The growing polarisation in Britain today

We are currently seeing a growing polarisation of opinion, wealth, opportunity and pay i'm afraid to say. It really does feel like we are being taken back in time to a earlier time in history.

I was borin in the late 80's did not experience Thatcher and her horrors but am quickly becoming acustom in what it must have been like today in 2011. As we see our living standards stagnate or fall in many cases there is a growing feeling that the poor aare getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. This is being helped through by yet another tory government headed by a cabinet of millionaires .


The government's measures amount to the biggest single attack on the living standards of the British working class for 80 years.

The Independent, basing itself upon the figures of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, claims they are the deepest cuts since the 1970s.

But this is not true. In 1976, to receive an IMF loan of £2.3 billion, the then Labour government cut £2.5 billion from public expenditure, equivalent to no more than £20 billion today.

Osborne wants to impose an £81 billion slash and burn programme over four years. Indicating his determination to push through his brutal measures Osborne has let it be known that there is no 'plan B' to fall back on if his proposals are not accepted.

This is bravado on his and the government's part. But the British ruling class has a tried and tested policy of bending with the wind. Whenever they have confronted a determined mass movement which is prepared to go to the end of the struggle against them they have often retreated.

Sometimes, they throw overboard the 'general' whose plans have been thwarted. This was the fate of Margaret Thatcher in the mighty poll-tax battle which she lost and as a result was subsequently ejected from office.

Such an outcome in this battle is not to be excluded. This is a government of liars, who have no mandate - the Liberal Democrats are doing exactly the opposite of what they promised before the general election - and deserves to be driven from office.

But on the other hand this is only possible on the basis of determined policies matched by bold leadership.

We cannot rely on a labour party traditionally known as defenders of the poor. New labour have transformed themselves into apologists of the city and big business
We cannot rely on Labour to oppose the cuts and austerity to the poor and workers.
Moreover, Alistair Darling, previously New Labour's chancellor, has admitted that the cuts that would have been inflicted if New Labour had been re-elected would have been more severe than Margaret Thatcher's when she was in power.

From the outset, this government has pursued a policy of 'shock and awe'. There are many who naively believe that these are always 'somebody else's cuts', in a situation like this.


A recent survey of top 100 FTSE chief executives has shown that in the last year these bosses have received, on average, 50% pay rises. Top company boss Martin Sorrell had the brass neck to complain that his £1 million basic salary was "very low"!

This at a time when many workers have had to endure pay freezes especially in the public sector. In some cases, such as Southampton City and Hampshire county council, workers face pay cuts. Most of these workers are already some of the lowest paid. In the private sector as well, those who have received any pay rises have seen them more than wiped out by price inflation.

It's a disgrace that the parasites at the top can award themselves such huge rises while at the same time calling for further cuts in public spending, leading to more job losses and attacks on workers' terms and conditions.

The fat cats have tried to defend themselves by claiming that their salaries and bonuses are set by independent pay review boards. But the bosses sit on each others' review boards where they recommend huge pay increases for each other!

They have even claimed that their massive pay rises are down to 'performance', yet the system they head is in crisis. If their pay is linked to performance they should be paying us for the mess they've created!

Cameron and Clegg have expressed 'concern' over pay inequalities but working class people won't be fooled by this. The Con-Dems are determined to make the poorest people in society pay for the bankers' greed and the failures of capitalism.

The growing polarisation in society really is starting to grow now. With peoples opinions eitehr falling in the have's or have nots. There is a growing feeling that we are not all in this together as the tories would have us believe . The poor will not take this laying down and will fight back.
I was listening to a programme on BBC 5 live last night and a debate in a church in Birmingham with Edwina Currie claiming taht she doesnt beleive we have real povety in Britain today she thinks its all down to peoples choices and lazy attitudes to not work. Well if there were the jobs there in the first place Edwina maybe we could all find jobs. But jobs that pay a decent living wage should be our aim not just jobs for jobs sake.

Markets take a tumble as fear spreads about state of world economies, a socialist alternative is needed

Today saw one of the biggest falls on the global stock markets in 3 years with big dips in America and in Britain.

Wall Street had its worst day for almost three years as shares tumbled on fears about the eurozone debt crisis and the US economic recovery.

The Dow Jones index closed down more than 500 points, or 4.3%, and came after the leading European bourses fell more than 3%.

It was the biggest one-day fall for the Dow since 22 October 2008.

Earlier, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned that the sovereign debt crisis was spreading.

Also in New York, the S&P 500 index fell 4.8% and the tech-rich Nasdaq was more than 5% lower.

Meanwhile, Frankfurt's Dax and London's FTSE 100 indexes had their worst day this year, closing almost 3.5% lower as investors fretted that Italy and Spain might become engulfed in the debt crisis.

"People are throwing in the towel because they can't find relief on any front," said Milton Ezrati, market strategist at Lord Abbett.

Investors sought the relative safety of gold, sending the price of the metal to a new record high of $1,677 an ounce.

More weak jobs data from the US also raised concerns about the strength of the economic recovery there.

Wall Street's financial power houses were hit hard, with JP Morgan and Bank of America falling 5% and 7.4% respectively.

In Europe, Lloyds Banking Group fell 9.9% and Royal Bank of Scotland was down 7%. France's Societe Generale lost 6.9% and Germany's Commerzbank dropped 6.8% in Frankfurt.

Miners also suffered, with Vedanta Resources slumping 9.5% and Xstrata and Eurasian Natural Resources falling more than 8% in London.

The oil price also slumped on fears that a weaker global recovery would hit demand. Benchmark West Texas crude for September delivery fell $5.30, or 5.8%, to $86.63 a barrel. Brent crude fell 5.3% to $107.25.


This just highlights the fragileness of the global recovery if you can even call it one. There are fears over Italy and Spain who are borrowing at high interest rates which they are not thought to be able to sustain for too long.

There is increasing doubt over these economies and this doesnt even begin to mention Greece which surely will take anotehr tumble sadly. But all this means that global economists are urging for more cuts and less borrowing. I.e austerity which we are all starting to become very familiar with unfortunatly. If your nearing the edge pull back and cut is the message being sent to countries in trouble.

But this is no warmth to the working class who as a result of all this will feel their living standards cut even further and jobs lost, wages cut and gains we have made over decades taken away.

Unless we resist . There i a growing movement of reisstance but i feel this now has to be stepped up to a major scale. Bringing whole cities and towns to a stand still for prolonged time. The demand to write off the debt must be started to be made i feel too. If this message is spread early enough it can become ingrained in workers contiousness and spread.

The absence of a workers party in much of europe and the world is still very evident. The struggle for this must continue with building of things like TUSC - trade union and socialist coalition in order to give workers a voice on thepolitical stage and a alternative to the cuts and austerity.

Idealy this need for a party would not be nessesarily to win elections and replace labour as a careerist capitalist pro busienss party but to reject capitalism and offer a new way forward for workers to realise. NOt by just voting will things change it all has to be linked to the continuous need for socialism and democratic workers control of the planned economy.

Chief executive pay to FTSE 100 companies shoots up in last decade, time for nationalisation ?

The pay of FTSE100 Chief Executive's has risen by 343% in the last decade. it is revealed today. This shocking statistic is sign that despite the poor and the working class being hit with harsher and harsher cuts to their standards of living with the rich capitalists trying to regain the money they used to bail out their banks which failed they are increasing their wealth even still.

It is a disgrace that pay to the rich goes up while pay to the working class is being cut. Where is the fairness in that ?

It isnt that's why. It is capitalism which enables this to happen. The system that is designed so the wealth of a few is concentrated at the top while the workers suffer through exploitation and austerity measures.

Well enough is enough really under a socialist society the top 150 top monopolies many are in the FTSE 100 will be brought under nationalised democratic workers control to be used for the benifit of society not the few rich fat cats at the very top.

This would include the banks where this is rife and allow the workers to control the finances of the country for the betterment of the mass's. Funding schooling, health care, transport and decent affordable housing for all. There is clearly more than enough money going around in this country for us all to live a decent standard of life. We are not asking for the earth as socialists but a fair life for fair pay and a end to discrimination and exploitation.