privatisation
Shell to Sea: the struggle against the gas pipeline and refinery in Ireland - background and updates
In Erris, a remote area on Ireland’s Western Atlantic coast a consortium of multinationals: Shell, Statoil and Marathon, supported by the Irish State, is proposing to build a dangerous, experimental raw gas pipeline and gas refinery. But they are being stopped...
This libcom.org news feature contains background information and updates on the struggle and related developments.
Background information
Pipeline and refinery
Council sell-off sparks unrest down the farm
Ten people, three cows, two pigs, several sheep and a carthorse occupied an empty 80-acre farm in the village of Chiselborough, Near Yeovil in Somerset on Friday.
They were protesting against the council auctioning off the publicy owned farm next month as part of spate of similar sell-offs.
Balham Hill's farm shop was scrubbed down during the occupation and started selling milk, meat and vegetables, and then as more animals arrived, they were put out to graze as the occupation continued.
One local said:
PFI scheme reignites for NHS
Two major victories for government supporters of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding for improvements to public services have been approved in the last two weeks.
At St Bartholemew’s hospital in London, £1bn for re-development has been authorised to be split between the facility and the Royal London. The deal will be run on a PFI basis, meaning that companies will effectively loan the hospitals money for the revamp, to be paid back over a 35 year period.
Commonwealth Games pitches close
In 2014, Glasgow intends to host the Commonwealth Games.
In 2007 and 2008, Glasgow intends to prepare for that great event by selling off football pitches at Maryhill Road, North Kelvinside; Acre Road, Summerston; and Cowlairs Park, Springburn.
Pitches next to recently closed primary schools are also planned to be built over.
New North Glasgow Residents' Association
Following two meetings of residents of the areas, a new association of residents has started in Possilpark in Glasgow.
Hamiltonhill Residents' Association has come together due to the often overwhelming problems experienced by the local community. Repairs to walls and piping, heroin addicts and the closure of three schools on the estate, are hot topics. More concrete arrangements for campaigning are beginning to form also.
Water torture - Privatisation leaves us high and dry
Brighton news sheet Schnews takes an irreverent look at the privatisation of water supplies in the UK, which since 1988 has lead to huge price hikes for users and bumper profits for corporations – a situation being repeated the world over.
Corporations have to splash out billions every year to persuade us to buy unneeded crap. But no such problems exist when they have a grip on more essential, life-sustaining, natural resources, like water. You don’t need to fork out millions for flashy PR men and mount big dollar advertising splashes to flog H2O. Who has to persuade us to use water? They’ve got us over a barrel on that one.
1989-2001 UK water privatisation
UK Water privatisation - a briefing
February 2001
by
MoD PLC - The sell-off of the Ministry of Defence's research agency
Arms trade. Government sweeteners. Tax havens. Dodgy corporations making a killing. Directors paying themselves a packet. Ridiculous company names. Welcome to New Labour’s first full blown privatisation.
In case you missed it while checking your portfolios(!), last week ‘defence research’ group QinetiQ was floated on the stock exchange, which even in the world of cut-throat capitalism raised quite a few eyebrows and mutterings of ‘rip off’ - even from those unconcerned about the whole profiting-from-killing-people business.
NHS: The cost of privatisation
The government’s controversial private finance initiative is floundering. Patricia Hewitt’s review of the £1.28bn PFI plan for the Barts and The London hospitals trust, prompted by spiralling costs revealed last December, also raises questions about the whole policy.
Professor Allyson Pollock, head of the Centre for International Public Health Policy wrote in the Guardian:
Edinburgh council tenants fighting privatisation speak
Council tenants from Edinburgh speak about their recent victory against the sell-off of council housing, and the fight for more investment they still face.
Tenants, trade unionists and councillors from around the country were set to attend a mass lobby of parliament on Wednesday of this week to protest against the government’s policy of handing council homes to private companies.
The lobby was called by Defend Council Housing (DCH), a national coalition of housing campaigns.
