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News review

Highlighting a couple of news articles today.

Further evidence of UK involvement in rendition and torture.

UK Uncut initiate legal action against Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC) over letting Goldman Sachs escape millions in tax.

Rendition secrets to be released / Britain / Home – Morning Star

A Kenyan national who has accused MI5 and the FBI of complicity in his rendition and torture won a key legal victory in the British courts this week.

The Court of Appeal ordered that Omar Awadh Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, be allowed to bring his application seeking disclosure from Britain about what it knew of his alleged rendition from Kenya to Uganda in 2010.

Since September 2010, Mr Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, has been held at Luzira high-security prison in Kampala where he faces capital murder charges.

He is accused of involvement in the twin bomb attacks which killed 74 people in Kampala as they watched the 2010 World Cup final.

If found guilty, Mr Omar faces death by hanging.

Mr Omar alleges he was abducted by the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit, bundled into a car and driven to the border crossing at Malaba where he was handed over, hooded and shackled, to Ugandan police.

He says he was then taken to the notorious “Rapid Response Unit” at Kireka, which human rights groups have described as a “torture chamber.”

While at Kireka, he alleges he was repeatedly interrogated over the course of 21 days by two FBI agents and one MI5 agent, was verbally abused, threatened with transfer to Guantanamo Bay, repeatedly pushed, slapped, kicked and punched so hard he suffered kidney damage.

The majority of these assaults were carried out by the FBI agents but they were witnessed and encouraged by the MI5 agent, he claims.

The British government has said it will “neither confirm nor deny” involvement in the ill-treatment or rendition.

On Wednesday the Court of Appeal held that it was at least arguably necessary to Mr Omar’s criminal defence and/or challenge in the Constitutional Court of Uganda for Britain to disclose to him any information it holds in relation to his alleged rendition.

Solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers Tessa Gregory, representing Omar, said: “This case involves extremely serious allegations of UK complicity in the unlawful rendition, treatment and prosecution of our client, Omar Awadh Omar.

“In light of the court’s decision today, the government can no longer sensibly maintain its policy of neither confirming nor denying its involvement in Omar’s case.”

BBC News – Goldman Sachs tax deal faces UK legal challenge

UK Uncut has begun legal proceedings to force banking giant Goldman Sachs to pay more to the UK tax authorities.

The pressure group requested a judicial review into a decision by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that let the bank off paying interest on its tax bill.

The shortfall, which HMRC told MPs this week was an error, was estimated by the National Audit Office to be £5m-8m.

However, a whistleblower who worked for HMRC estimated the cost at £20m – a claim that has been rejected by HMRC.

UK Uncut has called for the government to crack down on tax avoidance by large corporations and the super-rich rather than pursue its “unnecessary austerity programme”.
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Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

Hundreds of NHS leaders get Xmas ‘sack’ – Public Service

There will be a leadership vacuum in the NHS after hundreds of senior staff in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) were sent a letter asking for their immediate resignation before 31 December, the Labour party has said.

Although the Health and Social Care Bill is still going through approval, many of the changes detailed in it have already begun to happen. That’s why heads of the PCTs, which are to be abolished, have been told they must sign and return letters of resignation by the end of the year.

The shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “Andrew Lansley looks increasingly like a man on a kamikaze mission to destabilise the NHS. Not only has he chosen the worst possible moment to re-organise the NHS, he now removes the very people who were crucial to holding things together.”

He went on: “By combining the financial challenge with the biggest-ever reorganisation, the government has created the conditions for a perfect storm that threatens to engulf the NHS in 2012. The government is steering the NHS towards the rocks and, unbelievably, is now busy throwing captain and crew overboard.

“This is no way to treat people and no way to run an NHS. It threatens to plunge the NHS into a vacuum just when it most needs experience, grip and focus. And it is arrogance in the extreme and an affront to democracy to dismantle the NHS in this way before Parliament has given its approval.
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Other news:

UK Uncut vindicated? Commons report backs protest group

Allegations about tax avoidance in the highest echelons of the corporate world have been vindicated in a Commons report.

The public accounts committee (PAC) substantiated claims from UK Uncut, which campaigns against corporate tax avoidance, and suggested there are £25 billion of outstanding tax issues with big companies which Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has failed to deal with.

“This report is a damning indictment of HMRC and the way its senior officials handle tax disputes with large corporations,” PAC chair Margaret Hodge said.

“We uncovered both specific and systemic failures which must be addressed.”

The £25 billion bill alluded to in the report is bigger than the entire UK deficit in 2002 and only slightly below the £30 billion level in 2006.

The sum is equivalent to £1,000 for every British family or a cut of 6p from the basic rate of income tax.

Companies such as Vodafone have vociferously denied the figures about outstanding tax made by groups like UK Uncut, but the Commons committee used evidence from a whistleblower and a private eye to reach similar conclusions.

One deal which allegedly let Goldman Sachs off the hook for £20 million would not have been made public without the intervention of the whistleblower, MPs said.

“It is extremely disappointing that senior HMRC officials were not prepared to cooperate with our inquiry in a spirit of openness. We accept that there is a need for confidentiality to protect individual taxpayers, but this must not be used as a cloak to protect the department from scrutiny,” Ms Hodge added.
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Super-rich dodge stamp duty while families pay tens of thousands | This is Money

The super-rich are costing the taxpayer up to £1billion a year by exploiting a legal loophole which allows them to avoid paying stamp duty when selling their exclusive homes – meanwhile, ordinary families are paying tens of thousands of pounds simply to move home.

The tax dodge involves transferring ownership of a property to an off-shore company so when it comes to be sold the buyer purchases the company as a whole assuming de-facto ownership of the property.

This means that while a family buying a home costing £400,000 would pay £12,000 to the Government, a multi-millionaire buying a luxury pad could pay nothing.
Tax dodge: All the homes on London’s exclusive Cornwall Terrace have been transferred into offshore companies

Tax dodge: All the homes on London’s exclusive Cornwall Terrace have been transferred into offshore companies

Because the deal is classed as a corporate transaction as opposed to a property sale there are no stamp duty obligations involved. The extent of the avoidance was revealed in a Times report.
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On a different topic: I’ve been looking at Cameron’s speech on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible intending to do an exegesis which quite possibly would be an exegesis of Cameron’s exegesis.

My attention was drawn to this speech by the widely reported soundbyte ~ He said “live and let live” had too often become “do what you please”. I recognise that as relating to something deeper than its superficial appearance.

The speech is obviously sucking up to Christians and is recieved well by them from a look at the comments. It’s an awfully tedious speech by David ‘Marvin‘ Cameron in which he makes some very dodgy assertions.

Marvin starts by suggesting that he’s in the lion’s den. It’s a reference to Daniel who survived the lion’s den unscathed. Some Christians are hardly lions now are they? I came across some Christians one Christmas day. I was collecting some friends by car for four-days-late Midwinter dinner. These Christians had just come out of a Cathedral and I stopped for them at a Zebra pedestrian crossing. I am usually patient, polite and considerate with pedestrians being a cyclist and motorcyclist as well being able to drive a car. One of these Christians was such a pain returning across the crossing that I wound down the window and shouted “F*****g Christians!” at them. Needlessly annoying motorists like children is hardly lion-like behaviour now is it? Not going to rip me to shreds with his fangs and claws and rip the flesh off my severed limbs is he?

Marvin talks in a confused way about ‘something’ and ‘anything’ without defining these terms and then using ‘something’ in an opposite sense. “You can’t fight something with nothing.” … “Because if we don’t stand for something, we can’t stand against anything.” It’s tedious vacuity.

So Marvin praises the language of the King James Bible. I’ve found it one of the nastiest translations actually. “It crystallises profound, sometimes complex, thoughts and suggests a depth of meaning far beyond the words on the page…” “depth of meaning far beyond the words on the page” is imagination and subjective so that it can’t be shared (discounting telepathic abilities). “…giving us something to share, to cherish, to celebrate.”

Marvin praises the contribution that the KJB has made to British society and culture, values and morals when really it’s just part of historic tradition.

Marvin says that we are a Christian country and should not be afraid to say so then goes on to qualify Christian country so that it is meaningless.

Christ, this speech is tedious bullshit. And what’s with the dot, dot, dot? …

 

[Corinthians 13:12 King James Version (KJV). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Corinthians_13 . A typically highly convoluted passage about love.]

Better find some NHS news.

We can’t allow the Bible to be hijacked for narrow and partisan politics | David Edgar | Comment is free | The Guardian

12.45 am edit

Committee members looking at implications of public bills say health secretary’s role should be made explicitly clear

The coalition government’s health bill will dilute accountability to parliament and the courts and should be amended to address serious constitutional issues that remain, a Lords committee has warned.

The committee examining the constitutional implications of public bills, chaired by Lady Jay, says the House of Lords will have to alter the health bill so that “ministerial responsibility” for the NHS is made “explicitly” clear.

Last month the government had been forced to hold up the part of its NHS bill dealing with the health secretary’s new role to stave off an embarrassing rebellion from a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat peers over the issue.

The health bill is expected to pass through committee stage, but will face a crunch vote on the issue in January.

Jay said: “It must be made clear in the bill that the secretary of state for health continues to be accountable for the provision of health services in England.

“This is vital to ensure parliament can properly scrutinise the NHS in the future.”

She warned that the bill at present leaves it unclear “on where the buck stops when health services are removed”, picking up on campaigners’ fears that the health secretary would be helpless to stop patient care disappearing from the NHS.

At the heart of the debate is the government’s plan to devolve its “constitutional responsibility” to provide NHS services to a quango and also, in the words of the white paper, “liberate” hospitals and GPs to decide what level of provision patients could expect.

This represents a significant shift. The health secretary has a legal duty to provide key NHS services, such as hospital accommodation, ambulances, maternity and nursing.

…

 

 

 

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Discussion of NHS Croydon’s £35Million defecit.

Public-sector including NHS pensions negotiations: Unions mostly return to their executives to consider the offer. PCS holds out.

Other news: HMRC has a cosy relationship with the tax avoidance industry | Prem Sikka | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

NHS Croydon’s £35million overspend could hault hospital foundation trust bid | This is Croydon

A £35 million overspend in NHS Croydon’s finances could prove terminal to Croydon University Hospital’s bid for Foundation Status, it was warned this week.
As an urgent investigation looks into how this happened, concern has surfaced about the impact this could have on Croydon University Hospital.

Croydon Health Services (CHS), the trust which runs the hospital, admitted it has no idea how it will be affected by the plan to claw back the money. The hospital is reliant on the millions of pounds worth of services it is commissioned to provide for the PCT.

Any reduction in this income would threaten its credible long term business plan, which the hospital must have if it is to be granted Foundation Status and avoid being merged with another trust.

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell told the Advertiser: “Foundation status is absolutely critical.

“Croydon needs its own independent, major hospital, not a trust covering our borough and somewhere in north London.

“To be granted that status a trust has to have a viable business plan and the problems the PCT is experiencing are bound to impact on that.

“My concern is fewer services will be commissioned through the hospital, meaning it would need fewer beds and nurses.”
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Unions dispute ‘final offer’ for NHS pensions reforms | Metro.co.uk

Britain’s biggest public sector union, Unison, said it would put the government’s ‘final offer’ to its health committee, which will decide whether to approve it on January 10.

The TUC’s Brendan Barber emerged from negotiations last night having made ‘real progress’. But he cautioned there was ‘no agreement yet’.

Under the amended plans, staff less than ten years from retirement would not face any change to their pension, while those earning less than £26,000 would be protected from an increase in contributions next year.

Unison’s Christina McAnea said: ‘On some issues, we have made progress.

On others, we always knew this would be a damage-limitation exercise.’

Other NHS unions, including the British Medical Association and Royal College of Midwives, also agreed to take the new deal back to their members.

But the biggest civil service union, PCS, which did not take part in yesterday’s negotiations, claimed ‘nothing had changed’ since last month’s strikes.

‘We continue to oppose the government’s attempt to force public servants to pay more and work longer for less,’ general secretary Mark Serwotka said.

Downing Street said it hoped to reach a deal by the end of the month.

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The NHS competition watchdog has ruled against plans for the merger of three East London Hospitals. It appears that this is to protect future possible commercial interests – it risks “stifling the development of alternative services and providers in future.”

Huge cuts in wages in the North-East suggests job cuts.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham reveals that directors of primary care trusts (PCTs) across England have been sent pro-forma resignation letters.

Unions accuse the government of being confrontational over public-sector pensions.

Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

Competition panel rules against hospital merger | Tower Hamlets | London

 

The NHS competition watchdog has ruled against plans for the merger of three East London Hospitals after London’s health authority approved them this week.

The Cooperation and Competition Panel claims the merger would reduce patient choice and that its benefits “do not outweigh the potential drawbacks.”

Tower Hamlets’ Royal London Hospital and Mile End Hospital are among those set to join what could become the country’s largest NHS trust with a turnover of £1.1 billion.

St Barts and the London hospital will merge with Whipps Cross and Newham NHS trusts if the union gets a green light from the Department of Health in April.

But the CCP is advising ministers that the move, backed by all three trusts, will deprive patients of alternatives by putting all the hospitals under one roof, and risks “stifling the development of alternative services and providers in future.”

The ruling comes one month after a leaked government document indicating plans to open NHS care to private providers, causing furore among health professionals.

CCP director Catherine Davies said: “We know there are some difficult challenges facing healthcare services in north east London but these proposals don’t necessarily provide the best solution.”

But Peter Morris, lead chief executive for the merger, said it was essential to “secure the long-term viability” of local services.

…

Fears for North NHS staff as wage bill slashed – Today’s News – News – JournalLive

HEALTH trusts in the North East are planning to make almost £90m worth of cuts to their wage bills in the next few years, a shock report has found.

Information released by the Health Service Journal (HSJ) has analysed the three-year workforce plans of all foundation trusts in England and has identified that most are planning a wave of cuts to staffing bills.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust has forecast the biggest percentage wage bill cut of 7.9% by 2014, closely followed by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust at 7.4% and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust at 6.9%.

Although the findings do not identify where the cuts will come from, union bosses have claimed that any savings on wage bills will inevitably result in the axing of some frontline staff.

Stephanie Dunn, acting regional director of the Royal College of Nursing Northern Region said: “This confirms what the RCN has been saying for some time.

“Namely that despite the Government pretending that the NHS budget is protected, in reality they are forcing trusts to make significant cuts of a magnitude not seen for more than a generation.

“Frontline jobs are being lost, and we know what happens when we go down this road. The quality of patient care suffers and waiting lists increase”.
…

Labour: NHS chiefs asked to resign | News

Hundreds of senior NHS figures have been sent letters asking for their resignation as part of the move towards controversial health reforms, Labour has revealed.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said chairs and directors of primary care trusts (PCTs) across England have been sent pro-forma resignation letters, even though reforms have not yet made their way through Parliament.

Letters include an explanation of what is required, as well as pre-written resignation letters.

Mr Burnham said the move threatened to create a leadership vacuum and accused Health Secretary Andrew Lansley of “steering the NHS towards the rocks”.

The move has also prompted a letter from a group of chairs in Cumbria and Lancashire, which said although they had mixed views about the Health and Social Care Bill, they were united in thinking that “long held and cherished standards, efficiency and effectiveness” should not be put under “dire threat”.

Under the reorganisation of the NHS, GPs will be handed the bulk of the health budget to buy in services for patients, [we know this to be untrue and simply spin / part of the official narrative] with a new NHS commissioning board overseeing the process. PCTs are being streamlined into “clusters” as part of the transition, with the aim of getting them to work with GP practices and emerging “GP consortia”.
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UNION chiefs yesterday accused ministers of holding a gun to their heads over pressure to reach a deal on pensions today.

The ConDems could withdraw an improved offer tabled last month unless unions sign up to reforms that will mean working longer, paying more and retiring on less.

Treasury axeman Danny Alexander will update MPs on progress in talks tomorrow before they head off on their long Christmas break, effectively imposing a deadline.
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A spokesman for the civil service PCS union said: “They are trying to hold a gun to our heads.”

Teachers and civil servants are already fuming after the Government announced it was going ahead with a 3% increase in their pension contributions last week.

Unions representing town hall employees are on the verge of an agreement and talks involving NHS staff have gone well.

But a union source said that the Government looked “hell bent on confrontation” on the other schemes.

Sucking Lansley – The Independent

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

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