 |
NO PFI-LING MATTER
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was a Tory idea, which, in
opposition, Neo Labour strongly opposed. But as soon as the party
came to power, surprise sur-bloody-prise it fully embraced it and
declared that PFI would become the means by which most of our new
public infrastructure would be built. Everything from schools to
hospitals to roads are now put under the PFI hammer.
Like some dodgy hire-purchase agreement, PFI allows the government
to avoid paying up front for the cost of big building projects.
Instead, private companies get to build and run the ‘assets’
and the taxpayer then has to buy back these services, usually over
a 20-30 year period. But this isn’t like buying a mortgage,
more like paying by credit card.
So we get companies like Jarvis (who are so crap they have had
to change their name to Engenda) running schools (see SchNEWS 425),
while corporations like Tarmac, Siemens and Rentokil get the hospitals
(SchNEWS 404) But as George Monbiot points out “Far from introducing
market disciplines, it has become an official license to fleece
the taxpayer. Far from reducing the public sector borrowing requirement,
PFI is, as the Accounting Standards Board has noted, simply an ‘an
off-balance sheet fiddle’”.
Just take a look at the new Edinburgh Infirmary, which would have
cost the government £180 million to build, but thanks to the
PFI will cost the taxpayer £30 million a year for the next
30 years – that’s £900 million to some lucky corporation
- a cost that is already crippling the Lothian health authority.
Or what about the plan to build three new hospitals on a single
site in the Paddington basin where the rocketing costs - up from
the original £380 milllion to nearly £900 million -
means that they may never be built. Still, despite planning permission
not even been granted yet, over £5.6 million has so far been
spent on consultants fees alone!
In fact there is only one means of meeting the outrageous costs
of PFI, and that is by cutting public services. A study by a consultancy
company which works for the Department of Health shows that for
every £200 million spent on PFI hospitals the result will
be a loss of a thousand doctors and nurses. The first PFI hospitals
also contain some 28 per cent fewer beds than the hospitals they
replaced while many are heavily in debt and closing wards and cutting
back services.
Not only that but some NHS Trusts are being fined by the private
companies - for treating too many patients! The new Worcestershire
Royal Hospital opened in March 2002 and is already £15 million
in debt. Despite this it has been charged £200,000 this year
under a penalty clause with the private consortium Catalyst, that
said bed occupancy would not rise about 90%. At the University College
London Hospitals, they are fined when more than a set number of
meals are eaten or bedsheets used!
Meanwhile one of the first PFI hospitals, the Cumberland Infirmary
in Carlisle, has in its contract a clause that if the buildings
workload increases (y’know caring for too many sick people)
extra cash must go to the consortium. This is a bit rich coming
from the people whose new building included collapsing ceilings,
a sewage system which could not cope with the number of users; offices
so small clerical and laundry staff couldn’t work in them,
spaces between beds so narrow new trolleys had to be ordered, and
a glass roof that on sunny days meant the temperature inside the
hospital hit 33C. So far 40 cleaners have lost their jobs thanks
to ‘re-structuring’ and there has already been a shortage
of beds. All this for a £67 million hospital that will eventually
cost the taxpayer a staggering £500 million.
In fact while Neo Labour tells us if you’ve got nothing to
hide, you’ve got nothing to fear when they bang on about ID
cards, it seems they don’t seem to want to be under the same
sort of surveillance spotlight when it comes to PFI. Almost every
leaked document suggests that it is a gigantic fraud upon the taxpayer
and that if everyone knew what was really going it would be ditched.
But with the Skye Bridge toll victory on the horizon George Monbiot
told SchNEWS “This is great news for two reasons: first it
shows that persistent protest can eventually win against impossible
odds. Secondly it suggests that the Private Finance Initiative -
the biggest financial fraud ever foisted on the British people -
is beginning to fall apart.”
- Saturday 3rd July is ‘Independence from the stranglehold
of an American company Day’ For more on the protests at Skye
www.skat.org.uk
- Private Eye recently did an excellent ‘idiots guide’
on PFI. To get hold of copies email private-eye@galleon.co.uk
 
Crap Arrest of the Week
You’ve Bin Nicked!
At the Baishakhi Mela festival in East London’s Brick Lane
on the 9th of May, police arrested a remote controlled wheelie bin
for being a public nuisance. When told that the bin had been booked
to perform at the festival the police asked ‘what’s the
point?’ Hmm entertainment maybe! The bin was later released
without charge.
..."SO IT'S GOODNIGHT FROM ME ... AND
GOODNIGHT FROM HIM"
It’s nice that the shock of ex US President Ronald Reagan’s
death at 93 was so sensitively cushioned by kind words from the
corporate media and politicians. According to Business Investors
Weekly, Ronnie “revived the US economy, rebuilt its military
and faced down the Soviet Union to win the Cold War, thereby giving
hope for peace and freedom to billions of people throughout the
world.” But hang on a minute, didn’t he oversee one of
the biggest increases in inequality and poverty, cause thousands
of deaths by supporting a bunch of nasty Latin American dictators
and nearly blow up the world in his fight with the Soviet Union?
Er yes, he did.
According to the Heritage Foundation, Ronnie oversaw “the
most successful economic policy of the 20th century.” This
success started within a month of getting the presidency, as Ray-gun
cut $41bn from the US budget, mainly targeting welfare for the poor
while at the same time massively increasing military spending. He
turned the world’s richest country into a debtor for the first
time since the Second World War and paved the way for the first
increase in poverty since the 1960s. Inequality rose so much that
by the 1990s the top 1% of US citizens owned as much wealth as the
bottom 95% percent. This was Regeanomics and the beginning of the
neo-liberal agenda of market deregulation, flexibile labour laws
and privatisation.
In a recent White House speech, the incorruptible Vice President
Dick Cheney said that he was proud that Ronnie was always “taking
risks to advance freedom, justice, and democracy.” Like backing
Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala, where, according to Americas Watch,
tens-of-thousands of people were killed and 400 rural villages were
destroyed by government death squads during Ronnie’s time in
office. Then there’s PW Botha who oversaw the apartheid regime
in South Africa and of course Suharto of Indonesia, responsible
for over one million deaths, both grateful customers for US military
hardware. In fact the sort of ‘freedom’ that Ronnie loved
lead to a quarter of a million deaths in Nicaragua, Guatemala and
El Salvador during the 1980s. Then there’s the invasion of
Grenada, the bombing of Libya and Beirut and his support for Saddam
Hussein and Osama Bin Laden…
Ray-gun said that his idea of US policy toward the Soviet Union
was simple: “We win and they lose”. Often complimented
with winning the ‘Cold War’, Ronnie sought to outspend
the Soviets with the Star Wars initiative, bigger bombs and faster
missiles, winning the Cold War without firing a shot according to
close chum Maggie Thatcher. Well he almost did fire, as he kept
his options open if the out-buying strategy didn’t win. Famously
talking of ‘recallable nuclear missiles’ and ‘winnable
nuclear war’, he meant it. In 1981 he ordered thousands of
Minuteman missiles, which were designed to destroy Soviet missile
silos. But what’s the point in destroying silos if there are
no missiles in them? Simple: these missiles were designed as a ‘first
strike’ weapon, to hit the Soviet Union before they hit the
US. To launch a Minuteman in those days, an operator had to “unlock”
the missile by dialling in a code. However, according to former
launch officer Bruce Blair, the U.S. Strategic Air Command was worried
that such safety features might slow things down, and set all locks
to 00000000. Cementing this legacy the US has just named its latest
nuclear aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan.
So why all the positive press for this man? Investigative journalist
Joseph Spear describes how the Reagan White House further refined
Nixon’s tricks of press appeasement, evasion and intimidation
to shape opinion and mould public perceptions. Spear called Ronnie’s
presidency “probably the best staged one in history thanks
to his acting abilities and the expertise of his media specialists.”
- Reagan Gaffes: During his 1980 presidential campaign Reagan
declared that “trees cause more pollution than automobiles.”
Once elected, he promised “Now we are trying to get unemployment
to go up, and I think we’re going to succeed.” Always
accentuating the positive, Ronnie once claimed that the rate of
poverty in the US “has begun to decline, but it is still
going up.” And you thought Dubya was the expert.
- For more see www.accuracy.org/press.htm
Last Minute Delay
Rail passengers in Sussex were looking forward to four days of
free travel this month when members of the RMT Union were due to
hold “no-revenue” days on Southern Trains as a protest
over the increasing casualisation of their jobs. But, due to repressive
union laws introduced by Thatcher, these days of free travel for
the masses have been postponed because they were due to start one
minute too late!
The anti-union laws state that industrial action must start within
28 days after the last day of the ballot. The “no-revenue”
days were due to start at 0:01 on 14th June, technically 28 days
and a minute after the ballots closed. But why not just change the
start time to 23:59 on 13th June? Well the problem is that the union
must give at least seven days notice to the company that industrial
action will happen. So what now must happen is that all the members
have to be re-balloted, and there must be at least seven days notice
before the ballot takes place and then it has to be held and then
at least seven days notice before any more industrial action happens,
which means it’ll probably be another three weeks before SchNEWS
can hop on the train out of Brighton for a free day out.
All these legal hoops that unions have to jump through are designed
to make life as difficult as possible for effective industrial action
to take place. And even if the RMT Union decides to have more no-revenue
days it is likely that the lawyers for Southern Trains will argue
that this sort of action is illegal as it is effectively a strike
and the union only balloted for “action short of a strike”.
And then there could be the managers and scab labour stepping in
to collect money and issue tickets.
So what are the roots of this industrial unrest? Well its part
of the continuing privatisation and casualisation of public services
started in the eighties by the late Ronald Reagan and his lover
Margaret Thatcher and continued by their bastard love child Tony
Blair. Southern Trains have been bringing in agency staff for £2,000
a year less than regular staff which, according to RMT assistant
general secretary, Pat Sikorski, “amounts to the thin end of
a very large wedge which threatens the jobs, pay and conditions
of all our revenue-handling members.” But then Southern need
to save a few quid after they’ve wasted millions on re-branding
after changing their name from South Central “…each of
our 2,800 customer facing staff will get a new uniform emphasising
their professionalism and the distinct roles they perform to look
after the needs of passengers.” says their managing Director
Charles Horton. So never mind crap pay and conditions what workers
really want is a nice new uniform! A bit like the trains, they’ve
got a new lick of paint, but they still run late.
SchNEWS will keep readers posted of this dispute and let you know
if there’s gonna be any free travel days. RMT Union: www.rmt.org.uk
SchNEWS in Brief
- Get out yer feet at a night of Brighton Beats for Colombian
Streets.Colombian Highgrade at The Zap Tuesday 15 June
10pm-2am. Benefit for exploited Coca-Cola workers.
- There’s another demo this Saturday (12) against arms
manufacturer EDO. Meet 12pm for peace picnic at Wild Park
by Lewes road. Bring food, drink, music. March to EDO at 1 30pm.
Bring banners, chalk and messages to EDO. http://boob.safp.org.uk
- Check out the new 23Topia squatted social centre in Chapel
Road, Worthing, in the landmark town centre building (previously
3TO nightclub) events happening all this weekend www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
- Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the last Stonehenge Free
Festival on Sat 19th June 2pm til late, Vertigo/491 Gallery,
485 Grove Green Road, Leytonstone, London with photo exhibition,
films and bands 07930 255233. www.hoap.co.uk
- The P10K-Force initiative is coming to UK, and will be
in Brighton on Thurs, July 8. In response to repeated yet unheeded
calls for International Observers, P10K Force aims to deploy 10,000
Western citizens to the Occupied Palestinian Territories on Sept
11, 2004 . It aims to document acts of terrorism (as defined by
law), effect a ceasefire and non-violently compel the application
of International Law to end the illegal occupation. To find out
about becoming an Observer see www.P10K.net
- 250 anti-facist protestors were arrested on Saturday
in The Hague for “illegal protest” after demonstrating
against a nazi parade. The city authorities had given permission
to the anti-fascist march, providing it stuck to a prescribed
route. When marchers tried to block the fascists’ route the
police reacted with extreme violence. Most arrested were charged
with being on an illegal demo and fined 200 Euros
- In Libya, five nurses and one doctor were sentenced to the
death penalty after being accused of deliberately infecting
400 children with HIV in a hospital. However researchers testified
that poor hygiene and re-use of medical equipment were the main
causes of these infections. During the trial, French Professor
Luc Montagnier, Aids expert who first identified HIV, claimed
blood samples analysis pointed “strongly against” the
disease being spread deliberately. www.petitiononline.com/bulgaria/petition.html
- Anti ID Card Meeting this Tuesday (15) at 5.30, The Cowley Club,
12 London Road, Brighton (opposite Somerfield).
Scabby Git
A scabby farmer has destroyed species-rich rare chalk grassland
prompting the Brighton Phantom Conservation Volunteers to spring
into action with a Summer Solstice Mass Tresspass. The farmer bulldozed
and ploughed the old Down pasture hillside known as Scabby Brow,
at Ashcombe Farm between Lewes and Falmer. If you fancy letting
him know what you think of the damage: Meet 12 noon next Sunday
20 at St Peters Church, near the Level. Bring water, food, sensible
footwear, bus money (oh and sun protection). 07966 952 018 on the
day for more info.
...and finally...
The Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping were thrown
off Vanessa Feltz’ BBC radio show earlier this week, for stating
the true costs of Ronald Reagan’s policies and Starbucks’
anti-labor practices. Show bosses became alarmed when the Stop Shopping
Gospel Choir broke in to a chorus of “George Bush Does Not
Return To Ground Zero.” and the reverend (quite rightly) pointed
out that “Wal-Mart is the Devil, and Starbucks presides over
infant mortality rates in Guatemala that must drive us from our
pose with the double latte...” What else did they expect from
a man whose been banned from every Starbucks in America? www.revbilly.com
Disclaimer
SchNEWS warns all readers there will be more unabridged sexy
tales from the battle against the exploits of capitalism next week.
Honest!
SchNEWS Annuals
NOW OUT!!! 'PEACE DE RESISTANCE' - SchNEWS Annual
2003 - £8 + £2.00 p&p
- SchNEWS Round
issues 51 - 100 Sold out - Sorry
- SchNEWS Annual
issues 101 - 150 Sold out - Sorry
- SchNEWS Survival
Guide issues 151 - 200 and a whole lot more £2.00 inc. postage
- The SchQUALL
book at only £7 + £1.50 p&p.
- SchNEWS
and SQUALL’s YEARBOOK 2001. 300 pages of adventures from
the direct action frontline. £3 inc p&p. You can order
the book from a bookshop or your library, quote the ISBN 09529748
4 3.
- SchNEWS Of
The World issues 301 - 350. 300
more pages of adventures from the direct action frontline. £5
+ £1.50 p&p. You can order the book from a bookshop
or your library, quote the ISBN 09529748 6X
In the UK you
can get SchNEWS Annual, Survival Handbook, Yearbook 2001 and SchNEWS
of the World for just £15 inc p&p.
(US Postage
£6.00 for individual books, £13 for above offer).
In addition to
50 issues of SchNEWS, each book contains articles, photos, cartoons,
subverts, a “yellow pages” list of contacts, comedy etc.
Subscribe
to SchNEWS: Send 1st Class stamps (e.g. 10 for next 9 issues)
or donations (payable to Justice?). Or £15 for a year's subscription,
or the SchNEWS supporter's rate, £1 a week. Ask for "originals"
if you plan to copy and distribute. SchNEWS is post-free to prisoners.
|
