Corrupt UK Government vetos councils ethhical investments, Voters beat up shit head politicians.
This is in two stories....
With a third and fourth for a follow up in the broader context.
The first story - The issue of corporate corruption running a corrupt UK government, full of corrupt (and or fucking stupid) people voted in to work for the people - not only of the UK, but of the whole world.....
So the UK government are the creating laws to stop councils divesting from UN-ethical investments such as weapons manufacturers and arms dealers and tobacco companies like Philip Morris, other corrupt multinationals and fossil fuel suppliers etc.,
They are declaring they have the VETO powers on the decisions of the people, who decided what their council must invest in or divest from.
The second story is about people who have had enough of shit head greasy palmed people - in parliament, voting in things like bombing more people in more countries, so the multinational corporations, cane make more profit from the killings, and use the tax payers money to fund it and profit from.
And the people are beating up on the shit head parliamentarians.
The third and fourth stories - or lectures by Tariq Ali, basically put the demise of democracy into the political context of rampant corruption, and the total inability of the people of any western country, to stop the wars and war crimes being committed in their name, so that the corrupt corporations may continue to profit from the endless wars of aggression for money and oil.
And he speaks up about the issues of corrupt politicians NEVER being held to account for committing war crimes - and how people respond to them and the issues they create, from the people being bombed to the people who want a stop put the wars and the corruption to be exposed and the perpetrators of these crimes to be prosecuted.
https://www.rt.com/uk/330081-ethical-investment-local-government/
Tory clampdown on ethical investments branded ‘assault on democracy’
Conservative government attempts to stop councils from making ethical investment decisions is an assault on local democracy and campaigners’ rights, a leading anti-arms charity has said.
The policy change was announced in November 2015, and was prompted by the spread of hardline divestment campaigns against Israeli and UK defense companies. Under the plan, central government will have the power to veto council investment decisions made on ethical grounds relating to the arms trade, human rights and fossil fuels.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Protect local democracy! Government trying to block councils making ethical investments decisions on arms trade. https://t.co/upPySeL7jx— Martin Hughes (@MartinJHughes) January 21, 2016The government’s proposal has angered human rights and ethical finance campaigners, who say it undermines democracy.
In recent years, councils had begun discarding fossil fuel, tobacco and arms firms from their investment portfolios, while others passed motions stating they will not buy services from firms that assist with Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.
‘Attack on democracy’
Speaking to RT on Monday, Andrew Smith of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) said the government’s policy change is political.“What it amounts to is an attack on local democracy and the rights of campaigners,” he said.
Published on Jun 8, 2015
25p from every person's council tax goes towards pension funds and a percentage of that is invested into the making of the bombs. Paul McGowan, Peace activist & retired teacher is campaigning for councils to invest in ethical businesses. “It may be anti-arms trade and pro-Palestine activists who the government is targeting today, but if the precedent is set then they can use it against any campaigners they want to in the future.
“The message it sends out is that the reputations of arms companies and support for the occupation of Palestine are more important to the government than democracy.”
Smith further argued that councils are supposed to represent the interests of local citizens and respond to their needs.
“Surely, if they really believe in empowering councils and promoting local decision making, then they should also allow councils to decide where their money is invested?” he said.
Culture of unethical investments
The Local Government Pension Scheme has 4.6 million members in Britain, including teachers, social workers, librarians and other employees in local government jobs. It is a decentralized program, with decisions made at a local level on how pensions are invested.Anti-poverty charity War on Want stresses this process offers all stakeholders a say, and facilitates public debate and discussion that ensures local government remains representative of the values of the local community.
Although the government claims the new regulations will allocate more power to local councils, War on Want insists this is “nonsense.”
“Under the proposal, central government will have a veto over decisions made locally. This is unfair and anti-democratic and simply highlights the dishonesty at the heart of the government’s plan,” the group says.
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How George Osborne transformed @theFCA into his personal political poodle https://t.co/cgQCJeqHMF via @GeorgeKerevanpic.twitter.com/WSHG36L0Ua— Ian Fraser (@Ian_Fraser) January 25, 2016 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The government’s consultation period concerning local authorities’ investment practices will come to a close on February 19. In an effort to highlight the undemocratic nature of the government’s proposed policy change, campaigners have launched an online petition demanding it scrap the move.
The petition calls upon the government to respect councils’ investment decisions and the integrity of local-level democracy itself. As of Monday afternoon, it had attracted over 7,200 signatures.
While some councils in Britain seek to invest funds ethically, others are less discerning. In 2015, scrutiny of council pension fund investments uncovered links to the arms trade, tobacco companies and the global pharmaceutical industry.
From Glasgow to Hackney, UK local authorities were found to be investing taxpayers’ hard earned cash in unethical sectors of the economy in the hope of securing stable returns.
Ethical finance campaigner and researcher Joel Benjamin says virtually all local authorities across the UK are investing unethically.
Benjamin, who is carrying out investigative research into local authorities' financial flows, says this investment occurs “directly via shares or indirectly in pooled funds which track the FTSE 100.”
https://www.rt.com/uk/330078-politicians-attacked-abused-voters/
1 in 5 British politicians ‘attacked’ by aggressive voters, study finds
British MPs claim they have been abused or violently attacked by aggressive voters, including threats made against their children, it has emerged.
A study published in the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology on Monday found 192 MPs had reported aggressive or intrusive behavior from voters, while 101 had received threats.Of the 239 MPs questioned for the survey, half said they had been targeted in their homes while 36 said they were scared to leave the house.
Published on Dec 4, 2015
Britain approved air strikes in Syria but some of the opposition Labour Party MPs who voted in favour of widening attacks against Islamic State are in hot water - as Laura Smith reports from Westminster.
According to the research, carried out by seven Home Office psychiatrists, depression and anxiety often result from such abuse.
Some admitted they had been treated for mental disorders following ‘hate crime.’
‘Keep an eye on your children’
Among a series of statements provided by MPs who took part in the survey, one politician said a voter once told him to “keep an eye on your children.”One MP claims he was punched in the face by a voter, while another alleges a voter “came at me with a hammer.”
“[They] hit me with a brick,” one politician claimed.
“Threats to kill me by telephone at home – call taken by my seven-year-old daughter. Wife received phone calls saying ‘I am going to kill you or one of your family,’” another MP said in a statement.
‘MPs get no security’
Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who spoke on the issue in the House of Commons, said MPs get “no added security.”“The one time there was a security threat when I was a minister was when the Fathers4Justice mob took issue with something I had done and we had intelligence that they might well install themselves on the roof of my house.
“I rang the police and they said: ‘If you see anything, give us a ring.’
Published on Sep 1, 2014
George Galloway, British MP and the supporter of Palestine was attacked by a man, dressed in a Israeli Force T-shirt. Despite the pain, Galloway spoke to Anissa Naouai 'In The Now'.“Just because we have lots of police with guns in Westminster doesn’t mean we are safe wherever we go.”
In December, it emerged a Muslim convert threatened to drop a bomb on Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie’s house and “show her what it’s like to murder innocents” after she voted in favor of extending airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) from Iraq into Syria.
In 2010, Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach by a woman because he voted in favor of the Iraq war.
“After what happened to me I was offered a knife arch for my surgeries, but I refused because that just makes it difficult for people to come and see you. It isn’t the MP I want to be,” he told the Observer.
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Whatever else we might think about those labelled as terrorists, it is clear that their tactics have changed the world in ways that serve their religious, political and ideological aims. For example, they have managed to force the West to curtail centuries of commitment to the principles of liberal democracy - winding back hard-won freedoms in the name of security - despite the proclamations of politicians who used to insist: "They shall not change our way of life." Given this, is there anything that terrorists have to teach us - about the single-minded pursuit of purpose; about the necessity of puncturing the consensus of mainstream politics and culture? Or about the need to feed the ever-hungry media beast? Writer, essayist and film-maker Tariq Ali addresses these issues and more at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Ali has written several books, is an occasional broadcaster on BBC Radio, writes regularly for The Guardian and the London Review of Books and is a longstanding editor of the New Left Review.Sydney Opera House, October 2010
Tariq Ali: The Twilight of Democracy, Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015
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