Disaster capitalists look for ways to make money from misery, crisis or fear. The growing wave of anti-immigration sentiment sweeping the world suits such companies just fine. It’s an area I’m investigating for a forthcoming book and this New York Times piece perfectly captures the mood in Britain; the dangerous nexus between government rhetoric, firms…
Showing all posts tagged Britain
Naomi Klein on blindly ignoring the Shock Doctrine in Britain
She’s right: Argentina’s mass looting was called El Saqueo—the sacking. That was politically significant because it was the very same word used to describe what that country’s elites had done by selling off the country’s national assets in flagrantly corrupt privatization deals, hiding their money offshore, then passing on the bill to the people with…
British banks love the smell of cluster bombs in the morning
Yet another reason that major banks, this time in Britain, regard corporate social responsibility as something that needs to be done, rather than actually believed. Making money, no matter how, is the key reason to get up in the morning. And helping to manufacture death? Bring. It. On: British high-street banks, including two institutions that…
Why only corporate fools treat anything Tony Blair says seriously
The shameful legacy of Iraq should never be forgotten (via the Daily Mail): The exhausted secret intelligence officer was heading home after a heavy session analysing reports from Iraq. As he stepped out through the high-security air-lock exit from MI6’s grand headquarters beside the Thames in London, a newspaper-seller’s placard caught his eye — ”˜45…
About time Zionist extremists are barred from robust democracies
Bravo: The U.K. Border Agency is prohibiting fundamentalist Rabbi Yosef Elitzur, co-author of the controversial book “The King’s Torah” (“Torat Hamelech” ), from entering Britain, the Jewish Voice website reported on… Wednesday. Elitzur received a letter last month from the U.K. Border Agency, signed by the home secretary, informing him that he could not enter Britain…
Murdoch’s mob-friendly environment; thugs stick together
Michael Woolf on The Family with a whole lotta scruples: In my biography of Rupert Murdoch, I referred to News Corporation as Mafia-like, provoking the annoyance of my publisher’s libel lawyers. I explained to them that I did not mean to suggest this was an organized crime family, but instead was using “mafia” as a…
Nick Clegg, in April 2010, warning of Tory-led “riots” in Britain
Of course, Clegg is now in the British government:
You can only push “austerity cuts” so far and not expect payback
The rioting in Britain has shocked Britain and the world but it really should not. Is this about payback for years of police mistreatment, a powerful statement from those who feel ostracised from mainstream England or criminal looters? A little bit of everything. The Guardian expands on the social media aspect: In October 1985, on…