Mind the gap
Richard Lambert, former editor of the
Financial Times
, writing in the
Times
(20 September) paints an astonishing picture of the gap between incomes in
the USA. It must make even the craziest supporter of capitalism think again.
“According to one measure, the average boss of a publicly
traded company made 42 times more than the average production worker 20
years ago. Today, the multiple is more than 400 times.”
Imagine that
The journalist Nicholas Wapshot hardly caused a sensation when he reported
what the popular music business is all about in
The Times
(27 September). “I
bumped into Peter Blake, whose montage of the Beatles' heroes on the front
of the Sergeant Pepper album became a design classic. Having watched Yoko
defend her copyright that morning, I asked Blake whether he retained the
rights to his Sergeant Pepper cover. `No,` he said. `I was paid a flat £200
for my work, and that was it. A barrister has sat me down and explained in
great detail why I haven't a leg to stand on. What is more, Apple won't even
allow me to use the image in my own artwork`. As one of the attorneys said
in court this week. `It's a far cry from the idealised lyrics of a song like
Imagine, where you imagine a world without property. In the music business,
everything is property`.”
Anthrax wars
The UN concern about “weapons of mass destruction” seems a little strange
when both the US and Russia are still producing anthrax despite signing in
1972 the Biological Weapons Convention that prohibited the development,
production and stockpiling of such weapons. The escape clause that made
nonsense of the Convention was that it was permitted to do “defensive”
research on them. “Far from ceasing the production of anthrax, the US no
more honoured its commitment to the 1972 treaty than the Soviet Union, and
may even have allowed its own germ samples to be exported overseas. Last
year the Bush administration refused to sign a protocol on the Biological
Weapons Convention that would have made it easier to monitor countries that
were cheating. What possible reason might exist for the US to veto the
opportunity for greater transparency on biological weapons? An answer
materialised last September, just a week before the terrorist attack, when
Pentagon officials admitted they were engineering a potent strain of
anthrax, ostensibly to assess whether a vaccine administered to US troops
would be effective against a Russian-engineered superbug”
The Herald
Magazine
(5 October).
Oil wars
Behind all the fine words about democracy, freedom and protecting world
peace lies the USA's naked policy to ensure its oil supply. It is a policy
that is recognised by the representatives of the French and Russian
capitalist class. “The Bush administration, intimately entwined with the
global oil industry, is keen to pounce on Iraq's massive untapped reserves,
the second biggest in the world after Saudi Arabia's. But France and Russia,
who hold a power of veto on the UN Security Council, have billion dollar
contracts with Baghdad, which they fear will disappear in “an oil grab by
Washington”, if America installs a successor to Saddam”
Observer
(6
October).
Holy wars
The Church of England's bishops are keen to show that they are right up
there with current affairs so they have published a thesis on the prospects
of a war with Iraq. They have sent it to the government, where it will now
be placed in the “ignore” file. This might seem a pity to some, as it cites
some real up-to-date authorities on the subject. “It was published last
night as a submission to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select
Committee inquiry into the War on Terror. In the document they argued that a
war would fail to meet the criteria of a just war as outlined by St
Augustine in the 5th century and then by St Thomas Aquinas in the 13th”
Times
(10 October).
Poverty wars
During last month the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a
massive campaign to raise funds. You probably will recieve a leaflet through
you letter box or in your daily newspaper The facts are a massive
condemnation of capitalism. “13 million children are facing a winter of
sub-zero temperatures. In places such as Croatia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Kashmir, many children have little but each other to keep them warm. Some
may not survive the night. Elsewhere in the world, other children are
struggling to survive too. In the 162 countries where UNICEF works, we help
children who are increasingly at risk from malnutrition, killer childhood
diseases and a lack of access to clean water.” UNICEF's “solution” to the
problem is for you to send £2 a month. Being “practical” people they reject
the socialist alternative where all wealth is produced solely for use. They
will carry on pursuing policies that have failed dismally in the past.
Nice for some
“`I used to look up at the Imperial Hotel, now I stay at the Imperial Hotel.
It's nice to see the working class doing well isn't it?` John Reid,
Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, on the success of the Labour
government's policies”
Times
(14 October).
