New Labour’s nuclear ambitions suffered a setback in August when a
proposed deal to sell British Energy to EDF for £12 billion fell
through. Brown, Hutton, Darling and co. say that new nuclear power
plants are the only way to achieve "energy security" and reduce carbon
dioxide emissions, and they are determined to provide the right
incentives to EDF (or possibly another bidder, Centrica) to build and
operate them. Surely these wise men have impartially analysed all the
options and come up with the best solution to Britain’s energy needs?

On 8th October the government
and the banks came to an emergency agreement to prevent financial meltdown. The
government agreed to commit:

• £50bn for bank
  recapitalisation

• £200bn in
  short-term loans to boost liquidity

• £250bn debt guarantee for inter-bank lending.

The banks committed themselves to – nothing.

A
few days ago RBS and Lloyds TSB/HBOS alone claimed £31.5bn of public money. The
final bill could come to £75bn

Panic
has gripped the stock markets of the world. Things are completely out
of control, and there is nothing that governments can say or do that
can stop it. As in 1929, every time people thought that the worst had
come, further falls were just round the corner. Nobody knows how far
share prices have still to go. The world economy now finds itself in
unsheltered waters.

Sometimes
little incidents reveal much more fundamental truths.  This article from the Guardian on Tuesday
September 09 which covered some of the fringe meetings at the TUC conference
clearly demonstrates just how out of touch many of the New Labour careerists
really are:

“One telling anecdote to
emerge from the Compass gathering was when David Lammy, the schools minister,
discussed his shock at finding one of his mother’s pay slips, dated 1986.
Lammy’s mother, recently deceased, had worked both in the NHS and for London
Underground. Going through his mum’s things after her death, Lammy learned that
her take-home pay 22 years ago was just £900 a month." 

After being sacked for
whistle blowing and fighting for her rights Karen Reissmann has been elected to
the National Executive of UNISON. It’s a great victory, but there is still a
risk that Karen’s sacrifice and struggle will be in vain. Karen was offered a
financial settlement by her employers.  When she declined to accept this,
(against advice from the union), the NW Region of the union withdrew her
funding.  She is now appealing to the NEC, because she wants to fight to
get her job back.

While workers are being asked to take below-inflation pay increases to stop inflation, directors’ pay has increased by 6.1%, states a survey by Deloitte’s annual executive compensation study. They looked at the top 350 FTSE companies (except investment trusts).This survey does not tell the whole story. According to the Financial Times (08.09.08), “This understates total remuneration, because most top executives also receive a bonus worth on average of 157% of their salary last year. That is 10 to 15% higher than the previous year. Many also receive long-term stock awards that can be worth up to 165% of salary if […]

The credit crunch spares no-one. Liz Windsor of Windsor Castle has been forced to cut down on travel costs. No more £22,849 helicopter trips to the Kentucky Derby, then. She’s scraping by with just £12.7m from the civil list. How can you expect to keep up all those palaces on that money?