Pay per Tiger

Good news for readers of the Socialist! A new club has opened that organises monthly meetings and social events. Bad news – only those with a minimum of $10 million, who pay membership fees “starting at” $30,000, need apply.

‘Tiger 21’ – The Investment Group for Enhanced Results in the 21st century – was launched in New York in 1999, and has now opened in the UK.

Previous activities include a “group meeting experience” on Richard Branson‘s private Caribbean island. Common topics of conversation apparently include how not to ruin the children by giving them too much money, and wealth preservation.

This club has 450 members and an estimated collective wealth of $40 billion. That could provide decent education to children worldwide deprived by poverty.

Jon Dale Mansfield Socialist Party

Student non-awards

Property Week

Property Week   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

A panel of student representatives refused to award a prize for best student accommodation experience, in protest at appalling conditions.

Trade magazine Property Week asked reps from across the UK to judge the award. Their joint letter found all the entrants lacking. As well as outrageous rents, many extort hundreds in unavoidable extra fees.

The judges concluded by calling for investment in accommodation, and end to privatisation, cheaper rents and universal living grants.


Peevish Plaid

Plaid's Ellen ap Gwynn

Plaid’s Ellen ap Gwynn   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

A Plaid Cymru council leader in Wales threw a tantrum when asked about management consultants profiting from her cuts.

Journalist Jacques Peretti accused Plaid’s Ellen ap Gwynn: “You think the public don’t have a right to know. You’re a public body.” The Ceredigion council chief ordered him to leave.

Perhaps if Plaid took the same robust approach with Tory and Blairite austerity-merchants, Peretti wouldn’t have had to ask.