The National Trust AGM

As we enter the autumn is must soon be time for another National Trust AGM; and this years its on the 29th October 2011 at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. The pro-hunt group strangely name FONT; Friends of the National Trust via the Countryside Alliance web site always provides voting information to ensure that the pro-blood sports agenda remains in place within the trust, however this year you have to register to view the information; yet more secrecy! 

This is rather sad and as the National Trust have over 4 million members, but sadly only around 35,000 bother to vote.

The vast majority of NT members are interested in visiting the many stately homes, rolling estates and gardens during the spring and summer months. But come the darkness of autumn and winter the hunters and shooters come out to play. The National Trust openly states that the greatest danger to the trust is from climate change, but I believe that another danger exists and that is the stranglehold that the blood sports fraternity has on the National Trust which is after all a registered charity setup to preserve the gems of our countryside and the variety of wildlife that live on it, not for providing fairground stalls for the shooters and live prey for the hunters and hare coursers.

But to return to FONT, I have always been amused regarding this group, located deep in hunting country in the Exmoor on the  village of Crowcombe in  Somerset. It’s rather like a group of pedophiles setting up a charity called for example the New Children’s Society; where they offer help and assistance to schools, clubs and parents at sporting and social events. People would naturally assume that here was a wonderful helpful group of nice people devoting so much time and effort to be with our young children!  Then the cruel dark side would emerge, but alas far too late to prevent the damage.

Sometimes when the label states this product may contain nuts, and we are initially dumbfounded and confused – then later much later we stumble across these nuts in most unexpected of places!

Long Live St Paul's Tent City

I think it is rather a cheek that Liam Fox should portion any part of his demise on the hounding of the press. Now we all have some idea of what was going on and he had to go and one wonders why he did not go sooner?

We just need to look back of the Tory press hounding of the last governments ministers; in particular the series of Home Office ministers; David Blunkett, Charles Clark and Jacki Smith. The current Emigration minster Damon Green was apparently behind so many of the stories appearing on the front pages of the Daily Mail and Express regarding the job he was emigration job he was shadowing at this time.

Rather interestedly if it was not for the efforts of some journalist we could be subjected to a Rupert Murdoch Fox News channel delivering a rather right wing bias on the news. But alas the Murdoch’s News International group was out foxed by good journalism. We still don't know all the details of the Dr Fox case and the money men who back him, directly or indirectly. Also it is rather pathetic to offer the feeble excuse or get out clause that he did not make any financial gain from this situation.

He proved himself to be untrustworthy and still does by his recent statements. 

I think most people and that is a very significant majority in this country know that this Tory lead government weren't elected and are only where they are because of the LibDem collaborators. Who have turned their back on any claim to be the voice of liberalism. They have chosen to support the party of privilege and patronage over liberty and equality and they have treated with contempt the voters who chose to vote LibDem in direct rejection of the Conservatives. They have disowned those who made a positive choice to vote LibDem in order to see their policies implemented. They have betrayed the party workers who have worked hard to promote the centre left of politics by rushing to the rescue of the political right.   

Nick Clegg and his followers must take a large portion of blame for the covert policies such as the manipulation of corporation tax in the budget, the bailouts, the continued lack of controls over (now) publicly owned companies, the increasing rollbacks of worker's rights, the VAT hikes so the cost of living rises despite wage freezes. The selling off of the NHS so that if you're poor you're buggered, the increase in tuition fees so only the rich can afford a university education; so they stay powerful gaining more influential positions in society. It’s the usual divide and rule tactics and the usual portrayal of the working class in a dim light, the corruption is top down

There is hope and perhaps the activities at St.Paul's tent city which is getting an awful lot of coverage at present. This may be the emergence of real opposition against corporate greed and the failed and corrupt banking system.

Lets hope that the church does not cave into pressure from the Conservative Christians and perhaps speaks out against the ravages of the bankers and this corporation friendly government.

It was a few months ago that the Archbishop of Canterbury did try and voice his concerns regarding the actions of the governments policies but he was shouted down by the well groomed and Eton trained debater David Cameron. The Archbishop seems to be very quiet now, perhaps like one of his predecessors, afraid that he will be slain by government supporters!

I understand that there is a Conservative Christian group and that the Great Badger slayer Caroline Spelman is a member. If this government and there supporters get anymore power and control in this country you may soon need a Tory party membership card to enter a church!

A Return to Life on Mars - 80s Here we come!

So as unemployment increased to 8.1% nationally and the unemployment total for 16-24 year olds hit a record high of 991,000 in the last quarter, an unemployment rate of a staggering 21.3%.

From a personnel perspective my own son graduated in July 2005 and since then has worked in a series of part-time or temporary jobs, each and every one paying the minimum wage; typically in office administration. One job in Taunton, (a well known Department Store Head Office)  lasted 11 months, it seems the situation changes when you try and stay in a job for more than a year. As he signed on the Job Centre; staff said his job and others were being advertised; what sort of business ethics are in place when big High Street companies act like this!

Wages and job security are suffering when what is required is good jobs with good pay and conditions and ongoing training to develop a skilled workforce, not a pool of unemployed workers who are used and abused by employers, rather like raw materials in the ‘Goods In’ section of a factory. Stagnating wages and low paid service sector jobs as private business reaps the high profits from once state provided services and facilities, is this life we want for our children and our grandchildren?

The Employment Secretary, Chris Grayling, said that what the UK was now seeing was "the impact of the international financial crisis". But I believe that the Tories are using the economic crisis as cover, they are simply carrying on where Thatcherism left off; redistributing power from working people to the wealthy elite. The last Conservative government achieved it largely through many anti-union laws and suppressing workers' rights together with a massive shift of the burden of tax from direct to indirect taxation. 

Its amazing what you can get away with mass unemployment as the rich people's wealth rise over 30% in the last few years and with a top 1% lifting a hefty 23% slice of the national pie!

Perhaps we may see further reductions in company corporation tax, at a low of 24% as means to create new business incentives; sorry create more jobs!

Vince Cable seems very quiet at present, perhaps emerging as the new Mr. Bean of the financial world as Baron von Osborne runs amok with our economy!

Shooting for Fun

With the start of the Pheasant season on the 1st of October it was interesting to see that the British Association of Shooting Association (BASC) are taking the unusual line of ‘saying hey lets eat what we shoot’ for a change; in an attempt to turn the sport into a food sourcing exercise!

With the proposed badger cull trail for the West Country I was surprised that Badger Burgers were not on the menu after all they will be shot ‘free running’ and above ground! Why we could have a version of Beatrix Porter’s Cook Book with featured menus such as Water Ratatouille, Brock Burgers and not forgetting the old favourite Toad of Toadhall in the Hole!

But on a more serious note a lot of money is being used to provide live targets for the sport of shooting with little concern for the birds lifecycle as DEFRA Farming Minster Jim Paice tore up the new welfare regulations for the rearing of game birds as one of his first acts in taking office, not a wise move if its entering our food chain on mass.

Now together with the election of Simon Hart, previously Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance this could herald in the opportunity to push forward the Countryside Alliance manifesto of countryside pursuits which includes shooting wildlife as a grant legible sport.

To encourage children to take up pursuit shooting fuels an unethical demand for the range of targets that can be shot and then this goes on to create the demand for even more live targets, which usually results in more wildlife being classified as a targeted pest.

I have no problems with clays or target shooting, but if you introduce children to shooting as a form of wildlife management it opens up the whole shooting scene for them and also to be knowingly cruel is demeaning to the person who is perpetrating the cruel act and will perhaps be diluted on children introduced to shooting live targets by there peers and does this make for well rounded adults?

I still fail to see how the double barrel shotguns are seen as the tools of the trade for many countryside people working in wildlife conservation as I have never seen any reports of our wildlife returning the fire at these shooters!

Nick (Tory) Clegg

So as Nick Clegg gave his conference speech has he proudly raise the Liberal Democrat standard along side the Conservatives on the single issue that matters most - the economy. "Not easy, but right, not easy but right," he kept repeating. But as a range of economists, including those at the IMF this week are saying that Plan A may need to morph into Plan B. In which case Clegg really missed an opportunity and again, we have Clegg acting as the front man for Cameron, "Yes I know people are suffering" softly softly, but the cuts are needed? But the speed and depth may have put this country back into recession and can you really cut your way out of a downturn? Rather than the fanfare about small initiatives such as summer schools and the pupil premium, Clegg could have given his party hope by stating that they will lead from the front before we plunge into a double-dip recession, ordinary party members will demand a change of course and to be fair, Vince Cable has been hinting at this all week, but on this crucial issue, Clegg had little to say. Former lovable leader Charles Kennedy, offered some advice just before Clegg’s speech staying stop fighting on so many fronts and pick a few important fights and win some of them. The economy is the one fight Clegg should have selected and call on Vince Cable’s support but the problem is as he so clearly showed on the platform that he is at one with the Conservative party on the economy and both parties are still happy to to lay all the blame on Labour which today has little mileage left as the global financial crisis continues to rage. I still hold the view that Clegg is a dead man walking, regardless of how long the coalition lasts. The next leader of the Party will surely be Tim Farron and I am sure he is already contemplating when and where to place the knife in Cleggs back; summer 2013 is my best guess. Many centre and centre left Liberal Democrats party activists need hope and many may be starting to desert as their Parliamentary Party become unmanageable and disconnected from the grass root members and supporters. Now logic says they should all hold fast, but how many will have the stomach and heart for that, especially knowing their Tory 'colleagues' are smirking behind their backs and with there long knifes at the ready come the next election!

A Truly False Moralistic and Condemnatory Rhetoric From Frances Maude!

As Frances Maude sets a collision course with the public sector unions and the coalition government it is worth taking a look at what at the background of this Tory minster who has serves in both the Thatcher and Major governments and even more recently during his time in the shadow cabinet formed a key figure in the Deregulation Task Force just before the financial crisis!  However Mr. Maude has railed against irresponsible lending by banks and mortgage companies! But was accused of hypocrisy for receiving more than £100,000 as a director of a company that has profited from sub-prime mortgages; sub-prime means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. These loans are characterised by higher interest rates and less favourable terms but with the lour of high profits for the bankers.  He is the son of the former Conservative Cabinet minister Angus Edmund Upton Maude who was educated at Rugby School and Oriel College, Oxford, so typical true blue Tory there. Currently his personal net wealth is estimated at £3m. Despite this, during a discussion on Newsnight on 22 October 2010 he argued that a 5% cut to his £65,738 salary was equal to the 'pain' suffered by Britain's poor! During his time as the shadow minister for the cabinet office, he attempted to claim the mortgage interest on his family home in Sussex. This arrangement was rejected by the Fees Office. Two years later, Mr Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property and began claiming on the new flat. The taxpayer has since covered at least £35,000 in mortgage interest payments. Now against this background Mr. Maude will now arrange for an attack on the unions and their public service members for not moving into the real world on pensions and terms of conditions. This will of course help to shift the focus away from the government and the flat-lining economy we currently have. It’s a strategy of divide and rule; setting private sector against the public with the same old faces at the top picking up the financial rewards year on year. It’s the same select privileged group at the top who reap the many and varied financial rewards but as usual the people at the lower end of society are used as cannon fodder to clean up the after mess of the banking crisis. The unions will have to smarten up for this fight, the spectra of a News International Fox News channel may have receded for now but the spin of this Tory lead coalition could manage to shift and deflect so much onto the public sector unions. People have forgot about the birth of Trade Unions and why the Cooperative was setup. Less than a 100 years ago we were subjected to dreadful working conditions with virtually no schooling for our children and the NHS was a dream what many though would never be accomplished. I just wonder if we are slipping back into these dark old days as we watch our aspirations and horizons slip away and once again foreign travel will be the remit of the wealthy.

The Boardroom Bonanza - The Top Pay Just Goes Up and Up

Companies have been busy cutting costs in recent years by slashing the pension provision for employees across the board. This has seen much of the private sector workforce shut out from the best final-salary related schemes, but the boardroom has shown no such restraint. As directors pay has risen like a rocket with many of the packages becoming ever more complex. The average FTSE 100 director has accumulated a pension worth £3.6 million; a sum that can only be dreamt of by an ordinary worker. In fact the 36 top executives in the UK earned at least £500,000 last year, with 14 of them who were on over £1 million a year. There's no such thing as a poor bookie-and that certainly applies to Brian Wallace, finance director of Ladbrokes. His pay almost doubled (+93.3%) to £1.3 million as result of a £560,000 bonus - equivalent to 113% of his basic pay - being paid in 2010 against no bonus the year before. A huge hike in his bonus powered George Walker, president of the US operations of the power generation equipment group Aggreko, to £677,000 - a 57,4% rise on 2009. Rupert Soames, chief executive of the group, only managed a 46.1% rise, but he did get £1.3 million in 2010. Jez Maiden's pay and benefits package increased by almost half - 48.6%, The finance director of bus and train operator National Express moved ever nearer the £1 million a year mark with a 2010 pay packet worth £923,000. These startling new statistics revealed in this report on executive pensions for the High Pay Commission, were compiled by Incomes Data Services using latest available data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). The report shows that only a third of private sector employees are enrolled in a pension scheme but almost all FSTE 350 companies provide a retirement scheme for their directors. As ever with pay at the top, it is one rule for the workforce as it is exhorted to put up with poor retirement pay so that companies can stay competitive, and another one for the boardroom where generosity remains totally unchecked. The largest pay and benefits package this time around went to Samir Brikho, chief executive of engineering and project management group AMEC, with £2.1 million. His annual cash bonus rose to 121% of his basic salary; in money terms up to £1.1 million against £612,000 in 2009. Overall, his pay and benefits package was 23.7% larger in 2010 than the year before. The figures in the table only include basic pay, annual cash bonus, cash value of benefits and add-on pension allowances. They exclude the long-term bonuses awarded in shares and pension contributions to a defined benefit or defined contribution scheme. Never before has Tory Chancellor George Osborne’s statement “we are all in this together” been shown to be so completely false. I now understand why the top one hundred business leaders openly supported the Tories at the last election; they were in it for themselves and my how they have been rewarded!