Cameron: "Cuts will change our way of life"

[dennis tooth]

US, European banks invest billions in cluster bombs: NGOs

 

 

US and European financial firms are still investing billions of dollars in cluster bomb producers despite a global ban on a weapon that maims and kills civilians, NGOs said Wednesday.

 

The US financial titans JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are joined by Royal Bank of Scotland, Germany's Deutsche Bank and China's Changjiang Securities in a "hall of shame" of investors in cluster munitions.

 

They are among 166 private and public financial institutions from 15 countries that have invested a total of $39 billion in eight cluster munition producers since May 2008, according to a report by two Dutch non-governmental organisations that are members of the Cluster Munition Coalition.

 

While most investors are from countries that have yet to sign up to the international convention that bans cluster munitions, including the United States, 38 firms are from nine states that joined the accord.

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The nine countries -- Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands -- have not passed legislation that bans investment in cluster bomb producers.

 

 

Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand are the only countries worldwide that have passed legislation prohibiting such investments, according to the report drafted by Netwerk Vlaanderen, which promotes responsible investment, and the peace group IKV Pax Christi.

 

A total of 26 financial institutions from EU states are still investing more than $3.0 billion in cluster munition producers.

 

"We are calling on EU member states and countries around the world to legislate against these explosive investments," said Roos Boer, the report's author.

 

The report said Moamer Kadhafi's troops in Libya used cluster munitions made by Spanish firm Instalaza to attack the rebel-held city of Misrata in mid-April.

 

When the munitions were produced and sold to Libya in 2007 -- before Spain banned cluster bombs -- Deutsche Bank, Britain's Barclay's and eight Spanish banks had outstanding loans to Instalaza, the report said.

 

So far 108 states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which came into force in August 2010 and bans all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of bombs that spray deadly bomblets indiscriminantly over a large area.

[Strontium]

I get the distinct impression Cameron is drowning. The fundamental problem he has - is that he's not very bright.

 

 

He's a Tory, what were you expecting, Albert Einstein?

[TheDrowningMan]

I get the distinct impression Cameron is drowning. The fundamental problem he has - is that he's not very bright.

 

Well, that's obvious. He gets plonked into ridiculously expensive schools because of his aristocratic stock and on leaving gets handed a tea boy job with the Tories, before going on to take the role of an ITV PR man. It's been apparent for years that he's no intellectual heavyweight and has been manufactured for his current position since birth.

[Cardie]

I get the distinct impression Cameron is drowning. The fundamental problem he has - is that he's not very bright.

 

And yet 'he still managed to outwit the lib dems.

[Strontium]

And yet 'he still managed to outwit the lib dems.

 

 

I'm sure you're going to explain how.

 

While you're at it, be sure to tell the Tory right wingers who are ready to burn him at the stake for "capitulating" to us.

[Section_31]

Clegg doesn't strike me as especially sharp either. Kennedy does, I've seen him talk eloquently about a range of subjects a number of times. Clegg is from the Cameron school of just talking at people and hoping like hell nobody is actually listening to the words.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

There's a number of very clever, astute Lib Dems. I don't think too many of them like this coalition.

[Stu Monty]

I read something in this week that was claiming that Gideon is some sort of master strategist, that's how he veiws himself and also how lots of others do.

 

Eh? Why does he always appear to be a complete fucking derp whenever he opens his mouth then?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

He is a bona fide fucking idiot.

[Strontium]

Clegg doesn't strike me as especially sharp either. Kennedy does, I've seen him talk eloquently about a range of subjects a number of times. Clegg is from the Cameron school of just talking at people and hoping like hell nobody is actually listening to the words.

 

 

You and I are never going to see eye to eye on Nick Clegg. The guy is no idiot though, he speaks five languages. I actually think his problem is more that he's too smart for his own good.

[Anubis]

What a horrible slimy cunt Cameron is.

 

BBC News - MPs defy ministers and back ban on wild circus animals

 

Fair play to Pritchard for standing up for something he believed in, and knowing he was blacklisted for it, putting the reason for his blacklisting in the public domain.

[Anubis]

I actually think his problem is more that he's too smart for his own good.

 

He's disguising it well.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

You and I are never going to see eye to eye on Nick Clegg. The guy is no idiot though, he speaks five languages. I actually think his problem is more that he's too smart for his own good.

 

I don't think Clegg is an idiot, but he is morally questionable and pretty weak. He's not very good at playing politics, either. That might be all right when running in an election and pledging things he'll never have to back up, but when he's holding the decisive cards in government, he has folded like a ton of bricks.

 

There was so many ways he could have played the political game and still come out on top, but he has now ended up as a hated guy and the subject of panel show jokes.

[Anubis]

And so the fruits of Mrs Thatch's industry-dismantling labours ripen, as the Chinese, who took a good share of the manufacturing jobs she decided the UK didn't need, offer to spare some change to help us and the Europeans out of our default crisis.

 

 

BBC News - China's Premier promises steps to boost UK trade

 

 

China's Premier promises steps to boost UK trade

 

China's Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to take measures to increase trade between Britain and China.

 

Mr Wen, who is on a three-day visit, said he wanted to welcome more UK products into China.

 

Speaking to the BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, he also said he would like to see more enterprises based on the China-owned model used by the MG car plant at Longbridge.

 

And he said China would continue to support the crisis-hit eurozone.

 

China's leading automaker the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation became the owner of MG Rover's Longbridge plant after a merger in late 2007 with its smaller rival, Nanjing Automobile Group.

 

The cars are designed and assembled in the UK, from parts made in China.

 

Mr Wen visited the plant, once the site of Britain's mass-car manufacturing where a launch ceremony for the company's new sports sedan the MG6 Magnette took place.

 

Mr Wen also told the BBC it was a priority to boost consumption by the Chinese, as well as reducing its foreign trade surplus and reliance on exports.

 

He described China as Europe's friend in its time of acute need.

 

"When some European countries were hit by the sovereign debt crisis, China has actually increased the purchase of government bonds of some European countries and we have not cut back on our euro holdings.

 

"I think these show our confidence in the economies of the European countries and the eurozone."

 

He added: "Before I came to the UK I visited Hungary. We reached agreement on the Chinese government buying a certain amount of government debts of bonds on the Hungarian side... that is China lending a helping hand to Hungary at a time when that country is in difficulty.

 

"We have done this for Hungary and we will do the same thing for other European countries."

 

China has foreign reserves of about $3tn and is believed to be diversifying some of its holdings from US dollars into euros and other currencies.

 

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said China offered "huge opportunities" adding that it was important to have a full dialogue with China.

 

Mr Hunt, who earlier accompanied the life-long Shakespeare admirer Mr Wen to Stratford-Upon-Avon, said: "We want to have a broad-based relationship with China which encompasses political, economic and social dialogue.

 

"It's obviously an incredibly important economic power and a massive investor in the UK.

 

"But what this visit is about is saying that it's not just about jobs, it's also about a broader cultural relationship which is the best possible way to make sure we understand each other and avoid the kind of misunderstanding that so can bedevil relationships, as has happened in the past."

 

With China having overtaken Japan as the world's second largest economy, many European companies are looking for investment, while Chinese acquisitions in Europe have also been increasing.

 

Mr Wen is thought to be leading a Chinese bid for work on the HS2 high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham.

 

Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming said last week China was looking for "flagship projects" and had "the knowledge, expertise and experience" to assist with HS2.

 

That meeting will also involve the Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Chancellor George Osborne.

 

Mr Wen will also hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and business leaders, before leaving for Germany on Monday.

 

Last week dissident artist Ai Weiwei was released from custody in China, heading off protests which might have greeted Mr Wen's visit to Britain.

 

On Saturday news broke that another prominent Chinese dissident, Hu Jia, had been released from prison and reunited with his family.

 

He had campaigned for the environment and in support of patients with Aids.

 

But the Free Tibet pressure group has held a demonstration outside the Longbridge plant, and has promised to hold demonstrations outside Downing Street when Mr Wen goes to meet Mr Cameron

[Section_31]

Was watching that before, watching the Birmingham council leader fawning all over them and fending off questions about human rights records. It's embarrassing.

 

was flicking through a copy of the Daily Mail yesterday (I was in a cafe) and there was some feature about how our 'complacent and lazy' workforce (teachers who are about to strike, basically) better wake up to the dangers posed by 'the east'.

 

It's pathetic. The Chinese did not discover some kind of secret formula for success, they are not smarter, or more dynamic, or more brilliant than we are, it was quite simply the case of them having a vast pool of slave labour at their disposal - and our leading firms and industry leaders coming along scooping up our manufacturing plants, our labour jobs, and our ideas like the Borg - and then dropping them all on Shanghai and saying 'there you go, I'll have an extra 30% profit thanks very much'.

 

How amusing it is that the USA's unemployment rate has rocketed in the last few years, and yet an iconic American brand like Apple is having its hardware built in a Chinese factory which is notorious for having such bad working conditions that ten of its staff have actually committed suicide. That's what I call dynamism and the joys of wealth creation.

[Strontium]

How amusing it is that the USA's unemployment rate has rocketed in the last few years, and yet an iconic American brand like Apple is having its hardware built in a Chinese factory which is notorious for having such bad working conditions that ten of its staff have actually committed suicide. That's what I call dynamism and the joys of wealth creation.

 

 

Let's put that figure into perspective: that's 10 suicides in a factory that employs almost 400,000 people. It makes a juicy headline, but that suicide rate is actually lower than the suicide rate in my workplace.

[dennis tooth]

free tibet!

[dennis tooth]

free tebbit!

[silverlining]

 

but that suicide rate is actually lower than the suicide rate in my workplace.

 

 

I should imagine that the only place with a higher suicide rate than where you work would be Jonestown.

[L19red]

I should imagine that the only place with a higher suicide rate than where you work would be Jonestown.

 

fair tackle

[Section_31]

Let's put that figure into perspective: that's 10 suicides in a factory that employs almost 400,000 people. It makes a juicy headline, but that suicide rate is actually lower than the suicide rate in my workplace.

 

What, on the premises? In less than a year???

[Strontium]

No, not on the premises, just among the workforce, and that's over a period of 9 years.

 

Whether there's any significance to them doing it in work, or whether it's just convenient, who knows.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

No, not on the premises, just among the workforce, and that's over a period of 9 years.

 

Whether there's any significance to them doing it in work, or whether it's just convenient, who knows.

 

Don't they quite often temporarily live there? That might account for it being on the premises. I've not looked into it, but apparently they have quality facilities.

 

I think there's some terrific examples of the point Sec is making out. Not sure that's one of them, though. There's some truly horrific stats about sweatshops around the world. Some really disgusting things go on.

[Section_31]

Don't they quite often temporarily live there? That might account for it being on the premises. I've not looked into it, but apparently they have quality facilities.

 

I think there's some terrific examples of the point Sec is making out. Not sure that's one of them, though. There's some truly horrific stats about sweatshops around the world. Some really disgusting things go on.

 

I think it's fair to say though that China isn't leaping ahead becsue of its dynamism and the superior mental powers of its mystical population, it's leaping ahead because the people over here with all the money have spent the last two decades employing its vast army of slave labour.

 

It's like saying 18th Century Louisiana could teach us all a thing or two about producing cotton.

 

When we hear the Daily Mail brigade warning us that we need to compete with the 'Chinese work ethic', what they really mean is we should be prepared to accept a steady reduction in our quality of home and work life. "How can we compete with the east when we're not prepared to work 80-hour weeks and expect sick pay."

 

It fact it could be argued this was the logic behind our open door immigration policy to countries like Poland, to tap into our own source of cheap labour.

 

Personally, I'd rather Britain sank into the Atlantic than end up as some kind of sweatshop state - fuck that.

 

Here's a notion, how about we encourage better working practices and fairer trade? How about we enforce some protectionist trading policies to encourage the growth of our own economies? Obviously this will be laughed off by the powers that be who will call it anti-business and anti-competitive, but what they really mean is that it lightens their pockets.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

No, I agree with all of that. Just saying that using the Apple/Foxcon example isn't the best example of this. We only have to look at India - a country used by that fucking imbecile John Redwood as an example of a country that disproves there was a global crisis. Not sure about you, but I'm well up for selling all of our children into virtual slavery. It'll boost the economy and the 1% can get richer. That's well worth it.