Reports that Waterford Crystal and the Wedgwood China Company were to go into
administration will add yet more gloom to the outlook for the Irish economy.
Waterford Crystal is an internationally known company and helps bring some
300,000 visitors to the town each year. In the current climate people won’t be
racing out to the shops to buy smart glass or china, but it’s going to have a
big effect on the economy and it shows the depth of the mess that we are in.

We learned recently that
Corus (ex-British Steel) and other “free market, risk-taking” manufacturers have
begged Brown for taxpayers’ money to bail these profiteers out.  As the “Scunthorpe Telegraph” reported, Corus`
conglomerate Tata announced profits of £2.47bn in 6 months to September – up
144%. Meanwhile steel production cuts of 20% were increased to 30% in November.
Corus-Tata`s hypocrisy might be thought insufferable.

Two years after
the Israeli ‘Defence’ Forces indiscriminately slaughtered over a
thousand Lebanese civilians in the quaintly-titled Operation Just
Reward, Israel has turned its attention to Gaza, in the form of
Operation Cast Lead. Stripped of its innocuous-sounding name, this
operation becomes a lot less palatable: according to Palestinian medical
sources, nearly 300 Palestinians have been killed, including numerous
women and children. Israel’s targets have included police stations
(which are unsurprisingly situated in densely-populated areas), the
headquarters of a Hamas-owned satellite television channel, and the
Islamic University, Gaza’s only higher education institution.

Debate on Marxism and Religion

The ULU Marxists marked the approach of Xmas by hosting a debate on Marxism and Religion. Under the heading ‘Christianity – Capitalist or Communist?’ debated Dr Peter Hatton, Methodist Minister and Fred Weston, editor of www.marxist.com and leading member of the International Marxist Tendency.

The gravity of the present world economic
crisis comes in part from the spectacular imbalances and crazy capital flows
that occurred in the years of the boom that finally juddered to a halt last
year. Martin Wolf, an eminent spokesperson for big capital, warns in the
Financial Times (02.12.08), “The world has run out of willing and creditworthy
private borrowers. The spectacular collapse of the western financial system is
a symptom of this big fact… In the long run, the global economy will have to
rebalance.” If it doesn’t work out, “The open world economy may even break
down. As in the 1930s, this is now a real danger.”

He goes on, “In 2008, according to
forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, the aggregate excess of savings
over investment in surplus countries will be just over $2,000bn…In 2008 the
big deficit countries are, in order, the US, Spain, the UK, France, Italy and
Australia. The US is far and away the biggest borrower of them all. These six
countries are expected to run almost 70 per cent of the world’s deficits.”

A Message from Jerry Hicks

It is with great pleasure and pride that I am able to say that we
have secured more than enough branch and workplace reps nominations to be on
the ballot paper for the election of General Secretary Amicus
Section scheduled for February and March…

The part played by the Bolsheviks in the history of the Russian revolution of 1917 proves the importance of the role of leadership. The history of the Spanish revolution proves the same thing, but in a negative sense.  Alan Woods spoke to a Socialist Appeal Northern Weekend
School, which had as its general theme ‘The Class, the Party and the
Leadership’, on those events which took place in Spain over 75 years ago.

John reviews Boris Johnson’s presentation of
the TV series ‘After Rome’ quite favourably. He even finds hope for redemption
for Boris, as long as he gives up Tory politics. ‘Crikey’, as Boris would no
doubt say. Well, this is the season of goodwill. What do you think?

Not that long ago, the Republic of Ireland was being
heralded as a Celtic Tiger, with a booming economy, a massive house price
bubble and a rising population as people returned home to Ireland to join the
boom. But all that seems a long time ago now as the government announces a bail-out
plan that will give the Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland 2 billion
Euros ($2.8 billion dollars) each in return for preference shares. In the case
of Allied Irish this amounts to nationalisation as the government will have 75%
of the voting rights. 

John McDonnell, leading spirit among Labour MPs in the Socialist
Campaign Group, interviews Mark Serwotka about the government’s
proposals for workfare and private welfare insurance. Mark is a leading
left winger on the TUC. He is General Secretary of PCS, the union that
represents those charged with carrying out New Labour’s welfare
‘reforms.’ Their task is made all the harder by the government’s
decision to get rid of 30,000 workers at the Department of Work and
Pensions. John and Mark discuss the fightback against the government’s
plans.