Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/697/13294
From The Socialist newspaper, 7 December 2011
All in it together
The day after N30, BBC's Question Time confirmed the need for a new mass party of the working class. Labour MP Chuka Umunna, sponsored by Unite the Union, revealed he did not use his N30 strike vote as his gold-plated pension was not affected, and he opposed the strike anyway. The public sector pension problem 'had to be addressed' he said.
Tory Minister Ken Clarke was so delighted with Chuka that he congratulated him on recognising that there was a 'problem'. Clarke has spent the last ten years on the boards of the country's most prosperous companies: British American Tobacco, Alliance Unichem, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, Centaurus Capital Hedge Fund.
You can almost see the cash cascading into his already bloated bank account on top of his parliamentary salary and his £1 million pension pot. This sleek member of the millionaire's cabinet uttered the usual claptrap that while 'sympathising' with millions of public sector workers 'tough decisions had to be made' because there was no money left; a classic Tory distortion.
In fact billions are swilling around in the tax-payer subsidised banks. Billions are salted away by Clarke's friends in off-shore accounts. And there's the £100 billion of unpaid taxes. If all this wealth was harnessed for the benefit of the 99% the deficit problem could be solved overnight. Opposition to all cuts must be maintained!
Tony Mulhearn
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In The Socialist 7 December 2011:
Socialist Party feature
Con-Dems pile on the misery - 'Enough is enough'
Socialist Party editorial
Eurozone crisis - capitalists have no solution
Workplace news and analysis
Cuts and misery - it doesn't have to be like this
Socialist MEP supports public sector strike
"The genie is out of the bottle"
30 November strike: a historic day!
Building a fighting union - interview with Steve Hedley
Defend the JIB, victory to the sparks!
Reinstate Paul Kelly: Solidarity with Portsmouth RMT
Socialist Party news and analysis
Climate change
Climate change and extreme weather
Housing crisis
Homes Crisis: Fund housing need - not fat cat greed!
International socialist news and analysis
Portugal: Build on the general strike action
Ireland: Resist latest austerity attacks
Tamil Solidarity: Gearing up for 2012
Brazilian socialists remember Socrates
Socialist Party reviews
When workers planned production: the Lucas Aerospace plan
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