Yearly Archives: 2023

Soaring corporate profits were the largest contributor to Europe’s inflation, IMF admits

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/soaring-corporate-profits-were-the-largest-contributor-to-europes-inflation-imf-admits/

It’s not pay rises for ordinary workers that are fuelling the rise in inflation, it is corporate profiteering.

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

We’ve so often heard calls for hard-pressed public sector workers to show ‘pay restraint’, so that we can combat inflation. Indeed, the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, previously provoked outrage when he said workers should not ask for big pay rises.

Even in recent days, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted that he is unlikely to accept the recommendations made by public sector pay bodies for pay rises for public sector workers, including teachers and health service staff, in an attempt to tackle soaring inflation.

Millions of public sector workers who are struggling to make ends meet are expected to just put up with dwindling pay packets. And yet very little is said about the eye-watering corporate profits among those at the top that are driving inflation, with the Tories and right-wing press determined to keep the focus on those at the bottom and hard-pressed families.

Let’s be clear. It’s not pay rises for ordinary workers that are fuelling the rise in inflation, it is corporate profiteering.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/soaring-corporate-profits-were-the-largest-contributor-to-europes-inflation-imf-admits/

Continue ReadingSoaring corporate profits were the largest contributor to Europe’s inflation, IMF admits

UK has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say government’s own advisers

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/28/uk-has-made-no-progress-on-climate-plan-say-governments-own-advisers

Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

UK has lost leadership in climate action and almost all targets are being missed, Committee on Climate Change finds

The government’s plans to hit net zero have been comprehensively criticised in a withering report by its own advisers that warns targets are being missed on nearly every front.

Fewer homes were insulated last year under the government-backed scheme than the year before, despite soaring energy bills and a cost of living crisis. There is little progress on transport emissions, no coherent programme for behaviour change, and still no decision on hydrogen for home heating.

Meanwhile the installation of new wind and solar farms and the upgrading of the electricity grid are still too slow to meet net zero, according to the Committee on Climate Change, which says that the lack of urgency of government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled.

Lord Deben, outgoing chair of the CCC, said the UK had “lost the leadership” on climate action shown at Cop26 in 2021 and done “a number of things” – such as greenlighting a new coal mine and new oil and gasfields in the North Sea – that were “utterly unacceptable”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/28/uk-has-made-no-progress-on-climate-plan-say-governments-own-advisers

Continue ReadingUK has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say government’s own advisers

Time is short for Tories and Labour to show leadership on the climate crisis

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/time-is-short-for-tories-and-labour-to-show-leadership-on-the-climate-crisis

Neither party is showing much appetite for the hard policy decisions that are necessary to cut CO2 emissions – and time is running out

Extinction Rebellion protest, banner reads NO MORE PLANET WRECKING FOSSIL FUELS DEMAND RENEWABLE ENERGY
The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has accused the government of dithering about expanding onshore wind.

The Conservatives are lagging far behind on the climate crisis, that much we know. But the Labour party is not showing the leadership that the country needs on reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned.

Lord Deben, a former Conservative environment secretary, has long been a critic of the government, and recently praised Labour’s stance on opposing new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

But as he presented his final annual progress report as chairman, he warned that Labour was failing to take on vested interests.

“If you lead, then there are bound to be people who would prefer you not to have made those decisions,” Deben said. “And what we are seeing at the moment is not only in government but in opposition, people being unwilling to lead lest some people don’t like the decisions that are being made. But these decisions have to be made, and there will be some people who disagree with them, and it is no good hoping that it will all go away.”

He added: “Right across the political spectrum, there is an unwillingness to lead.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/time-is-short-for-tories-and-labour-to-show-leadership-on-the-climate-crisis

Continue ReadingTime is short for Tories and Labour to show leadership on the climate crisis

Dolphins, whales and seals being failed by UK government policy, MPs say

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/dolphins-whales-seals-failed-uk-government-policy-environment

UK urged to use trade deals as bargaining tool to protect marine mammals

Whales are hunted as part of the traditions of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory in the north Atlantic. Image: Arne via wikimedia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Dolphins and other marine mammals are being failed by the UK government, MPs have said, as they call for ministers not to sign trade deals without considering cetacean welfare.

The UK has poorer protections for dolphins, whales and seals than other countries, a report by the environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) committee has found.

MPs said trade deals were still being struck with countries that hunted whales and dolphins, including Norway, Iceland, Japan and the Faroe Islands, the autonomous Danish territory in the north Atlantic.

Ministers should use their “soft power” to encourage these countries to stop killing marine mammals, the committee recommended, using trade deals to incentivise the halting of the practice.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/dolphins-whales-seals-failed-uk-government-policy-environment

Continue ReadingDolphins, whales and seals being failed by UK government policy, MPs say

Just Stop Oil protest the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) at Total Energies HQ, Canary Wharf

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At around 8am four Just Stop Oil supporters entered the UK headquarters of Total Energies, the French multinational and majority shareholder in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) at Canary Wharf. They sprayed the interior of the lobby with black paint from fire extinguishers. Meanwhile outside, four further supporters sprayed the exterior of the building with orange paint and then sat down to await arrest. They were joined by a group of about 60 students who gave speeches describing the crimes perpetrated against the people of Uganda by the EACOP project. 

Experts have described the project as a ‘carbon bomb’, which would release over 379 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere- 25 times the combined annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania, the host nations. 

One of those taking action at Canary Wharf this morning, Solveig, 27, a Doctor of Philosophy student at the University of Oxford, said:

“I believe that it is my duty to support the brave protesters of Students against EACOP, who are standing up to Total Energies as it destroys the lives of people for profit. The extractive colonialism executed by Total is not only making 100,000 people homeless, but it will exacerbate climate breakdown globally. I wish we could stop these atrocities through peaceful and quiet protest, but we can’t. This is why I have to stand up to Total and push for the de-funding of EACOP.”

In October, a group of over 50 Ugandan university students were brutalised after marching to deliver a petition on the pipeline to the European Union Embassy in Kampala. Nine students were imprisoned and are currently facing trial on a charge of common nuisance.

The pipeline runs 900 miles from a biodiverse national park in Uganda, to a port in Tanzania. The project could lead to the displacement of over 100,000 people and outrage has been sparked at the multitude of human rights abuses being imposed on those in the path of construction. The EACOP pipeline will cut across several ecosystems, including forests, wetlands and rivers, displacing wildlife and destroying vital habitats that support rich biodiversity. The main backers of the multibillion dollar project are Total Energies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

[from a JSO press release]

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil protest the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) at Total Energies HQ, Canary Wharf