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New
Living Diary
Index
New participatory democracy
Taming
the Corporations
My Welsh socialism
My New Socialist
Settlement
Globalise the left!
Bevan re-visited
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item0042E 728, 729
728
3 June 2003
Fat Cattery
O dear o
dear o dear.
Patricia Hewitt doesn't get it, does she? The waves of public protest
mount about her, and she warbles on -
We
have no problems with big rewards for big success, but shareholders are
rightly concerned when directors leave failing companies and
walk away
with excessive payouts."
Well Patricia - I do have a
problem. I do have an old-fashioned socialist problem relating to the
abuse of power, and the payment of totally disproportionate rewards.
For the Warbling Minister is missing the point entirely. The political problem is precisely the systematic abuse of companies by
their secretive guardians, namely the Main Board Directors - whether
"executive" or "non-executive" (which is a distinction without a legal
difference). The political problem does not lie with the
exceptional
con-tricks pulled by departing Directors, in their own favour. It lies
is the
systemic dishonesty
of a company-law system which allows Directors to determine their own
salaries, in secret, without consultation with anyone -
routinely, humdrumly, day-in day-out, as a matter of exploitative course
- without a finger being
raised by Government.Apologists
complain that the public does not begrudge Beckham, or Elton John or Madonna
their millions, but begrudge a measly few £-million to our "top Directors".
Let me deal with that question.
First:
the excessive "rewards" to sportsmen are the indirect consequence of the
abuse of Boardroom power - the two systems are indissolubly linked.
Astronomical professional fees (lawyers, accountants, stockbrokers,
financial analysts) similarly derive from the abuse of Boardroom power.
They are all parasitic upon the golden secrecy of the Boardroom.
Because those at the centre of the system know that it is strategically important to
increase the number of snouts in the trough, thus minimising the risk of
individualised opprobrium. David Beckham does not sit on the Board
determining his own salary - nor does Elton John, nor Madonna. But the
fat-cats of business fix it all
among themselves,
as a privileged and secretive elite. Therein lies the difference.
Second: The
originating evil of the system is the
secrecy of all Boardroom
transactions.
For all public companies, that veil of secrecy should be ripped down, by
Labour - although I accept that the issue is a difficult one, and would
require extensive international negotiation. The evil of "private"
secrecy will be confronted only by publicity, and the creation of an
effective system of checks and balances, within companies.
Shareholders should be given the power to veto these remuneration packages
before they are
approved.
The Warbling Minister will not contemplate such a radical move, giving
shareholders only the right to shout
"We was robbed!"
after the deals have been done. And in a media-led democracy, the Meeja must be allowed into every major company, as they are now assured an entry into Government Departments.
The cobwebs of corrupt secrecy must be blown away.
- This massive international
campaign is furthered by the Declaration (which you should definitely read)
at Tame the Corporations!
Do you
have any experience of this great century-long political saga? Drop me a line
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729
24 June 2003
Labour’s New Barbarism
Do you share my revulsion at Labour’s New Barbarism?
-
At every turn, Labour Ministers demonstrate that they
are out of touch, losing any sense of what a liberal democracy means.
Their insouciant promotion of public apprehension and fear, to justify
war on Iraq – the enactment of anti-terrorist measures far more severe
than elsewhere in Europe - the grotesque coercion of social behaviour
orders – the prosecution of truants’ parents – Blunkett, damned by the
shameful title “Most Islamophobic leader”, out-scoring the BNP Chairman
Nick Griffin – the deliberate deployment of nastiness in immigration
control, as an instrument of policy - Charles Clarke and his boorish
illiteracy, in condemning the classics and mediaeval history – the blind
faith in coercion, as applied to the National Curriculum – the restrictive
licensing of pub music - the
exaggeration of “terror threats” to inculcate political passivity - the
onward march of the deeply fascist conjunction of “rights” with
“responsibilities” – the many concessions to Police convenience and dogma,
in the maintenance of civic order – the drift towards an unnecessary
regime of identity cards - tolerance of private prisons and the illiberal
misjudgements they reflect - new dirigiste health strategies directed
against smokers and the overweight.
At every turn, Labour is demonstrating a loss of moral
sense , of democratic perspective. And the tragedy is that there is no other
Party capable of holding these Ministers to account.
Where do we look, for a counterweight
to this nastiness? Drop me a line
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