithkline, Andrew Witty who avoids paying million in tax due to offshore accounting.
None of these sources are credible. None have the Country’s best interest at heart. None care if a few hundred thousand lose their jobs, and their homes. This is Tory bullshit.

It has been a very clever four pronged attack to win support for a program that would usually take months and years to thrash out the details of. The proposal yesterday was horrific. It is not Progressive or fair in any way. The Liberal Democrats should be utterly ashamed. They are finished. Out of protest, I will not vote in favour of AV, even though I once would.

At the moment, the public is suffering from political apathy. They assume this is all necessary. It isn’t. It is dangerous and it is a complete attack on a decent, caring Nation in an attempt to turn us all into bitches of the business World. Labour are not all that much difference, hence the lack of credible opposition. They are not progressives. By moving to the centre, and even the centre-right, they have backed themselves into a corner. They no longer represent the Progressives. Their needs to be vast civil action. Unions need to step up, students need to step up, everyone needs to step up and let these people know that we should no longer be controlled or live in a society entirely shaped by a very select few old grey rich businessmen. I hold out hope and I have faith in this generation of anti-Tory opposition.

The burden of Willetts

The Tories are playing up again. In the Commons yesterday, a Labour MP quite rightly asked THE MILLIONAIRE Chancellor George “We’re all in this together” Osbourne how badly he’d personally be affected by the £6bn cuts to public services. Osbourne answered by saying “If that’s all you have to say, it shows you’re not committed to the cuts that are needed“. What this translates to, for those of us who don’t speak posh elitist Tory twat language is “none, because i’m a millionaire, and I will be cutting taxes for my fellow millionaires, so we’ll be fine. We’re actually not all in this together. Because I have a safe job, a big house that i’ve paid for, and my kids are richer than all of you, before they were even a twinkle in daddies pervy posh eye. But i’ve had to convince a bunch of gullible idiots to vote for me on the basis that I actually have anything but utter contempt for anyone who isn’t George Osbourne” For a man who keeps telling us, day after day that we’re all in this together, it would have been nice of him to answer how he is going to suffer from the knife that he is personally sticking in to everyone who isn’t massively wealthy. It would be nice to know why he claims it isn’t an ideological war against the public sector that motivates him to absolutely destroy any sign of progression Britain has seen since the last Tory government got destroyed in 1997, when in fact the private sector, which is the sector that caused this entire mess in the first place, is getting away pretty much entirely free from the wrath of government. And it would be nice to know where he thinks he has the mandate to do all of this, given that the majority of the Country did not vote for swift cuts this year, at the election. Ideological right winged warfare. We’ve seen it before. I hope people take to the streets again.

The new Universities Secretary of the Lib/Con Coalition, David Willetts has said that Students are a “burden” to the taxpayer, as he set out plans to cut £200million from the budget for Higher Education. Clearly he has chosen to ignore the fact that THE MILLIONAIRE David Willetts claimed £125 from the taxpayer for lightbulbs to be changed in his mansion, and £2,191.38 for the cleaning of a shower head, £1,100 for food, and a further £5,107.25 for plumbing repairs. That’s over £8000 in total, which could pay for a University Student’s tuition fees for two full years, after which time the Student will leave university with a better understanding of his or her chosen field of expertise, and the market will gain a new professional. Or, we could have a clean bathroom complete with a brand new lightbulb in THE MILLIONAIRE, Mr Willetts house. Tough call.

David Willetts is a burden to the taxpayer.

David Willetts disgusts me. As do all the senior Tories, and CBI members who constantly attack Universities for what they offer both in terms of a high standard of education, and constant networking. David Willetts has been part of governments that have successively helped to leave my generation in a complete mess both financially and socially. The Tories of old sold off the council houses in a cheap attempt to buy votes from traditional Labour supporters. They made it easy for their friends in expensive suits to buy three or four houses, in seaside resorts across the country and only use them once a year, thus destroying local communities like Beadnell in Northumberland. And where has that left us? Well, together with the ingenious idea to deregulate the financial sector, also by the previous Tory government, it has left us with the City of London speculating on house prices, and absolutely no chance of someone like me ever owning my own home in this Country. HEY THANKS!

These old grey suited up bastards used the university system when it was free, and are now intent on burning the ladder on which they climbed, for anyone who isn’t rich. Our University hosted a Question Time style event for local candidates running for MP to answer audience questions, just before the election in May. On the question of tuition fees, the Tory said that they planned to raise tuition fees, but it’d all be fine, because they’d offer a lovely 10% discount to anyone who paid it all back within two years. But she insisted this wasn’t an elitist idea…….despite the fact, that it quite clearly was….. an elitist idea. I know for certain, that if tuition fees were as high as £5,000, as she suggested, I would not have gone to University. I would have been thrown into a job I dislike, forced to choose a career quickly, training in work I do not want to do, purely because it pleases a bunch of old grey pricks who have spent the past thirty years raping Britain for future generations. I will not listen to them. I would not have been able to advance myself in the subjects I wished too, and the only reason would have been because of money. The CBI keep telling me that Maths is a useful subject, but Philosophy isn’t. What if I absolutely adore Philosophy and despise Maths? I have to then endure living in a Country that has been shaped by the CBI to reward those who live for Maths and punish those who enjoy and wish to excel in Philosophy. The CBI and the Tories have absolutely no say over what is “economically valuable”. Markets change. If we were genuinely interested in creating free markets, that are free from interference, surely a group of bosses telling us all what is economically valuable, is no different from the Government doing so…. and if the Government were to do so, the irony would be that the Tories and the CBI would call them Communists. Why don’t the CBI offer to fund the degrees they consider economically valuable? The CBI, can go and quite simply, fuck their self-important, narcissistic selves and the superiority complex that plagues them. They are not the shapers of society. Why do they not ask their friends at the banks, who played cute little gambling games with our money to cough up what they owe, rather than hitting students, who will be the driving force behind the economic future of this country, long after the key players in the Tory Party and the CBI have been pulled back down to Hell?

We are the future. They are the miserable past that has failed us all. The failed us with the banks. They failed us with this horrendous neoliberal experiment that Thatcher threw at us all. They failed the poorer areas of the Country by turning their backs and blaming bad parenting and laziness for the problems rather than a Government that was more interested in expanding the wallets of the wealthy few. They failed us by invading Iraq. They failed us with huge interest rates and poll tax. They failed us with North Sea Oil. They failed us with funding for arts and sport. They failed us with the climate. They failed us with housing. They fail us day after day, and my generation should show we are fucking sick of it. The only people they didn’t fail were their fat cat friends, who happen to be old, grey, and very rich. They are not our masters. Pump more money into the Universities. Teach our Politics and Economics students, the reasons why the past three governments and their love-children who have become big businessmen have failed us all so miserably, and fix it.

The Confederation of British Industry, which is basically a session of useless old cunts in very expensive suits who happen to fund the Tory Party, who have been wrong on every call they appear to have ever made, including their call that Minimum Wage would destroy England; keeps telling me through the media, that certain degrees are useless and worthless. I happen to disagree. No degree is worthless. If our market place is to flourish, we need diversity. We need to teach people that their interests and their passion for furthering their knowledge on their interests are not worthless. We need to tell our children to NEVER listen to a generation of people who have collectively failed us all through their ideological warfare based on dodgy economics and social retardation. Every degree, whether it be in Economics (although, i’m not sure how they’d teach that now, given that no one seems to know what the fuck they’re talking about) or a Bachelors Degree in Making Tea. What should happen, is if the CBI want a certain degree to be given more attention and better funded, they should pay for it to be funded in its entirety given that they are the people who will inevitably benefit financially. By limiting degrees to what the CBI want, we are simply moulding the market to the shape that the CBI have created; it would not be “freedom“, it would a twisted version of the market designed to further enhance the riches of a very small minority of people. The CBI should not have any say whatsoever. They are the biggest Union of them all, and the most destructive.

No degree is worthless. It is an investment in the future. I would rather tax money go to investing in Universities, excellent lecturers, top class research facilities than going to paying the pensions of any old grey suited man who thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to have an education system built around who can afford it. The suited men in the CBI and Tory Party did not create the brilliant, compassionate and ever questioning minds of this Country, but they sure as hell fucked up the future for us all.

The National Insurance Row.

The big news this week politically, is that a group of business leaders have signed a document throwing their support behind the Conservatives, over Labour’s plan to increase National Insurance. The group of businessmen signed a document calling for the 1% planned rise, to be scrapped. The news media are treating it like a huge coup for the Tories. The news that business leaders support the Tories, is being treated, like huge surprising news. Surely this is less interesting and surprising news, than Ricky Martin telling the World he is gay, about fifteen years after we all figured it out any way. In other news, Jim Davidson is still shit, the BNP are still racist scum, apparently a bear shat in the woods today, Hitler was a bit of a git, and the sun might rise sometime tomorrow morning according to latest reports.

One of the business leaders who signed the document, is Paul Walsh. Walsh earns £3.6million a year as Chief Exec. of Diageo PLC, a huge wine and beer company based in London. It’s net income last year was £1,725,000,000. Now obviously, earning close to two billion pounds is not enough. A 1% N.I increase would apparently cripple them. Lucky for Diageo then, that they have a dedicated management team who do not really like to pay taxes. According to a Guardian report, Diageo over the past decade has paid a little over £43,000,000 in tax. That’s around £4,300,000 a year. In reality, they should have paid £144,000,000 a year. That equates to £1,397,000,000 tax loss. If you were to scrounge an extra few pound a week benefit payout, you’d be threatened with prison. Scrounge an extra £1,397,000,000 and you’re well on your way to being knighted for your services to “CREATING JOBS AND BEING ALL WONDERFUL!” That gap in the treasuries takings, according to the Guardian would take 20,000 households paying income tax to fill. So wondrous are Diageo, and so committed to the wellbeing of their workforce, that after posting profits of almost £2bn, they closed a Jonnie Walker blending plant which had been a community of Kilmarnock local historical institution, and made 700 people redundant. Around the same time, Mr Walsh’s salary increased.

Another businessman to sign the statement in support of the Conservative Party, is Justin King, chief executive of J Sainsbury. The President of J Sainsbury, is John Sainsbury, Baron of Preston Candover, with a net worth of £1.3bn, he is a Conservative Party donor, and member of the Conservative Party.

A third businessman to sign the statement in support of the Conservative Party is Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next. Wolfson is a member of the Conservative Party and donated to David Cameron’s 2005 campaign, and named by the Telegraph as the “37th-most important British conservative.”

A fourth businessman to sign the statement in support of the Conservative Party is Philip Harris, chairman and chief executive of Carpetright. Harris is a Conservative member of the House of Lords, and is worth £285,000,000. He is considered a close personal friend of David Cameron, and has donated money to the Conservative Party.

Do you see a pattern forming?

The Treasury expects unemployment to fall by a quarter of a million, next year, despite the 1% increase. And whilst Tory donating Businessmen have come out against the increase, most economists appear to be suggesting that the businessmen are wrong. The Times says:

“Martin Weale, of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, pointed to the last time NI rose, in 2003. Rather than cut jobs, employers responded by paring back the growth in wages.”

The Tories claim that they will stop the rise, and instead cut £12bn of public sector waste. Apparently, that isn’t classed as attacking jobs. Even though, according to Professor Colin Talbot at Manchester University, Britain’s foremost academic expert on public sector efficiency, even £6bn would cause 120,000 job losses in both the public and private sector, because the Tories planned “savings” include hitting small private I.T firms. The business leaders don’t seem too bothered by that. Because, afterall, it doesn’t affect their huge salaries.

Of course business leaders have backed the Tories. We’re all fully aware that a 1% rise in National Insurance is not going to destroy Britain in the way these big bosses say. It is the same rhetoric they used to attack minimum wage introduction legislation; businesses everywhere will go bust; riots on the street because poor people love big businessmen and don’t wish to be paid a minimum standard of wage in order to stay alive, if it means those poor businessmen can’t afford a new yacht; England (which will be renamed Ingsoc) will set on fire; Dorset will be completely submerged beneath a sea made by evil socialists; and gay people will rule the World, all because of minimum wage. In other words, fear tactics built on empty rhetoric. Because twelve years later, minimum wage is one of Labour’s greatest achievements.

The letter says:

“In the last few years, the private sector has improved its productivity by around 20%, while productivity in the public sector has fallen by 3%.”

Not surprisingly, they didn’t offer any evidence to back that claim up.
Firstly, if that is true, that’s quite an impressive statement from a conservative section of society toward a Labour government. (Although, i’m not sure how you actually measure public sector productivity, given that it isn’t a product based sector, nor is it profitable) Surely, that is indirect backing for Labour? Secondly, whilst the private sector may have improved productivity by 20%, but whilst wages have been kept low, bosses salaries, according to Incomes Data Services firm investigation, have risen 18.3% to now 150 times greater than the average employee. Sir Peter Bonfield CBE, FREng, C.U.N.T of BT saw BT share price go from £14, to £5, under his control. He then left BT with over £6,000,000 whilst thousands of workers lost their jobs. This was in 2002, before the recession struck.

So wondrous has the private sector been over the past few years, it has brought the entire financial system to it’s knees, demanded bailouts from all of us, and those responsible are now living in luxury whilst their employees are struggling to find work and keep their homes heated.

The letter goes on to say:

“Cutting government waste won’t endanger the recovery – but putting up national insurance will.”

When you’re in a position to be able to resist all government “waste” because you earn over £1,000,000 a year, you can say things like that, and continue on your deeply ignorant path in life. Many people rely on social services, that would be put under major threat under another Tory government. Of course, the huge salaries of the big bosses wouldn’t be under threat, and so the bosses don’t appear to care. It is obvious that under a Tory government, the way to cut the deficit will be to hit those who cannot afford to feed themselves the hardest, whilst the wealth of the very wealthy will be protected. That is the legacy of the Thatcher government. The business leaders’ priority is not the public good, nor is it maintaining the wellbeing of the Country that allowed them such obscene profitability at the behest of others (No matter how much they say a 1% N.I rise is a huge “tax on jobs”); their priority is handing a healthy amount of money over to the shareholders who actually don’t do any of the work that brings the wealth in themselves (Corporate Socialism, I call it).

The idea is to create a business haven in the UK. And that’s fine. If it is supported by a top class public service and a decent infrastructure. You can go to a third World country and do business uninterrupted and deregulated to the extreme. You can be a real businessman. Use children. No National Insurance. No equal rights. Don’t pay too much out in wages. No work hour limits. Real Capitalism.

The CBI, the guys who actively protested against the introduction of minimum wage, the guys who want students to pay far more for their education whilst they themselves went to University when it was free, the guys who suggested cutting any educational courses that they deemed to be “micky mouse”, said:

“We applaud the decision by a number of Britain’s most senior business leaders to take a public stand against the planned rise in national insurance – which is a clear and unequivocal tax on jobs.”

I would like to take this opportunity, to say just how much I despise the CBI. Thatcher killed off the Unions because they had too much power of the Government. Well, she opened the door for the CBI, arguably the most powerful union of them all, and they keep flexing their puss filled muscles every chance they get. Why are we listening to people who campaigned for banking deregulation, and a free-for-all attitude to banking? They should disgust us. They have damaged us far more than the Unions ever could. The very same people who are telling us how best to deal with the recovery, were the people who contributed to the mess we’re all in, in the first place. We were deceived by these people, playing with fake money, for years, and now they are running the show again? Has nothing changed?

Growth is an interesting concept. Growth when it comes to the business World is neither moral nor immoral. It is amoral. Growth and “giving jobs” as is often the defence of big business. But what does this apparent wondrous philanthropy actually mean? Well, it means that the cunt businessman at the top wants to protect his millions, the shareholders who do nothing for the good of the company or humanity in general get a healthy pay cheque every so often, the workers are paid as little as physically possible, and the producer is paid even worse. We’re then encouraged through the constant raping of our minds to buy pointless shit we don’t need, purely to prop up businesses that shouldn’t actually exist, and buy another lovely house in a sea side resort for the business man who only uses it once a year and so contributes to the destruction of the once healthy and happy sea side town (See Beadnell in Northumberland for confirmation). I’m all for growth, when it extends the public good, feeds the hungry, and creates affordable drugs. Growth to me, does not equate to greed. I am not for a manipulated and diseased form of growth by big business, who then claim they are “creating jobs“. Growth, within the system that we live, equates to nothing more than a lovely big return on investment, regardless of the public good.

These businessmen are not worried about their businesses. Their businesses are doing just fine. They are not worried about the little people, as proven with Lloyds group and over 10,000 unemployed recently whilst their boss makes more money than every before, they are also not worried about the deficit and the Country. They are worried about their own wallets. They want more. If they are seen to back the Tories, and the Tories win, you can bet a mountain of deregulation and further destruction of the public sector will follow. Another generation of people from poorer backgrounds who are taught they are worthless, and should resign themselves to a job at McDonalds.

The problem is, the system failed. The private system. These top businessmen sucked it dry for all it is worth for years. They used their new found immense profits to pay workers as low as possible, keep the money away from producers, create offshore accounts to avoid tax, fund the Tory party, but on the plus side, buy a lovely new Mercedes. And now, once that gravy train failed, they have washed their hands of it, and will blame everyone else. Socialism, or lazy people, or Governments, or Unions. Business will never blame business. The Tories will never blame business. Business afterall, “give us jobs!!”. The workers, to these people, are dispensable and just cogs in machinery. Their lives are not important. I hope the entire stinking system fails miserably. I secretly hope for a workers revolt, in which expensive business suits are thrown onto bonfires and a form of Anarcho-syndicalism is proclaimed.

The incompatibility of Capitalism and Democracy

“Democracy and Capitalism are like two persons bound in a tempestuous marriage that is riven by conflict and yet endures because neither partner wishes to separate from the other.”
- Robert Dahl

The economist, Friedrich August von Hayek, once suggested that Democracy can only possibly exist within a Capitalist system of the economy. I’d suggest Mr Hayek is contradicting himself with that statement, because by definition, he is offering no room for choice. Democracy exists for the benefit of Capitalism, or…..for the benefit of Capitalism. That isn’t Democracy.

The contrast between the ideals of a Democratic State and the ideals of Capitalism are in fact, so far removed from each other, they come very very close to being entirely incompatible. That very incompatibility is obvious. It isn’t about immigrants flooding the border, it isn’t about National identity or race, or too much public spending, it isn’t about freedom of choice (the freedom to choose whether to watch X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, is a pathetically blinded excuse for the word “Freedom“…you have no real choice), it isn’t about Communism vs Capitalism, all of those points are just a smoke screen employed by politicians who are acquiescing to the needs of big business.

My (perhaps naive understanding of Democracy), is that the key institutions that govern our lives, along with the people who are empowered to make the big decisions that ultimately affect our lives, must be accountable to the people. And yet, this Western ideal of Democracy has the opposite affect. If anything, they seem to be in conflict with each other, sometimes quite violently.

On the one hand, we exercise our right to vote in free and fair elections, by choosing a leader who has very little control over our lives. On the other hand, the key institutions of our society (or what I’d define as key institutions) are further and further privatised; and so power over such institutions is therefore concentrated into little Centralised States of their own, known as “Corporations”, in which the CEO has little or no desire to advance or protect the common good, of Humanity. Similarly, the CEO is not accountable to the people, he/she is accountable to the shareholders only. And since shares (and property – the key to Capitalism – in general) is so very limited, it stands to reason that not everyone can participate in it. Those who do participate in the race for property, lose out, to only one winner. It’s competition, a race to the finish. Those who win “deserve” it. Those who lose, well, tough. The majority therefore, lose out. Which i’m pretty sure anyone will tell you, is massively undemocratic.

In fact, a CEO accountable to share holders, is the exact opposite of Democracy, because the majority, have no say. We are therefore, controlled by Corporate interests, with absolutely no direct accountability to the people. This is ultimately proven to be the case, given that it has taken many many years under Capitalist rule, for the vast majority of workers to be paid a decent wage…..and even then, Business had to be forced, by the Government, to pay a wage greater than just enough to keep the worker alive. The Confederation of British Industry opposed the Minimum Wage. As did the Conservative Party. Which brings me neatly onto my next point.

It is no coincidence that as Markets grow ever more free, political parties become ever more right winged in terms of their economic policies. The Thatcher Government destroyed the power of the Unions in the ’80s, and privatised key institutions such as British Gas with the Gas Act of 1986. This of course lead to huge price increases implemented by people who run British Gas (Centrica) and have no direct accountability, other than to share holders. In July 2008 Centrica announced it’s Gas prices would raise by a record 35% and it’s Electricity prices by a record 26%. It blamed the rise on soaring wholesale energy prices. In May 2009, it then cut those prices, both by 10%. That’s still a huge increase in Gas and Electricity prices. Robert Hammond, a Gas and Electricity consumer expert working for Consumer Focus, said of the cuts: “We would have expected much bigger reductions considering that wholesale gas and electricity prices are half what they were at their peak last year“. Between winter 2007 and winter 2008, the number of deaths caused by fuel poverty (20 years after privatisation set out to free up the markets, to flourish wondrously) rose by 7%….. the biggest increase, since records began.

Arguably the most powerful institutions in the World; Banks. For years, banks had campaigned against regulation. They wanted total autonomy. They were in control of our money, they were using our money for their risky and ultimately hellish investments and bets, but they wanted us to be as far away from our money, and ultimate power as possible. Whilst they had our money, and our homes under their control, the guys at the top were enriching themselves (and continue to do so) despite actually losing our money, and our homes. Those people were not democratically elected. Damn right they should be heavily regulated now. The public sector then bailed out the excesses of Capitalism, and now the public sector is going to pay for it, through tax cuts for the rich, and public service cuts for those less wealthy. Why is no one fighting this? Those banks that received public funds, should pay a huge share of their profits, back into the public system.
Perhaps the key principle of democracy – rule by the people, for the people – apparently doesn’t apply to such powerful and essential institutions, such as Banking. But does apply, to when our rubbish bins get collected. Society is a little bit backward.

My point being, that democratically elected Governments of the past, have worked tirelessly to pass key institutions – that existed to protect the people and to provide a safety net, to the people – to very centralised, very concentrated, very greedy private hands, whose jobs rely solely on how much money they make for their shareholders, not at all for how pleased the majority of the public is with the work they are doing. It is only a matter of times, before the World’s water supplies, change from “The Pacific Ocean”, to “Microsoft Ocean”, in which you have to pay an extortionate price to swim in. Or “GE Spring” in which it’ll cost you to drink from, despite the Spring being a natural resource, that no one has the right to own. You may think this is an extreme example, of Democracy being eroded by Capitalist interest, but the World Bank recently adopted a policy of complete Water privatisation across the World, leading to Corporations (again, unelected, having no desire to serve the public good) such as “Monsanto” collecting a net income, of around $68,000,000 last year alone.

Ironically, democratically elected governments, pursuing Capitalist reform of their market place, are helping to almost overthrow the democratic order of power, and place it in the hands of untouchable Kings, in charge of their own little Corporate Nation, free to use whomever they wish, without fear of rebellion. Much like the Kingdoms of old, these Corporations concentrate Wealth at the top of the hierarchy; proven quite self evident with the fact that 33.4% of the total Wealth of the USA in 2001, was owned by 1% of the population. Whilst the bottom 40% of the population of the USA in 2001, owned 0.3% of the Wealth. What good is “Wealth creation” if it doesn’t trickle down? The argument that Democracy has aided Capitalism is weak at best, it thrives on the notion that in all Capitalist States, sporting Democracy as their rule of the land, the GDP has risen sharply. This, is often cited as proof of the two’s compatibility. Of course, it only works if you measure the Wealth of a Nation by the concentrated wealth of the people at the top. If you chose to focus on the plush lifestyles of those at the top, whilst choosing to ignore the miserable conditions of those at the bottom, then yes, Capitalism and Democracy are very much compatible. Which in turn, means you are focusing on the minority rather than the majority, and so by that very logic, your thought pattern, is undemocratic.

What then happens, and it’s the logical next step in the Capitalisation of the World, is that business interests infect the very heart of Government. They become influential characters behind the scenes, and so private money is pumped into political parties, via campaign contributions, in return for favours that aid the wealth and power of Corporations. As pointed out in the my previous blog entry, The Director of Communications and Planning for the Conservative Party, was once the chief editor of the News Of The World…….owned by Rupert Murdoch…..who is currently on a rampage against media regulation in the UK……. of which it just so happens that David Cameron has agreed to ditch the media regulator Ofcom, if he were to become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain. Given that he is accountable to the public, shouldn’t Cameron be asking us if that’s what we want first? Rather than catering to the needs of a businessman? By that very logic, the Businessman’s vote, is more important than the votes of you and I, and therefore, again, Capitalism promotes undemocratic principles.

Perhaps the old Conservative mantra that “less government interference in private affairs” is necessary for the advancement and freedom of society, should be twisted and turned into “less private interference in government affairs” is necessary for the justice, security, and fairness of humanity in the future. I’ll go with that one.

The Tyranny of Business

Often, (especially from America) you will hear that the larger the size of Government, the smaller the freedoms of the Nation’s public. I’d argue that the bigger the size of power of big Business, the smaller the size of freedom for the Nation’s public. The argument presents itself beautifully today.

So according to a report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)… the Union of Corporate criminals has decided that Students should be the ones to pay thousands of pounds straight off, for their University education, to help fill the gap created by cuts in public spending. We should have less grants, higher interest on loans, and hugely inflated tuition fees of up to £5000, they have suggested.

Where is their report aimed at cutting Corporate Tax loopholes?
Where is their recommendation to close down tax havens?
Where is their recommendation to cut the pensions of top bosses who earn up to 30 times that of their workers? Or their annual salary being cut from 100 times that of it’s workers?
Where is the idea that the CBI helps to fund certain courses, given that the future of it’s businesses and profitability depend on state funded education of it’s future workers?
Where were their complaints when businesses were receiving emergency injections of cash?
Why are they encouraging further debt? Have we learnt nothing over the past few years?
Students are the future of this Country, we shouldn’t be suggesting the creation of a new generation of elites, with a generation of those who couldn’t afford to go to University and so spend their lives as slaves to the children of CBI members.
Do these people get worse every day, or are they just born without a soul? Just when I thought I didn’t need any more reason to despise big business, they produce this report.

Of course, the CBI haven’t commented on todays report that shows a huge funding deficit in the pensions of top bosses. Whilst millions of workers have seen their pensions slashed over the last few years, the FTSE 100 top employers have hidden the true cost of their own pensions, by sometimes up to £5m. I think the CBI needs to get it’s priorities in order.

It’s the way of thinking, which really annoys me. It’s the rich way of thinking. The Tory way of thinking. The USA Anti-National Healthcare way of thinking. The way of thinking that says “I’m rich, I shouldn’t have to fund the education of others!!!“, and yet their family, somewhere down the line, had a family member who came from nothing, and was funded by other peoples tax money, to be educated, which lead on directly to the success he/she passed down to this generation of selfish idiots.

The Tories, as usual, did not dismiss this matter. Of course not. It isn’t their children who will be affected. In fact, it benefits their children quite handsomely. The Conservatives’ university spokesman, David Willetts, commented on the report, saying it was “a good opportunity to bring this whole issue back to life”. No it isn’t. It’s a good opportunity to smack the arrogance of the CBI, back down to reality.

Another of the CBI’s suggestions, is to cut the number of degrees that they consider to be unneeded economically, and concentrate more on Science, Maths and English degrees. If we’re talking about useless degrees that tax payers have funded over the years, i’d say the biggest waste of public money, has gone on economic and banking degrees. Did my family, help fund the education of Sir Freddy Goodwin, who then went on to destroy the economy? I’m guessing the CBI would say differently. I’m not entirely sure where these people get the nerve to decide what degrees are right for this Country? Is there any other aspect of my life, these arrogant shits want to control? My life does not revolve around getting a job that will serve only to make members of the CBI richer whilst I hate my job. Again, is this the freedom the Free Market proponents talk about? Is freedom only so, if I do whatever big business wants me to do? I’m about to embark on a Journalism Degree, should I email the CBI to ask if that’s okay with them? Or should I change my course to include something I have absolutely no interest in, just to suit a bunch of criminals in suits? As if we don’t pay enough. I’m likely to leave university in three years time, in immense debt…… the interest on which, will far exceed what I borrowed in the first place. We pay our way, to enjoy fair education and opportunity for all, not just the elites. I’m still not entirely sure why a bunch of corrupt middle aged men, think they have the right to make any kind of money saving suggestions. The National Union of Students should retaliate, with a list of money saving techniques business leaders should embrace, including cutting their salaries and pensions, and selling their multitude of cars.

Thankfully, this generation of University Students will not listen to middle aged upper class toffs dedicated to turning us all into good little workers for their benefit. We have much more intelligence and creativity than to fall for that. Unfortunately, if the battle of ideology between this ridiculous “free market” bullshit, and those of us on the Left is not won by us, our children will suffer the most.

In a Tory Toff World, you have the freedom to be whatever you want……. as long as you can afford it, and big businessmen decide it’s okay. I’m surprised the CBI didn’t include a report on the idea of sending children to work long hours, for a piece of bread every day. It’s only a matter of time.