UK Indymedia - UK Analysis Newswire Archive

How governments created the present welfare mess

13-05-2013 20:48

It is not workshy Britons who are the cause of the present welfare mess: it is governments of all stripes who have created it over the past 35 years through their acts of commission and omission

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Housing: to the haves shall be given…

13-05-2013 20:44

There is much noise made about the subsidising of those in social housing through less than market rents. That benefit is tiny compared to the benefits the state has lavished on those who buy their homes.

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UG#637 - The Preliminaries Of A Vision (Of A World We Might Want)

13-05-2013 16:21

This week an invitation to reflect on capitalism in crisis not as an economic but a political phenomenon. We hear two 'bigger picture' talks on the interrelationships between Economics and Politics, one with a European focus, one which concentrates on USA. First Tariq Ali gives us "The Rotten Heart of Europe" summarising the machinations of the political elite in Europe. Next it is Gar Alperovitz, author of "America Beyond Capitalism", on the growth of US movements to decentralize wealth and ownership.

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UG#636 - Bilking The Afflicted (Addiction, Drugs & Capitalism)

11-05-2013 15:33

This episode we turn our attention to the 'War on Drugs', which as addiction specialist Gabor Maté points out is of course a war on drug users. We start with a hour on "The Science of Drug Politics" by former UK Government Chief Drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt whose testimony clearly suggests that scientific considerations were of minor interest to the politicians he was supposed to advise. Next we hear Dr. Maté who touches on some of the reasons why the War On Drugs may not be failure after all...

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BBC using fraud & price fixing suspects KPMG to deliver their 'business news'

11-05-2013 12:20

Green Councillor Daniella Radici, Martin Summers and Tony Gosling discuss Financial services firm KPMG who have been given a slot on BBC Radio Bristol 'volunteering' a 7:30am 'business news' for the BBC Breakfast show but failing to reference a pro-Coalition government report talking up the economy promising 200,000 jobs about to come to Britain, but who wrote this report and why have the BBC given up their editorial independence?

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Religion - is - Politics!

11-05-2013 08:52

Given the re-emergence of 'armed' fundamentalist religion in the middle east and the calls for Shariah law to become operational in the UK and Europe this article considers how and why religion has started to challenge for political power and how mainstream politics often mimics the form of a religion.

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UG#635 - Apocalypse Postponed (Perspectives On A Progressive Future)

07-05-2013 14:46

Last episode we reflected on whether people's penchant for doomsday predictions and tales of the living dead was connected to their common experience of life under capitalism. This time, given the absence of an apocalyptic Mayan doomsday event, we ask whether a conscious effort to reject such catastrophism is in order, and what a progressive future might look like.

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UG#634 - The Coming Apocalypse etc. (Catastrophism, Zombies, The "Fiscal Cliff")

07-05-2013 03:13

On our last show before December 21st, 2012, we examine the spectre of 'catastrophe'. Does the popularity of undead imagery reveal anything about modern society? We begin by revisiting David Graeber's insights on Tiv mythology at the time of the African slave trade, then examine the underpinning of the modern university and schooling systems as a way to decode the barrage of modern day warnings of the 'Fiscal Cliff'.

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Culling the Middle-classes

05-05-2013 11:53

This article looks at the continuing destruction of blue and white-collar working and middle-class occupations and considers the implications of this in the developing crisis of the capitalist mode of production. It also considers the current 'poverty of politics' and the other side of this coin - the 'politics of poverty'. The latter being used to blame the victims of this corrupt and exploitative system.

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UG#633 - Putting The 'Mental' Back in Environmental (Food Waste & FMNR In Niger)

05-05-2013 02:11

Is planet earth facing a food crisis? Are there too many people here? Can humanity afford to tackle desertification in the Sahel? Filmmaker Mike Freedman, food activist Tristram Stuart, author Ronald Wright and finally permaculturist and aid worker Tony Rinaudo all contribute their voices to this week's challenge to simplistic and reductionist thinking on such matters.

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First ever Bilderberg Fringe Festival to take place in Hertfordshire

02-05-2013 00:06

A group of concerned citizens are launching the first ever Bilderberg Fringe Festival
Comprising talks, workshops, comedy and music on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2013

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UG#632 - The War On Kids (The Youth Of Today's Toxic Legacy)

01-05-2013 03:12

Whether in terms of biodiversity, Peak Oil, water shortages or whatever, we've looked many times on this show at the damaged and degraded planet earth that we are leaving for our children. This week we take another angle, looking at the damage done to the very brains and minds of our children.

Full article | 5 comments

ZAD, Commune, Metropolis

28-04-2013 18:16

(The following account was written by a media collective based in the UK and Montreal. Much has been changed in order to present a coherent picture. It was written after several months of travel. All errors are the fault of the authors.)

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Should a site as controlling as Indymedia Scotland bear the indy name at all?

28-04-2013 14:13

A consumer investigative into the experience of registering with the separate Scottish Indymedia site, trying to use it and finding it very controlled. Hence a caution to watch out for the standards that all the geographically separate Indymedia sites will work by, to remain independent medias meriting the name at all.

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'Triple Dip/Sticks.' (et al)

26-04-2013 19:30

This weeks economic announcements have managed to focus on the symptoms of crisis rather than the cause. UK Politicians have once again missed the real economic signals and focussed mainly on the 'noise' emanating from similarly confused pundits.

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UG#631 - John Taylor Gatto, Genius (Extended Childhood and Western Spirituality)

24-04-2013 18:01

This week, exceptionally, we hear two pieces from a single speaker, John Taylor Gatto. After a period of neglect following a stroke in 2011, Gatto is steadily recovering. We reflect on his genius with two classic talks: "Bianca, You Animal, Shut Up!" and "The Neglected Genius of American Spirituality".

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The Un-Beautiful Game

24-04-2013 10:24

The recent biting attack during a game of football extends the range of professional fouls which have now come to dominate the game. This article suggests the pressure on players to win are not entirely dis-connected to the current crisis of capitalism.

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The Thatcher Legacy, the Legacy of Dependency.

21-04-2013 22:36

The freedom's we have enjoyed in our modern period are not the freedoms given to us by the gentrification and systemisation of our economy, but by the might of an empire. The Thatcher legacy is not derived from what we know to be true, but by what we don't know at all.

Full article | 5 comments

Make tower hamlets Council truthful - or a local 'mayor' may sink as Ken did!

21-04-2013 21:59

UK Communities Secretary Eric Pickles may be in for a surprise welcome in a most
untypical zone - the inner city, routinely "deprived" East London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Pickles may not be even aware himself that he may be the leader of a subliminal movement progressing modestly across Tower Hamlets that may end up with sinking Lutfur Rahman in the forthcoming 'mayor poll' in May 2014.

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s144 - Damned Lies and No Useful Statistics

20-04-2013 22:29

To tie in with the courtcase starting Monday in Brighton, when three squatters are going on trial under s144 and will not be pleading guilty, here's some analysis of the criminalisation of squatting in England and Wales..