Saturday, August 28, 2010

Megalomaniac Murdoch

News Corporation - the misnamed Rupert Murdoch empire - is launching a million dollar lawsuit against Skype. The lawsuit concerns the first three letters of its name.

Murdoch's lawyers claim this word is Murdoch's personal property and want money from anyone else who uses it! To quote the Sun - another Murdoch property - "you couldn't make it up."

The inhabitants of the Isle of Skye could be in trouble here and Murdoch's lawyers will have their sights on "The Sky's the Limit", "Blue Skies thinking" and the Skye Boat Song.

So next time you sneak a peak at that thing...you know that blue thing up there...Murdoch could be after your money.

And as for you Trotskyists...watch out!

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Forget twanging bowstrings in Sherwood Forest and men in tights. The "Robin Hood Tax" is being proposed by Oxfam and others as a means of making the bankers pay for the crisis they created.

For years Oxfam and Cafod have made valiant efforts to feed the poor in the third world. At the same time unfortunately the fat cats in the city have been making valiant efforts to feed *off* the poor in the third world through criminally extortionate interest repayments. Oxfam and Cafod raised thousands. The bankers clawed back millions.

Their website claims "The 'Robin Hood Tax' is a tiny tax that would have a massive impact. It would raise enough money to help poor people, protect public services and tackle climate change at home and abroad.Oxfam, along with many partners, is working to make this tax happen. Politicians around the world are already beginning to consider it as a serious possibility,"


These are very modest beginnings. The video by Bill Nighy makes the point in a humorous way that a tiny proportion of the bankers' profits would be a massive sum and could repair some of the cuts in spending on the poor and the damage brought about by climate change.

Oxfam and Cafod are taking this up because the politicians are useless. So busy collecting their own expenses and so scared of offending the bankers they are completely inert.

However Robin Hood went a lot further. He didn't tax the rich. He expropriated them. It is a tradition we need to revisit.

The TUC is listed as supporting the Robin Hood Tax. Perhaps that is what they wanted to chat with David Cameron about? It is time the TUC got off its knees.

The following 48 organisations are supporting the Robin Hood Tax Campaign: ActionAid, Action for Global Health (UK), ACTSA (Action on Southern Africa), Africa Europe Faith Justice Network - UK, Article 12 in Scotland, ATD Fourth World, Barnardo's, Cafod, Centre for Alternative Technology, Chigwell Justice and Peace Centre, Christian Aid, Christian Medical Fellowship, Christian Socialist Movement, Church Action on Poverty, Church of Scotland Church and Society Council, Commonwealth HIV & AIDS Action Group, Forum for Stable Currencies, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, Health Unlimited, Housing Justice, Interact Worldwide, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, National Justice and Peace Network, National Union of Teachers, NCVO, nef (the new economics foundation), Oxfam GB, ONE, People and Planet, Plan UK, Results UK, The Salvation Army, Save the Children UK, Stamp Out Poverty, Stop AIDS Campaign, Student Partnerships Worldwide, TB Alert, Tearfund, Trades Union Congress, UNA-UK, Unicef UK, Unite, University and College Union, Urban Forum, War on Want, World Development Movement, World Wide Robin Hood Society, Zacchaeus 2000 Trust.

Click here for more information