Daily Archives: 2 February 2024

Left Foot Forward

Spread the love

A few articles from Left Foot Forward, this blog’s favourite blog

This is how we can start to curb fat-cattery and low pay

Inequitable distribution of income has severe consequences.

The Post Office scandal has once again exposed the shortcomings of performance related pay for company directors. The company had remuneration committees staffed by hand-picked obedient non-executive directors. None opposed the rewards accruing from wrongful prosecution of more than 900 subpostmasters and dutifully rewarded directors. Paula Vennells, chief executive from 2012-2019 picked up bonuses of £2.2m for wrecking lives.

Performance related pay has boosted the remuneration of directors even when performance is negative, as exemplified by the 2007-08 financial crash, collapse of Carillion, BHS, London Capital and Finance, Patisserie Valerie, Debenhams and others.

The bottom line is a key feature of most performance related remuneration schemes. The median tenure of a FTSE100 CEO is about 3.75 years and temptation is to grab higher pay in the shortest possible time. Profits can be boosted by depressing wages, dodging taxes, postponing repair and maintenance; cutting investment and spending on innovation; and by using novel accounting practices. Directors are rewarded for such tactics as shareholders chase short-term returns. Little attention is paid to the long-term damage and social cohesion.

Workers invest their brain, brawn and life in companies but have become just another disposable commodity. In the words of former US President Abraham Lincoln: “Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

…

Inequitable distribution of income has severe consequences. Millions struggle to have access to good food, housing, education, pension and other essentials. Inequalities are a threat to democracy as the rich are able to control media, buy lobbyists and fund political parties to advance their interests, to the exclusion of the vast majority of the people.

…

Demands for public ownership as water bills set to rise above inflation

Feargal Sharkey exposes injustice of water bill rise in a single tweet

Question Time audience slams government’s position on Gaza ceasefire

“I have never been more upset and disappointed in our current government”

…

“I think a ceasefire is crucial,” one audience member said, adding: “What I also think is crucial is that the UK government is held to account for their role in licensing arms to Israel at the moment.” Her contribution was met with applause from the rest of the audience.

Another member of the audience echoed her comments, saying: “I have never been more upset and disappointed in our current government, with how they have dealt with the situation.”

He then went on to say: “Whether it’s the Conservative Party, and even the Labour Party – it’s an absolute disgrace. How many lives need to be lost? We have been 25-30,000 Gazan lives, people who have done nothing wrong. I completely echo what you say. Israel do have a right to defend themselves – absolute. But at the risk – not at the risk – the death, murder of 25-30,000 people who have done nothing wrong, I can’t understand this.”

…

Bombshell poll reveals the extent to which the public think Brexit has been a failure

Four years on after Britain left the European Union, a damning new poll shows just how disillusioned the public are with Brexit, with the majority believing it to be a failure.

The poll, carried out by Ipsos for the Evening Standard, found that 57% believe Brexit has been more of a failure than success, while only 13% say that it has been a success.

Younger adults, Londoners, and graduates are more likely to say that Brexit has been a failure.

A breakdown of the survey results showed that 70% of 18 to 34-year-olds think Brexit has been more of a failure, as do 64% of 35-54s, compared to 38% of those aged 65+.

…

Many of the promises made by Brexiteers have failed to materialise, including grater control of borders, free trade deals with America and of course who could forget the promise to invest £350 million more a week into the NHS after Brexit.

…

Continue ReadingLeft Foot Forward

Morning Star: Water price hikes: we need a mass movement for public ownership, Attack on free speech and more

Spread the love

Editorials and a few articles from The Morning Star

Morning Star: Water price hikes: we need a mass movement for public ownership

Water bills from Southern Water

Water price hikes: we need a mass movement for public ownership

UNITE’S Sharon Graham calls the water industry “a symbol of the failure of privatisation writ large.”

She is right. The only reaction to water bosses’ announcement that they will raise prices above inflation from April should be a mass campaign for renationalisation now.

Water suppliers claim they need to raise bills because they are planning big investments to cut down on leaks. How dare they?

Since privatisation these crooks have paid out over £70 billion in dividends to shareholders, loaded the sector — debt-free when privatised — with over £50bn in debt and raised bills by over 40 per cent.

While milking the system for everything it’s worth they have neglected basic maintenance and repairs. In London and the south-east alone, water regulator Ofwat calculated last year that 600 million litres, equivalent to 270 Olympic swimming pools, are leaked from pipes every single day.

They have behaved with utter contempt for the environment, discharging untreated sewage into our waterways thousands of times. They have continued to pay executives millions even when fined for their illegal ecological vandalism.

…

Morning Star: Attack on free speech

THE director of public prosecutions is appealing to the Supreme Court to overturn the acquittal of two peaceful protesters for insulting Iain Duncan Smith.

Ruth Wood and Radical Haslam were charged over an incident in Manchester during the October 2021 Conservative Party conference at which both called the former work and pensions secretary “Tory scum” and Ms Wood added “F*** off out of Manchester.”

That their case even reached the High Court should have set alarm bells ringing over the creeping restriction of free speech in Britain. That court’s not guilty verdict was welcome, though its consideration of their motives for insulting Mr Duncan Smith was surely unnecessary: rudeness to a politician should not be considered criminal, end of.

…

MPs reveal the human cost of the Bibby Stockholm, as taxpayers pick up extra £2.6bn bill

A view of the Bibby Stockholm migrant accommodation barge following the death of an asylum seeker on board, December 12, 2023

THE tragic human cost of the Bibby Stockholm barge was revealed by MPs today as the Tories’ overspend on asylum accommodation landed taxpayers with an extra £2.6 billion bill.

Dame Diana Johnson said asylum-seekers were facing “claustrophobic” conditions that could amount to a breach of human rights after the home affairs select committee visited the Portland vessel.

The committee chairwoman wrote to illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson to set out serious concerns about the wellbeing of asylum-seekers on the barge.

She said it was “disheartened to see some of the living conditions on the Bibby Stockholm” after finding “many individuals having to share small, cramped cabins (originally designed for one person), often with people (up to six) they do not know (some of whom spoke a different language to them).”

“These crowded conditions were clearly contributing to a decline in mental health for some of the residents, and they could amount to violations of the human rights of asylum-seekers,” she added.

The committee complained of “discrepancies” between the accounts of officials and asylum-seekers themselves, noting MPs received “inconsistent” information regarding access to GP services for those on board.

…

Former Labour mayor launches independent election campaign with scathing attack on party

Mayor of North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, speaking at the Convention of the North, January 25, 2023

AN ELECTED Labour mayor who was barred by the party from standing in May’s mayoral election has launched his election campaign standing as an independent.

North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll attacked Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in a packed community hall in Sunderland on Thursday night asking: “What if – it’s a general election year – Keir Starmer says, ‘here’s my 10 pledges’ – would you trust him to keep them?”

He criticised Labour MPs and other politicians who changed their positions each time a policy was altered by the leadership.

“The day I left the Labour Party was the day Labour said they would adopt the Conservative policy of the two-child benefit cap — a policy that plunged 250,000 kids into poverty at a stroke,” he said.

“And all those Labour frontbenchers – and Labour mayoral candidates – who’d said that policy was ‘heinous’ and ‘cruel’ changed their tune, and said, ‘ah, well, you know, public finances,’ and meekly swallowed the party line that it’s OK to keep children in poverty.

…

Continue ReadingMorning Star: Water price hikes: we need a mass movement for public ownership, Attack on free speech and more

Tory Lord’s Firm Awarded New North Sea Oil and Gas Licences

Spread the love

Original article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.

Former Conservative Treasurer Lord Michael Spencer. Credit: LBC / YouTube

Michael Spencer, who has donated millions to the Conservative Party, is the largest shareholder in North Sea exploration firm Deltic Energy.

A company whose largest shareholder is a former Conservative treasurer and major party donor has been awarded two new North Sea exploration licences, DeSmog can reveal.

It was announced on Wednesday (31 January) that Deltic Energy had been awarded the new licences in the latest North Sea oil and gas licensing round. 

Conservative peer Michael Spencer currently holds an 18.8 percent (£4.5 million) stake in the firm.

Spencer has donated over £6 million to the Conservative Party since 2005 and was appointed to the Lords by Boris Johnon in September 2020. The billionaire financier is a former party treasurer and raised an estimated £70 million for the Tories between 2006 and 2010. He currently serves as a director of the Conservative Party Foundation – the party’s multi-million pound endowment fund, created under his watch in 2009 to manage “legacy funds to support the long-term finance” of the party.

The Guardian and the Good Law Project also revealed today that EnQuest Heather, a subsidiary of EnQuest,` had been awarded a new oil and gas licence. EnQuest Chief Executive Officer Amjad Bseisu has donated nearly £500,000 to the Conservative Party in the last decade and has lobbied to maximise oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

DeSmog revealed in May 2023 that EnQuest had been awarded licences to explore carbon dioxide storage under the North Sea. 

Jolyon Maugham, executive director of the Good Law Project told DeSmog that: “The Electoral Commission records these contributions as donations to the Conservative Party. But, given the extraordinary correlation between donations to the Tories and valuable awards from the government, I wonder whether it would be more accurate to brand them as investments?”

Both personally and through his family office IPGL, Spencer has donated more than £100,000 to the Conservative Party and its candidates since Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022. 

Sunak has been advocating forcefully for North Sea oil and gas exploration in recent months, saying that the UK plans to “max out” the UK’s reserves. In addition to its two new licences, Deltic currently has interests in five licences covering nine North Sea areas, known as blocks. New licences were also awarded this week to fossil fuel giants Shell and Equinor.

“Rishi Sunak’s obsession with doling out new North Sea licences now starts to make some sense,” Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, told DeSmog. “It’s clear there is no public benefit from the policy… But new fields could make a tidy little profit for a handful of oil and gas executives and their shareholders, including Conservative Party donors.”

Through the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, passed by MPs last week, the government is attempting to bind future administrations to annual North Sea oil and gas licensing rounds.

This is despite the International Energy Agency stating that new fossil fuel exploration is “incompatible” with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global heating to 1.5C. 

This week, the Climate Change Committee – the independent body that advises the government on its net zero policies – warned that mixed messages, including new fossil fuel projects, have damaged the UK’s international climate standing.

Spencer told DeSmog that: “I believe it is totally in the best interest of the UK to replace imported oil and gas by energy extracted from our own North Sea.”

North Sea gas carries higher emissions than imports from Norway, while there is no guarantee that oil and gas extracted under the new licences will be used to supply the UK, given that it is mined by private companies that sell it on the open international market. 

Khan added that: “new drilling won’t make any difference to our bills, which ministers have admitted; it won’t boost energy security in that the UK has burned most of its gas; and it won’t provide a secure future for the workforce, which has halved in the past decade despite hundreds of licences being issued.

“The prime minister now needs to come clean with the public on any discussions he’s had with Spencer, or any of his party’s other oil and gas donors,” Khan said. “Sunak cannot continue to privilege the short term interests of a few, rich oil execs over the needs of millions of ordinary people who are struggling to afford to heat their homes.”

North Sea licences are awarded by the North Sea Transition Authority, a non-departmental public body owned and funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. There is no evidence that Deltic or Spencer used political contacts to secure the licences.

According to the NSTA, licensees have to “meet certain financial criteria” and meet the adequate “technical capability”, but there is no published guidance on avoiding conflicts of interest.

The NTSA, Deltic and EnQuest declined to comment on the record. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero has been approached for comment.  

Spencer and Deltic

Spencer has a number of oil and gas interests. His House of Lords register of interests shows that he has a stake in Pantheon Resources, a UK company exploring for oil in Alaska, and Cluff Energy Africa, described as an “early stage oil prospecting company seeking licences in Africa (Angola and Sierra Leone)”.

Until December last year, Spencer also held shares in Petrofac, an oilfield services firm heavily involved in the North Sea, including the controversial Cambo project.

Spencer has publicly advocated for the fossil fuel industry. He told LBC’s Nick Ferrari last September that the UK “sadly has opposed further investment in North Sea oil and gas”. Spencer used the interview to praise then Prime Minister Liz Truss for opposing windfall taxes on the sector, calling them “not Tory policy” and “not pro-business”. He has also expressed support for the controversial policy of fracking for shale gas.

Spencer is the chair of the Centre for Policy Studies, an influential Conservative think tank whose director was the co-author of the 2019 Tory manifesto. A number of fellow board members have financial interests in oil and gas firms. 

The Conservatives received £3.5 million from polluters, fossil fuel interests, and climate deniers in 2022, and took over £400,000 from individuals and companies in the fossil fuel industry in 2020 and 2021 as the government weighed up decisions on North Sea oil and gas licences.

Original article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog. ENDS

Rishi Sunak offers huge fossil fuel subsidies to develop fossil fuel extraction in UK.
Rishi Sunak offers huge fossil fuel subsidies to develop fossil fuel extraction in UK.

‘Dishing out licences to climate criminals’

New UK oil and gas exploration licences approved in the North Sea

Continue ReadingTory Lord’s Firm Awarded New North Sea Oil and Gas Licences

Judge throws out case against Greta Thunberg and other London protesters

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/02/judge-throws-out-case-against-greta-thunberg-and-other-london-protesters

Greta Thunberg, left, arriving at court for the second day of the trial. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Court rules not enough evidence provided to prove defendants failed to comply with section 14 order at anti-fossil fuel rally

Outside court in London, Greta Thunberg says "We must remember who the real enemy is ... who our laws are meant to protect." Quoted from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68166341
Outside court in London, Greta Thunberg says “We must remember who the real enemy is … who our laws are meant to protect.” Quoted from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68166341

Greta Thunberg and four others charged with public order offences over a protest in London have been cleared after a judge ruled that they had no case to answer.

Thunberg was charged alongside Christofer Kebbon, Joshua James Unwin, Jeff Rice and Peter Barker with “failing to comply with a condition imposed under section 14 of the Public Order Act”.

They had been taking part in a protest outside the InterContinental hotel in Mayfair, the venue for the Energy Intelligence Forum (EIF), a fossil fuel industry summit attended by corporate executives and government ministers.

All were arrested after the senior officer at the scene enacted the section 14 order to impose conditions on the protest, which had blocked access to and from the hotel for guests and EIF delegates.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/02/judge-throws-out-case-against-greta-thunberg-and-other-london-protesters

Continue ReadingJudge throws out case against Greta Thunberg and other London protesters