While Farepak victims struggle to pay for Christmas and face a bleak winter due to ever-increasing energy costs, HBoS, bankers to Farepak’s parent company EHR, will announce a staggering £5.35B profit for this year.
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne, has attacked the profits as “obscene” and called for the Scottish Executive to end it’s cosy relationship with the bank.
Speaking today after hearing of the 11% rise in profits, the Co-Convenor of Scotland’s fastest growing political party said:
“On Monday night I joined the campaigners form Unfairpak in the cold outside a champagne reception held by the bank’s fat cats. Those hard working families who have lost their Christmas savings will be disgusted to hear of the obscene profits the bank have announced today. Meanwhile Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive cosy up to David Fisher and the Executives of HBoS, by giving them a seat on the Scottish Executive Management Board. I call on HBoS to dig into their profits to compensate the Farepak victims and on the Scottish Executive to ask Fisher to act on this or to resign from his unelected role in the Government of our country.”
Suzy Hall, organiser of the Unfairpak campaign was not surprised at the massive profits:
"This comes as no surprise and I am sure the provisions for losses that HBOS would have made earlier in the summer have been reversed now that they have recouped Farepak savers' money. I wish all those shareholders and senior executives who are receiving massive bonuses a very Merry Christmas"
Tommy Sheridan Uncovers a Shocking Rise in Homelessness
Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan has, through parliamentary questions, (see below) discovered a big rise in homelessness in Scotland. The figures show an overall rise of 38% in the past 5 years. In some local authority areas, such as Local Government Minister Tom McCabe's Constituency in North Lanarkshire, there has been a rise of more than 200%. Even over the last year the overall rise across Scotland was over 4%. Sheridan, Co-Convenor of Scotland's fastest growing political party said:
“These figures are a shocking indictment of the Executives failure on housing. We need a major new programme of council house building or we will see more families become literally roofless. These staggering rises reflect the growing pressure of fuel prices, council tax and interest rate rises. People can no longer afford to live in the private housing market and, when they go to the public sector, they find that there are few homes available. After 5 years of new homelessness law, the numbers of homeless are rising sharply. We can now see that Labours claim to abolish homelessness by 2012 are nothing but a cruel spin with no substance."
Number of applications assessed as homeless in Scotland: 2000-01 to 2005-06
Byrne Calls for Urgent Action on Heroin Prescription Following Five Brutal Murders in Suffolk
Solidarity Co-Convenor Rosemary Byrne has repeated her calls for heroin to be made available on prescription following the brutal murder of five women in Ipswich. Byrne has been campaigning for 3 years on the The Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation (Scotland) bill, that would provide, as part of the proposals, heroin on prescription for addicts.
The bill is currently held up by parliament red tape as the South of Scotland MSP argues for it to be pushed ahead. The horrific killings in Ipswich over the last weeks have highlighted the urgency of such moves and the real benefits that could be delivered. Byrne said:
"The whole country is shocked and saddened by the news of the murders in Ipswich, but we should not be surprised as these women, working in the sex industry to feed their habit, are oppressed not just by their gender, but by their work and by their addiction. It is imperative that the UK government, and the Scottish Executive, act quickly to introduce heroin on prescription as a move that can assist women to get out the chaotic lives and brutality that they face on a daily basis."
Over 100 illegal Prisons Identified Worldwide
Disappearances in the War on Terror have formed an integral part of the Bush administration’s programme of secret detention. This latest report by Cageprisoners: Beyond the Law: The War on Terror’s Secret Network of Global Detentions, highlights the wide-reaching extent of those countries that house these detainees, generally at the behest of the US government. The report shows that out of the 120 prisons identified worldwide, 72 have been, or are currently being used by the US to interrogate detainees.
By piecing together statements of released detainees, work of investigative journalists and human rights organisations, we provide the most definitive and up to date list of prisons used in the ‘War on Terror.’
Commenting on the findings of the report, Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, wrote,
“…Cageprisoners publishes a comprehensive report which reveals the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in a global network of secret places of detention.”
Further, the Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bindman, states that in the policies of the War on Terror,
“This report is directed at one glaringly disgraceful element in that strategy: the detention without charge or trial and the physical abuse of those suspected of involvement in terrorism.”
Rose Gentle yesterday branded British Justice “a waste of time” after the Court of Appeal rejected the call for a public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Iraq. Rose and Beverley Clarke, who both lost their sons in the illegal invasion, had argued that the Government was under an implied obligation to hold an independent inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the "right to life"., but three appeal judges rejected their claims.
While the families said that their fight had not been a waste of time Rose considered that taking it any further in British courts would be. She said:
“"We could try the House of Lords next, but I don't think very much of British justice," she told reporters. It has not been a waste of time - this is my son's life we are talking about."
Solicitor for the families, Phil Shiner, said that the verdict was disappointing to lose but claimed that they won all the legal arguments. The lawyer was prepared to take the case on to the European Court of Human Rights: "I have assured my clients that we can win this case in Strasbourg.”
126 British Service personnel have now lost their lives in Iraq and events will be staged across the country this weekend organised by the Stop the War Coalition. This Saturday anti-war activists will gather in George Square in Glasgow at noon and a torchlight vigil will be held in Edinburgh at 5.30 p.m. on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Leith Walk. www.stopwar.org.uk
Leading Trade Unionists Stand for Solidarity
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement announced our candidates who will lead the campaign on the North East regional list for next year's Holyrood elections.
Solidarity members across the North-East have elected Jim Malone to head our list for the Scottish parliament elections on May 3rd 2007. Jim Malone is the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) Tayside brigade secretary. Jim is one of Dundee's most prominent and outspoken trade unionsts and has a long and distiguished record of fighting in defence of public services, pensions and opposing privatisation.
Jim Malone said: "As a Trade Unionist for over 30 years I have been actively involved in supporting the workers movement in Scotland, campaigning for decent wages, pensions, working conditions and trade union rights. The only party in Scotland at present who can continue to represent Trade Unionists in their struggle to build a socialist alternative is Solidarity. I have joined Solidarity because it is the only political party in Scotland that can represent the aspirations of the trade unionists and working people in Scotland."
Jim McFarlane was selected second on Solidarity's list for the May elections and is the Chair of Dundee City Unison which has 1,000 members in the city.
Jim McFarlane said: "New Labour long ago turned its back on trade unionists and today clearly stands on the side of the rich and for big business. Prime Minister in waiting Gordon Brown has recently announced his intention to freeze the wages of public sector workers from next year. This annoncement comes at a time when the wages of the top bosses have risen by over 80% in the last five years. Solidarity is standing in the elections to offer a real voice for trade unionists and working people."
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement will make an announcement in the new year about our candidates for the Dundee constituency and local government elections.
HBoS Attack Rosemary Byrne as Solidarity Call for Bank Directors to Resign
Solidarity condemns the spin campaign undertaken by HBoS in response to the Farepak scandal, and calls for Jack McConnell to sack HBoS official, David Fisher, from the Executive Management Group.
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has condemned the HBoS campaign as an attempt to divert attention from their role in the collapse of Farepak. Following the motion she put down in Parliament condemning HBoS, Byrne received a letter from an HBoS spin doctor which completely failed to engage with the issues.
HBoS claims to have fulfilled its 'moral obligations' to its 'customers', by which it means the Farepak parent company EHR. This simply confirms that the Bank's moral obligation is first and foremost to make sure it makes as much money out of ordinary customers as possible. According to the HBoS spin doctor, whose job description apparently encompasses spin, lobbying and 'corporate responsibility', HBoS went, 'more than the extra mile' for the Farepak parent company and 'stood behind EHR through a period of significant financial difficulty'.
This confirms the allegations of Suzy Hall, national co-ordinator of Unfairpak, who stated yesterday on Tommy Sheridan's Talk107 radio show that, "It is still my belief that HBOS knew EHR was in financial difficulties and allowed them to continue taking customers' money."
Margaret Thatcher's tribute to General Augusto Pinochet, who died yesterday at the age of 91 from heart failure, is an insult to the thousands who were murdered and tortured under the Chilean dictator's savage regime. Even more of an insult is the fact that he was never brought to justice for his crimes against humanity, despite the many efforts to do so. In light of this, we can and must never forget that the Blair government defied an extradition request from a Spanish court in 1998 and released Pinochet from house arrest, thus spitting on the memory of his victims.
On September 11, 1973, a democratically elected socialist government, led by Salvador Allende, was overturned in a military coup orchestrated and led by Pinochet with the close support of the CIA. Allende was brutally murdered, along with 3,000 of his supporters, and with them died the light of socialism and human progress in that nation for a generation.
Throughout the 17 years of his rule thereafter an estimated 250,000 trade unionists, teachers, progressives and leftists were either imprisoned, tortured, or disappeared.
Pinochet was also a key participant in Operation Condor, a pact of murder he entered into along with the then military dictatorships of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay to target suspected Marxists, socialists, leftists and their supporters in the region.
Thatcher, a repugnant human being and another enemy of the working class, gave succour to the Pinochet dictatorship throughout her years in office, in the form of arms sales and loans with which to purchase those arms.
The brutal nature of this regime was indeed well known to her and to leading members of the British establishment, which is why Solidarity, in response to Pinochet's death and Thatcher's tribute to him, reaffirms its commitment to the cause of socialism around the world. In so doing, we pay tribute to Salvador Allende and to the thousands of Pinochet's victims, all martyrs to the cause of human progress.
The struggle continues.
Solidarity Welcome STUC Education Calls
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has welcomed calls from Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, for a return to old style apprenticeships. Smith has attacked New Labour's flagship education plans for skills academies and instead said that businesses should take on school leavers and pay for them to attend universities and Colleges. Solidarity Co-Convenor Byrne agrees:
"Young people should be paid to go to university while working, as Grahame Smith suggests. The Executive seem to think that teaching young people plumbing at school while making them stay on until 18 will solve the skills problem. But this a nonsense, if businesses want to address the shortage of skills they should be prepared to pay for it. Too many young people have no choice in opportunities, Grahame Smith's ideas would allow school leavers to train, be educated, and earn at the same time."
Smith recently replaced Bill Speirs as General Secretary of the STUC and has described Gordon Brown’s plans for 100 skills academies as "absolute nonsense".
Tommy Turns Down £100,000 from Big Brother
Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan has turned down the opportunity to appear on Celebrity Big Brother despite Channel Four offering a six figure sum. Bosses from the reality TV show had been desperate to land Tommy and had continually upped their offer in recent days but, in the end, The Glasgow Solidarity MSP decided not to take up the offer.
Tommy Sheridan is now of of Britain's most famous political figures after taking on and defeating the Murdoch empire in the courts this year and Channel Four were keen to see him emulate the success of George Galloway MP who appeared last year. He said:
"This is not about snobbery or what I think of the show itself as some of my family and friends enjoy the show when it is on, and I would have no problem making a fool of myself to raise money for charities such as OnePlus and Breast Cancer Care. But, Channel Four could not guarantee that I could talk about the political views of Solidarity on the show without it being edited out so we decided it would be best not to do it this time around. It would have been very difficult to spend three weeks away from my wife Gail and my daughter Gabriel and besides, I don't think I would look good in a lycra leotard."
Media offers continue to come in for Tommy as his reputation and the profile of Solidarity grows, he has already turned down offers of TV and Film work but has recently become a presenter on Talk107 radio where he has the freedom to talk about politics and issues relevant to working class people. On his Sunday morning show "Citizen Tommy" he last week talked about John MacLean, James Connolly, Rosa Parks and other inspirational figures. This week's guest will be Suzy Hall who is one of the leaders of unfairpak, the campaign group set up to seek compensation for Farepak victims. The Solidarity MSP was delighted to have Suzy Hall as his guest:
"“I am honoured that Suzy has agreed to come on the show, she is a fine example of a real working class campaigner and fighter.”
Events Calendar
