Britain

The case of Binyam Mohamed is a national disgrace. Binyam
faces trial before the Military Commissions at Guantamo, which all fair-minded
people regard as kangaroo courts. The US administration is desperately trying
to wangle a few convictions in order to justify keeping suspects locked up for
years and torturing them at Guantamo Bay. Binyam faces the death penalty, but
his defence has a problem. They cannot procure the evidence that could save
him. The US government refuses to release the documents.

Sooner or later the financial tsunami will run into the sand, but in
its wake the real economy will be left in recession. The immediate
crisis will have abated, but the sludge, mud, sewage and devastation
lasts much longer. They’re still mopping up the mud from the 2007
floods… how long will the recession last and how deep will it go?

New Labour has climbed down before big business again, on the issue of a windfall tax on the energy companies. Brown’s pathetic advice, that the elderly should wrap up warm and
switch off lights when prices go up, makes you wonder whether we voted
for Labour or the Big Six gas and electricity companies to run the
country in the last election.

Parliament will once again be discussing the Human Fertilization and
Embryology Bill in October. Once again battle is joined between those
who defend the right for women to decide over their own bodies, and
those who want the state to do it for them. This time, however, there
is room for improvements to existing legislation – not just calls to
turn the clock back fifty years.

On Wednesday, (October 1^st,
2008) around one hundred people gathered in Bolívar Hall in
London to attend the launching of the English language edition of
Alan Woods’ latest book, Reformism or Revolution – A Reply to
Heinz Dieterich. The event was organised by Hands Off Venezuela
and Wellred,
the Marxist Publishing House. Comrade Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist
Appeal, chaired the meeting and introduced the two speakers,
Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan Ambassador and Alan Woods himself.

The Banks are going down like ninepins. It’s just over a year ago that
Northern Rock went bust. That was the first time we heard of the
‘credit crunch’ – the fact that banks were nervous of lending to each
other. Why? Because they realised the whole financial system was stood
on an unstable house of cards of credit. The pyramid had been built up
over years of mad speculation. They had got to the stage where they did
not know which bits of coloured paper in their vaults were sound and
which were non-performing toxins.

Boris Johnson defends capitalism. 
“Go on.
Admit it. You don’t feel altogether sorry for those bankers, do you? When you
read about the collapsing pillars of the temples of mammon, you don’t feel the
tears beginning to prick the corner of your eyes. 

“When you
read that the masters and mistresses of the Universe are being expelled from
their glass palaces, ferrying their possessions in cardboard boxes, you can’t
quite find it in you, somehow, to mourn…”

In
response to coup plotting in both Bolivia and Venezuela, the Hands Off
Venezuela Campaign, together with several other Latin American
solidarity organisations, organised a picket outside the US Embassy in
London followed by a highly successful public meeting, where all
speakers and participants condemned the manoeuvres of US imperialism
and pledged themselves to keep up the solidarity activity. 

In the first part, Ed dealt with the housing shortage, the renting crisis and the attack on public housing. Here he deals with home ownership and outlines a socialist  programme.

In the absence of decent rented accommodation, thousands of people look to
buy in order to get a roof over their heads. But this is a major problem for
people. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors estimates that
affordability for first-time buyers has fallen by 351% over the last 10 years. Equally,
repossessions were up 20% during 2007, which hit an eight-year high. 

Living in Britain in the 21st century we should all at least expect to have decent a
decent place to live at an affordable price. Having your own place should not be
down to luck or to a ‘dream’ of owning your own home: it should be your
right. We all should expect that amidst the massive wealth of British
society all people who live here can at least have a decent home – is
this really too much to ask?

The
Observer (17.08.08) ran a front page headline “Health chief attacks drug giants
over huge profits.” Sir Michael Rawlins hit out after the National Institute
for Clinical Excellence (NICE) was accused of ‘barbarism’ for refusing to
approve expensive kidney drugs. NICE said the drugs ‘only’ gave the patient an
extra few months of life. We wonder if they would be so insouciant if it were their
lives on the line?

“We
are told we are being mean all the time, but what nobody mentions is why the
drugs are so expensive,” Rawlins commented.

£8.80 for a 39 hour week!

The ‘Guardian’ reported (30.06.08) “After a 39-hour week, one man took home
£8.80 when his monthly rent of £155 was deducted in one week. Another man
worked a 70-hour week, earning £420, but was not paid overtime and after having
£228 deducted for repayment on tools was left with £66. A third man worked a
40-hour week but was left with £13 after paying £155 for a month’s rent. As
self-employed workers they received no holiday pay.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt, said: "This case is the worst
we have seen. These workers were virtually destitute.