Same old...

Thanks to Syniadau

Things can only get better?

I was dismayed, if not surprised, following the publication of the report today into the inequalities within the UK. The analysis, which was commissioned by the UK Government, should provide a short, sharp shock to the system and deliver home the message that people are not being lifted out of poverty, in fact, the situation is getting worse.

Evidence of a growing gap between the rich and poor can be found throughout the 56-page document, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality.

One measure indicated that by 2007/08 income equality levels were the greatest since just after World War Two. It also said the richest 10% in our society are now 100 times wealthier than the poorest 10%.

Discrimination against minority groups and women is also rife. Workers from nearly every national minority group are less likely to be in paid work than white British men and women. Furthermore, men are still paid up to 21% more than women up to the age of 44 despite having, on average, inferior qualifications.

This report came out the same week Save the Children found that 1.7 million children across the UK are living in severe poverty. In Wales this proportion is even higher than in other nations in the UK with 96,000 living in severe poverty.

These two reports will really test powers of spin that have propelled the UK Labour Government through the last 13 years. They have already been trumpeting that the undeniable growth in equality over the last decade or so is, according to some indicators, slowing due to measures they have implemented.

This looks to me like the last thrashings of a dead animal that knows its time is up. The UK Labour Government is failing to see the facts, just like they have failed the poorest in society. How else could the non-doms, the Russian oligarchs and super-rich bankers be allowed to flourish if this was not the case?
In their attempts to woo Middle England, the UK Labour party has forgotten their core support; the ones who voted for them in their droves after two decades of a Tory Government that did nothing but tread on the hopes and aspirations of the working class.

No amount of spin will be able to masquerade this failure at the ballot box.

Help for Haiti?

The devastation in Haiti caused by the earthquake of January 12 has seen up to 200,000 dead and many more maimed.

Aid in the form of food, medical supplies, clothes and temporary accommodation, is needed as a matter of urgency. Thousands of peoples’ lives are depending on the smooth and rapid flow of cargo into the island to compensate for what the Haitians no longer have or had in the first place due to living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Rumours of disagreements between the UN and the US Army about who is in charge of the aid operation are worrying. It is evident that aid is not reaching those who desperately need it quick enough. The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has complained that a flight containing 12 tonnes of aid was turned away from the airport at the capital Port-au-Prince on three occasions by the US Army. They believe five patients died as a result of not receiving access to the supplies on board that flight. Furthermore the charity was forced to buy a saw from a local market so they could carry out amputations on survivors. Many Haitians have been left wondering where help is coming from, and what conditions will be attached.

What is the future for Haiti? The country was already in a mess with crushing poverty and massive debt. The IMF is reported to have offered an emergency loan to Haiti with strings attached, but that later, those strings were dropped. However, Haiti is hundreds of millions of US dollars in the red as it is. If the emergency loan is going to be partly used for debt repayments that can never be settled in full, then what is its point? I hope Oxfam's campaign calling on the IMF to cancel the Haitian debt brings some pressure to bear.

Will Haiti end up with unpopular, neo-liberal policies imposed upon its people during its recovery? Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine provides the example of a mass privatisation 'experiment' in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as evidence of vultures being ready to tuck in when people are reeling in shock after a crisis. I hope that she is proven wrong in Haiti's case, the people in that country have already suffered too much turmoil, even before this earthquake.

A Living Pension IS Achievable

Plaid has recently announced our first policy for the UK General Election. We want to raise the basic state pension to the level of the current pension credit and make it universal for all OAPs. At a stroke, this would lift thousands of pensioners out of poverty in Wales and enable them to adequately heat their homes as well as eat properly. Not too much to ask in one of the richest economies in the world, is it? With winter deaths increasing last year by 74% in Wales, something clearly has to be done to help older people with rising fuel bills.

Our political rivals have scoffed at these measures, bleating about the cost of introducing a basic decent standard of living for pensioners. All three London-based parties are competing to see who can introduce the deepest cuts to the public sector to tackle the budget deficit.

Plaid rejects the widely peddled notion that pensioners have to suffer and public sector jobs have to be sacrificed in order to balance the books after the massive bank bail-out. Why should the most vulnerable and lowest paid be punished for the greed culture of the wealthiest amongst us?

As part of our policy, we explained how the scrapping of socially useless projects such as Trident and the watered-down ID card policy would more than cover the costs of rolling out the pension in the first phase for those aged 80 and over.

In time, a living pension could be rolled out to all those aged 65 and over if the UK Government was to increase the tax on those who can afford to pay more. Compass recently identified £50 billion worth of savings, taking into account the scrapping of Trident and the ID card system and by clamping down on tax havens, non-doms and introducing a 50% tax rate for those earning over £100,000.

With some analysts predicting a hung-parliament, Plaid’s representation in the House of Commons could provide crucial in determining who takes power. Our MPs have a reputation for punching above their weight and representing the interests of their constituents without having to acquiesce to a London-based party machine. Our pensions policy also lets people know that there is an alternative to the cuts-based agenda of the big three UK political parties - there are some candidates out there who will speak up for some of our most vulnerable people.

Bragging Rights

I’ve long been an admirer of the singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. For decades he has been one of the leading lights of a diminishing pool of politically aware artists. His tour of former colliery towns and valleys last year on the 25th anniversary of the miners’ strike proved he has not forgotten his roots and there is still fire in his belly after decades of performing.

This month he underlined his 'working class hero' status when he started a campaign to strike back at the bankers. Not content with accepting billions of pounds of taypayers’ money after their risky and greed-driven course inevitably crashed them upon the rocks, they are now rewarding themselves with bumper bonuses. News that RBS, which is 84% tax-payer owned, want to issue £1.5 billion at the end of the financial year is one of the finest examples of vulgarity and shamelessness in recent years. Their Chief Executive, Stephen Hester, could earn a staggering £10 million over three years taking into account bonus related pay. Not bad work for being at the helm of a bomb proof, Government-backed organisation. Even his own mother thinks he is overpaid.

Most people will have been left with a bad taste in their mouth by the antics of these greedy bankers. We are powerless to do anything about it. Never one to lie down and accept an injustice, Bragg has taken matters in his own hands by threatening to withhold his taxes if the bonuses are paid.

Bragg wrote on the Facebook group NoBonus4RBS.“I believe that the government have their priorities wrong," "I have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, to inform him that I am no longer prepared to fund the excessive bonuses of RBS investment bankers. Unless he acts to limit them to £25,000, I shall be withholding my tax payment on January 31.”

I don't know what it will take before the UK government finally clamps down on the banks. There's no more money in reserves to fund another bail out. The crackdown announced by President Obama this week is a step in the right direction because banks clearly cannot be trusted to ruin their own affairs again. But why has it taken so long? And is it a coincidence that this harder line approach was unveiled the same week as the Democrats lost Massachusetts and therefore their influence in the Senate?

We need a Peoples' Bank to bring about a much-needed sea change in our financial system. We need a not-for profit bank we can trust in, owned by the people for the people, not banks which line the pockets of the greedy, who know they can take big risks with our money because there'll be no repercussions.

From the record: Cuts

From the Assembly's Record of Proceedings, 20th January 2010, questions to Jane hutt, minister for Business and Budget

Leanne Wood: I have recently been in contact with the chancellor of the University of Glamorgan, who has expressed concerns about funding. We are aware that it has had to make efficiency savings in this year’s budget, and I have been informed that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales has asked it to identify savings of a further 10 per cent for the financial year 2011-12. There are fears that staff could be made redundant if cuts of this magnitude go ahead.

Furthermore, I met with representatives of the National Probation Service recently and there is to be a potential 20 per cent cut in the probation service’s budget over the next three years. Although I accept that the probation service is not a devolved matter, this cut will have an impact on many people in our communities in Wales. Rather than risk reducing such vital services to breaking point, will you agree to make the case as forcefully as possible to the Chancellor for the scrapping of Trident and identity cards, because they are socially useless and expensive projects that the public sector cannot afford at this time?

From the Record - Bosch

Leanne Wood: Thank you for your statement on these job losses, Deputy First Minister. There is no doubt that this news is a severe blow to people living in the communities around Llantrisant and the surrounding Valleys. In the Rhondda where I live, everyone knows someone that is connected with Bosch in one way or another. For far too many communities, this news is nothing short of a disaster. Will you confirm, again, that the Assembly Government has left no stone unturned in trying to persuade Bosch to continue production at the site?

Will you also confirm that, regardless of what was offered to the company, the reality is that Bosch decided to close the plant and relocate to Hungary? How confident are you that everything possible was done to try to persuade the company to stay? What steps can be taken to ensure that the site is utilised in the future for green manufacturing?

There is little that the Welsh Assembly Government can do about the downturn in the global automotive industry, and as many Members have said, this closure will create big ripples. Many people are reliant upon car-part firms which have supplied Bosch or other car-related manufacturers. The future of some of those firms now looks uncertain.

Bosch was established at that site with millions of pounds from the Welsh Development Agency. It was part of the failed inward investment strategy which was designed to provide cash incentives for firms to set up in areas which had been decimated by the pit closures that were carried out by the last Conservative Government. The news confirms that a strategy which competed on the basis of low wages could never be a success. Therefore, can you give an assurance that everything will be done to ensure that jobs are available for all those affected by the Bosch decision?

Furthermore, will you give an assurance that never again will firms be offered taxpayers’ cash on the basis of cheap labour? After all, the firms will only up sticks as soon as the incentives run out and when labour becomes cheaper elsewhere.

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Very bad news for Rhondda Cynon Taf - Bosch to close

900 jobs will be lost when Bosch near Talbot Green closes next year.
Disaster.

From the record - Copenhagen

Leanne Wood: Thank you for your statement Minister, and I welcome, in particular, your remarks that, regardless of the fact that no binding agreement was reached, the scientific imperative remains and that the lack of agreement should not deflect us from being as ambitious as possible.

I can see your argument for not focusing on what has not been agreed, but I am sure that you share my bitter disappointment at the eventual outcome of the Copenhagen summit. Many world leaders reacted angrily to the private agreement, which they saw as a stitch-up between the heads of countries that are among the greatest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.

The problem with the failure to reach agreement at Copenhagen is that we do not have time to lose. The climate science tells us—I know that you are well aware of this—that we must act quickly if we are to avoid catastrophic and irreversible climate change. Some islands are already disappearing underwater, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing rapid desertification, forcing people to move, which risks creating conflict over access to resources.

Some world leaders are trying hard to manage these drastic changes, while others preside over a private stitch-up. I am sure that you will agree that the anger over the failure of Copenhagen is understandable and justified. One of the world leaders angered by the failure of Copenhagen is Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia. He denounced industrialised countries for pledging only £10 billion a year to help countries to meet the challenges of climate change while spending trillions to fight unnecessary wars. As a result, Evo Morales is organising an alternative climate conference in April. Would you be prepared to look at what Evo Morales has proposed for this alternative conference, and would you be open to the idea of ensuring that Wales is represented at such an event?

Finally, I have a question about the funding that has been announced to support the coffee planters in the Mbale region of Uganda. I would like assurances from you that none of the money that is to go to what sounds like a worthwhile project will be of any benefit to the Ugandan Government, which is currently in the process of trying to legislate to introduce the death penalty for people who are caught for just being gay. I am sure that that is abhorrent to all of us in the Assembly, so I would be grateful for your assurances on that matter.

Tory hypocrisy?

I don't often read Nick Bourne's blog, but my attention has been drawn to a recent post. Among countless empty aspirations, the Tory leader in the Assembly talks of “the need to invest in new rail lines and to enhance the existing rail services that we have.”

History has shown that when the Tories are in power, public services are cut dramatically in order to try to reduce the size of the state. Of course, its the poorest who are made to bear the brunt. Putting aside the cold hearted policies of the various Tory governments pre-1997, we don’t have to look too far to see how hollow Bourne’s words are.

At the Tory party conference in October of last year, Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers cast doubts on plans to electrify the main line between London and Swansea, stating it was not possible to give a “cast iron guarantee”. More generally, the Tories have also stated their intention to slash and burn the public purse to quickly reduce the borrowing deficit caused by the banking crisis.

Only 33% of the UK's rail network is electrified compared to 100% in Switzerland, 73% in the Netherlands and 57% in Germany. Wales is a select member of an unenviable club of European nations, along with Albania and Moldova, not to possess a single mile of electrified railway. This was why Plaid Cymru, and Ieuan Wyn Jones specifically pressed hard when we found out that a draft of the scheme proposed leaving out the Wales section of the network by terminating the electrification at Bristol.

Our efforts may come to nothing if, as expected, the Tories win power in London power in May. Wales is crying out for a modern rail service, and government wants people to reduce car usage. We can't let the Tories block Wales' rail electrification.

Muslims4Plaid on Islam4UK

There is a lot of anger over the proposed Islam4UK march in Wootton Bassett. The following is a statement issued by Muslims4Plaid:

"Muslims for Plaid wishes to place on record its oppposition to the proposed demonstration by the group known as Islam4UK in Wootton Bassett. In addition, Muslims for Plaid is opposed to any counter demonstration by far right groups including the BNP and the English Defence League. It is our firm belief that the wishes of the people of Wooton Bassett to continue receiving the bodies of British serviceman with quiet dignity should be respected. It would be insensitive, inappropriate and wrong for any organisation of any political hue to hijack the practice of the good people of Wootton Bassett for their own ends. Nevertherless, the call for a debate on the on-going war in Afghanistan is legitimate and Muslims for Plaid would support such a debate at a more appropriate time and place.

Muslims for Plaid observes with dismay the way the British media continue to give the oxygen of publicity to Islam4UK and its leader Anjem Choudhury. This tiny group has negligible support amongst the Muslim communities in the UK yet is presented as though it is genuinely representative of a large section of Muslim public opinion. Muslims for Plaid accepts its responsibilty in contributing to the fight against the cancer of extremism and hopes that the television and print media will seek to ensure balance and proportion in its coverage of this and similar issues."

Update: Islam4UK have called off their planned march in Wootton Bassett

Another week of closed schools?

With more snow falling as I write, it looks likely that many schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf will be closed again tomorrow. Heavy snow is forecast for Tuesday, which could mean the schools will be closed for the week. In many areas last week, the children returned to school from their Christmas holidays on Tuesday to be sent home at lunchtime, with no school on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Too many people are losing pay or holidays when they have to take a day off to look after the kids. Even in the public sector, I am aware of health workers who have been told that they can only claim one day off for the snow, and any more days have to be taken as unpaid leave. Many workers in the private sector don't even get one day. When most people's outgoings match their income, losing money like this can create huge problems.

This situation follows on from schools closing for a week last February. Which begs the question - where are the contingency plans? Why can't schools open, with teachers being asked to turn up to their nearest school and children asked to bring in packed-lunches? Normal lessons may not be possible, but the day could be filled with music, art, drama and phyiscal activities for those kids whose parents have to get to work. Community centres could be used for the same purpose if for some reason schools are out of bounds.

I've written to the Education Minister at the Assembly to ask what contingency plans were in place to avoid the disruption that has been caused by school closures, and I've suggested that guidance is issued to councils and schools to ensure they think about providing alternative child-care for children, to prevent people having to lose pay and much-cherished holdidays.

If we get the same weather next year, there really will be no excuse for school closures on the scale we have seen of late.

You will celebrate the monarchy

I don't know anyone who will scoff at the offer of an extra bank holiday, especially when it'll lengthen Whitsun weekend. After all, UK workers are at the bottom of the league when it comes to public holidays, with only 8 per year. The European average is 11, the USA has 13, as does Austria. In Wales, all four parties represented in the Assembly have been united in calling for St. David's Day to be made a public holiday. Of course, the Assembly doesn't have the power to make it happen, and Westminster has shown no appetite to legislate on our behalf. Yet they are more than happy to pass the legislation for this bank holiday.

The TUC have said that we should have an extra three annual public holidays to bring workers in the UK in line with their counterparts in the rest of Europe.

Free holidays are good, no matter what they are for. But it will be interesting to see how many people take part in the government organised "nationwide (sic) series of celebrations." Some groups are already gearing up to counter what will undoubtedly be an expensive, tax-payer funded, heavily promoted "celebration" of the monarchy.

Meanwhile, radio DJ Tom Binns was sacked from his job after referring to Mrs Windsor's Christmas day speech as "bor-ing", live on air. A facebook group has been set up calling for Birmingham based radio station BRBM to reinstate him, and for people to send complaints to OFCOM.

...you will not oppose the monarchy, you will celebrate the monarchy...

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The number is 0800 33 66 99

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Food security

The Westminster government has today announced it's twenty year food strategy. Finally, there is recognition that we will not be able to take food for granted in the future. Since government adviser Professor John Beddington predicted a climate change-induced "perfect storm" of food shortages, water scarcity and insufficient energy resources, people have been waiting to hear how the government plans to respond.

One of the best ways to prepare ourselves for rocketing food and oil prices, which many scientists believe we will see in the near future as a result of peak oil, is to enable as many people as possible to grow their own food. There are long waiting lists for allotments in all areas of Wales. Whatever demand is there should be encouraged.

I welcome any moves to increase the land available for food production, and I know that Plaid's Rural Affairs Minister in Wales, Elin Jones is looking at ways to increase the availability of land for allotments and community gardens. I also welcome today's indications from Westminster that the government also wants less food waste, more food bought in season and for people to buy sustainably-farmed food. It would be useful to have tight timescales and targets for these aspirations, but we also need to go much further and faster in terms of reducing food imports and tackling a wasteful food/supermarket culture. This strategy is a good start, but food price problems could hit us quickly and without warning, as some countries saw in 2008 with horrendous consequences. Surely it makes sense for governments to help and enable communities on as small a scale as possible to build up their own resiliance to cope with a potential food or fuel crisis.