practically insurgent

Richard Branson is your perfect sort of New Labour capitalist. The sort of smarmy, smart-casual, PR savvy wanker that populates the modern world. We're supposed to like him, because he's all young and exciting, gives to charidee and all that bollocks. So when he says stuff like this:

"For some of you, more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere"

To employees who are striking for the industry's average wage, somewhere in my little materialist brain a little fellow keeps shouting "I told you so!" However genial your face fuzz, when the eyes are fixed on the bottom line you cut a liberal and he'll bleed like a tory. Just like the late Anita Roddick, the union-busting hippy, or Starbucks' questionably sourced beans.

He can stick his "smaller, friendlier company "up his arse.

Derek Conway is trying very hard to become the most detested politician in the country. If it hadn't been for George Galloway bullying Jodie Marsh on Celebrity Big Brother and the fact that most people don't read the newspaper, then I think he'd be a pretty comfortable winner.

Every day he seems to raise the bar just that little bit higher. If you have something against the shamelessly greedy, then you hate Conway. If he paid anyone ｣40k a year to open his mail, it would be a scandal, paying three members of his family to do it is a little corruption cottage industry (or "graft" as you might call it where this any state in Sub-Saharan Africa). Then he has the brass neck to claim he's done nothing wrong!

What really sent me off the deep end was this gem that appeared in the Sunday papers: "An MP is paid less than the sous chef at the Commons. Many people may think 60 grand is the right level for an MP � most MPs would not."

Now, I must confess, I'm an evil subversive with a deep, possibly pathological, loathing of the ruling classes. So I might be naturally prone to being overemotional about this sort of thing. But why, having been caught giving his sons (and their mates!) tens of thousands of pounds to do essentially the same job I do for ｣6p/h, would you exacerbate the situation by claiming to be underpaid?

If there's one thing that pushes my buttons, it's when people are not only massively wealthy, but are also so detached from the world that they don't even comprehend how privileged they are.

In what experience of life could anyone look at the world and conclude that ｣60,000 per year, with travel and housing expenses, without the obligation to actually do anything, with full expenses, enough free time to take other work (!) and the freedom to pay your assistants basically whatever you like, then conclude that they're underpaid?!! Then imagine that the Commons sous chef gets more! The cleaners at parliament get minimum wage for god's sake!

Most MPs would do well to remember that the purpose of a wage for parliamentarians is so that working class parliamentarians could support themselves without wealthy backers, not so fat fuckers like Conway could stick themselves and their god awful children on the public money gravy train. What happened to joining politics for the principle of it? Of just feeling you could do good work as the democratic representative of your people?

(nb. Now that we've established with Mr.Conway that the going rate for a secretary is ｣40,000 per year, can we expect him to lobbying hard for public sector administrators to get a massive pay rise at the next round of wage talks?)

Well, as the blacklisted Manchester electricians will tell you, they never went away. But what the hell is this?

"The National Staff Dismissal Database (NSDR) is an Action Against Business Crime (AABC) initiative to reduce losses attributed to staff dishonesty." A list of people "dismissed (whether prosecuted or otherwise) or left the company under suspicion of: Theft or attempted theft of money, merchandise or property from the Company, its suppliers, staff or customers... causing a loss to the company or another party... causing damage to company property." All of which is apparently done by a "home office supported body" regulated by the Data Protection Act.

Surely this has got to be illegal? If people commit criminal acts that mean they aren't fit for a job, then there's already mechanisms for guarding against that, most companies operate criminal record disclosures, and they all have access to the Criminal Records Bureau system if they need it. So what possible purpose could this serve?

Note the bits in bold, to go on this list you don't have to have committed a crime at all, just have your former employer suspect you of doing so. Also, look at the criteria; theft, damage to company property, causing loss? What the hell could "causing loss" cover? Practically anything. Theft? What counts? A few pens? A stapler? Or serious fraud? Damaging company property? What like crashing a forklift or something like that? The potential to abuse this (or rather, to use it probably intended function - as a blacklist) is huge.

And of course access is restricted to clients, so you have no way of knowing if you've been included on it.

All backed by our Labour government apparently. They never cease to amaze...

hat tip: Meanwhile at the bar

As you busily attack those in solidarity with the people of Colombia, people continue to die at the hands of your buddy Alvaro Uribe. On February 10th, the President denounces a demonstration organised by National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE) as being organised by the guerrillas. Over the course of the March people die.

* Carmen Cecilia Carvajal, teacher. Killed 4 March, in Ocaña, Norte de Santander.

* Leonidas Gómez Rozo, member of the bankworkers union, Unión Nacional de Empleados Bancarios (Uneb), president of the CITY-BANK Branco. Killed on 5 March, in Bogotá.

* Gildardo Gómez Alzate, teacher and activist of the Asociación de Institutores de Antioquia (Adida). Killed 7 March, in Medellín.

* Carlos Burbano, vice-president of the Hospitalworkers Union, Asociación Nacional de Trabajadores Hospitalarios. Killed 11 March, San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá.

Carlos Burbano…was disappeared on 9 March in San Vicente del Caguán. He had led the local March 6 demonstration. His corpse was found at the municipal rubbish dump with his face disfigured by acid.1

Meanwhile, our government and others around the world continue to ignore the fact that the majority of atrocities in Colombia continue to be attributable to the government and its proxies, continuing to feed this brutal regime guns and money.