Author: dizzy

  • ‘Stop Starmer’ initiative launches at London’s Conway Hall

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    Original article republished from the Skwawkbox.

    Campaign group warning of the dangers of red Tory government and to inform the public about Starmer’s authoritarianism and ‘murky’ past holds launch event featuring leading left speakers

    Image rights: S Walker

    A campaign to inform the public about the dangers of a red Tory ‘Labour’ government launched in London today, with a range of leading left speakers. Crispin Flintoff, the former Labour fundraiser expelled by the party in Starmer’s cowardly purge of the left after sharing, as constituency party secretary, the resignation letter of the group’s chair, told Skwawkbox that the campaign’s aims are:

    to educate people about how dangerous a Starmer government would be. The media are unwilling to probe into Starmer’s murky past, expose his dishonesty or report on his alarming authoritarianism.

    A healthy democracy requires an enlightened population and Trilateral Starmer is firmly opposed to that.

    Ours is a grassroots campaign to get the word out via street stalls, leaflets, tailored social media posts and publicity stunts that emulate Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action. We see this as the only way to get our message out there. If the media pick up on it that would be a bonus.

    A Starmer government would be just as bad – or worse – than a Tory government.

    The event, which saw London’s Conway Hall full of activists outraged by Keir Starmer’s eager betrayal of the false promises he made to con Labour members into selecting him as party leader, featured:

    • former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein
    • homelessness campaigner Andrea Gilbert
    • tax and economics expert Richard Murphy
    • Sheila Day
    • DPAC’s Ellen Clifford
    • Liverpool’ Audrey White, who famously gave Starmer a dose of uncomfortable truth during his sneak visit to the city
    • former Labour and Respect MP George Galloway
    • ‘free Assange’ campaigner Deepa Driver
    • Palestine Action leader Huda Ammori
    • purged Labour member and star of ‘The Labour Files’ Becky Massey
    • NHS campaigner Dr Bob Gill
    • Jewish former party member Frances Rifkin
    • investigator Ben Timberley
    • Eric Jarvis and Phil Davison of OCISA, the group aiming to fight Starmer in his London seat at the next election
    • Colin Hendrie

    Video messages were sent by former miner John Dunn, former union leader Tosh McDonald, ex-Labour MP Chris Williamson, forensic author and journalist Asa Winstanley and Carel Buxton that time did not allow to be shown, but these will be published in due course.

    The event has already been targeted by apparent pal of the security services Paul Mason, so it’s doing something right.

    There is, of course, no functional difference – at least for the better – between ‘long-time servant of the security state’ and compulsive promise-breaker Starmer’s red-Toryism and the blue version.

    Original article republished from the Skwawkbox.

  • Academics call on Braverman to end lawyer attacks

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    https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/academics-call-on-braverman-to-end-lawyer-attacks/5117156.article

    Image of Fascists Mussolini and Hitler
    Image of Fascists Mussolini and Hitler

    Over 140 academic lawyers have signed an open letter to home secretary Suella Braverman calling for an end to public criticism of lawyers.

    It comes after media coverage criticising and attacking a Leigh Day partner, Jacqueline McKenzie, and other immigration practitioners.

    The letter addressed to the home secretary expressed ‘solidarity’ with McKenzie and accused members of the government of ‘attacking lawyers for advising and representing their clients.

    ‘It is shocking that the Conservative Party has compiled a “dossier” on Ms Jacqueline McKenzie, a reputable and effective solicitor, and that a media outlet obtained a copy and published the contents,’ the letter reads. ‘We are additionally concerned because Ms McKenzie is a Black woman. Those responsible must have known that inviting negative media attention would expose her to misogynistic and racist threats from some members of the public.’

    …

    Image quoting Suella 'Sue'Ellen' Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.
    Image quoting Suella ‘Sue’Ellen’ Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.

    https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/academics-call-on-braverman-to-end-lawyer-attacks/5117156.article

  • Fossil fuels being subsidised at rate of $13m a minute, says IMF

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    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-imf-report-climate-crisis-oil-gas-coal

    Oil, gas and coal benefited from $7tn in support in 2022 despite being primary cause of climate crisis

    Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES
    Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES

    Fossil fuels benefited from record subsidies of $13m (£10.3m) a minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, despite being the primary cause of the climate crisis.

    The IMF analysis found the total subsidies for oil, gas and coal in 2022 were $7tn (£5.5tn). That is equivalent to 7% of global GDP and almost double what the world spends on education. Countries have pledged to phase out subsidies for years to ensure the price of fossil fuels reflects their true environmental costs, but have achieved little to date.

    Explicit subsidies, which cut the price of fuels for consumers, doubled in 2022 as countries responded to the higher energy prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Rich households benefited far more from these than poor ones, the IMF said. Implicit subsidies, which represent the “enormous” costs of the damage caused by fossil fuels through climate change and air pollution, made up 80% of the total.

    Ending the subsidies should be the centrepiece of climate action, the IMF said, and would put the world on track to restrict global heating to below 2C, as well as preventing 1.6 million air pollution deaths a year and increasing government revenues by trillions of dollars. The researchers acknowledged that subsidy reform was politically difficult, but said carefully designed policies that supported poorer households could work, especially if coordinated internationally.

    …

    environment/2023/aug/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-imf-report-climate-crisis-oil-gas-coal

  • Fossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion

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    https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-surged-to-record-7-trillion

    Scaling back subsidies would reduce air pollution, generate revenue, and make a major contribution to slowing climate change

    Coal loader P4393. Part of the coal loading facility at Kooragang Island, NSW Australia. Image by eyeweed, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
    Coal loader P4393. Part of the coal loading facility at Kooragang Island, NSW Australia. Image by eyeweed, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

    Fossil-fuel subsidies surged to a record $7 trillion last year as governments supported consumers and businesses during the global spike in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic recovery from the pandemic.

    As the world struggles to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and parts of Asia, Europe and the United States swelter in extreme heat, subsidies for oil, coal and natural gas are costing the equivalent of 7.1 percent of global gross domestic product. That’s more than governments spend annually on education (4.3 percent of global income) and about two thirds of what they spend on healthcare (10.9 percent).

    Our findings come as the World Meteorological Organization says July was the hottest month on record, underscoring the urgent need to curb human-induced climate change.

    As the Chart of the Week shows, fossil-fuel subsidies rose by $2 trillion over the past two years as explicit subsidies (undercharging for supply costs) more than doubled to $1.3 trillion. That’s according to our new paper, which provides updated estimates across 170 countries of explicit and implicit subsidies (undercharging for environmental costs and forgone consumption taxes). Download detailed data for different countries and fuels here.

    …

    If governments removed explicit subsidies and imposed corrective taxes, fuel prices would increase. This would lead firms and households to consider environmental costs when making consumption and investment decisions. The result would be cutting global carbon-dioxide emissions significantly, cleaner air, less lung and heart disease, and more fiscal space for governments.

    We estimate that scrapping explicit and implicit fossil-fuel subsidies would prevent 1.6 million premature deaths annually, raise government revenues by $4.4 trillion, and put emissions on track toward reaching global warming targets. It would also redistribute income as fuel subsidies benefit rich households more than poor ones.

    …

    With global energy prices receding and emissions rising, it’s the right time to phase out explicit and implicit fossil-fuel subsidies, for a healthier and more sustainable planet.

    https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-surged-to-record-7-trillion