Excitement
Oscar Wilde once wrote that a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Marxists might think this description perfectly fits economists, the apologists for capitalism. Despite their education, these political science "experts" appear to have missed the lectures dealing with Marx's Labour Theory of Value. As a result of this gap in their knowledge, they have a lot in common with the contestants in The Price is Right.
For those with the good fortune not to have seen it this programme is a prime example of the rubbish that masquerades as TV entertainment. As a reward for guessing the price of particular commodities, the hyped-up, frenzied workers taking part win themselves shoddy prizes. The euphoria that generates results in a further exhibition of hysterical behaviour by all in the studio.
How many viewers of The Price is Right also tune in to Antiques Roadshow? First impressions suggest that the two programmes have little in common. Antiques Roadshow aims to project a genteel atmosphere. A quietly spoken expert gives a potted history of the antique in question. Delight in the craftsmanship of the exhibited article is not, however, the programme's appeal. What concentrates the attention of all involved is the solemn pronouncement of the price the item now commands in the market-place. As in a film cartoon, the pound signs flash in the antique owner's eyes.
Second impressions confirm that the factor common to both programmes is the underlying assumption that the accumulation of wealth is the main object of human life. This object must be pursued ruthlessly by the capitalist class, leaving the worker to the dubious pleasure of participating in idiotic gameshows. or selling off the family EPNS.
Under the guise of entertainment, the ruling class continues to propagate their message that there is no alternative to capitalism. The alternative does exist — it is Socialism. Now that really is worth getting excited about.
Expanding police powers
On 1 April the new Public Order Act came into effect. The requirement that organisers of marches must notify police in advance has been in force since the beginning of the year. Implementation of the other provisions contained in the Act means that the police now have wider powers to control marches and demonstrations. They can re-route marches if they consider there is a risk of serious damage to property, or if there is a risk of intimidation or disruption to the community.
Although "static" demonstrations will not need permission in advance from the police, the police will have the right to move people on and to restrict the numbers of people participating. This will inevitably affect pickets and outdoor political meetings and rallies.
In addition, the Act has created new statutory public order offences of riot, violent disorder, threatening behaviour and disorderly conduct (although the Act is very vague about what behaviour would actually constitute an offence of this kind), and corresponding tougher penalties for offenders.
Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the new Act is that not only does it represent one more nail in the coffin of civil liberties, but it has also given the police enormous new discretionary powers to decide when a Public Order offence has been committed.
Blood on the coal
Despite recent conflicts within the NUM over new working arrangements agreed by the South Wales miners, it now seems likely that the new Margam super-pit will go ahead in South Wales. It will be one of British Coal's new, high technology, capital-intensive mines like that at Selby.
British Coal argue that the industry can only be profitable if productivity per miner is increased. The opening of the new Margam pit will be part of the latest phase in the process that began with the pit closure programme that sparked off the year-long strike of 1984-85. Since the end of that dispute countless small and "uneconomic" pits (those which did not produce high enough profits) have been closed. Instead, capital has been concentrated in the new generation mines — large coal fields which use the very latest technology and have been able to intensify the rate of coal extraction. But the new capital-intensive pits cannot become really profitable if the expensive new machinery is left idle at weekends. As a result, the decision to go ahead with Margam was made conditional on the South Wales miners agreeing to work a six-day week and eight-hour shifts to enable the machinery to be in almost continuous use.
Faced with the devastation that has been caused by the closure of the old South Wales pits, it is not surprising that the union has been forced to agree to the new shift system. However there are now fears, especially in Nacods — the pit deputies' and supervisors' union — that the new working practices will lead to a drop in safety standards in an industry which already has a horrifying record for injuries and fatalities.
In addition to the new machinery, which itself poses new problems for health and safety, and the longer shifts, incentive schemes will encourage miners to cut corners in order to speed up production. But Nacods claims that if British Coal is to go ahead with all of its proposed changes, then it will first have to get the government to pass amendments to the 1954 Mines and Quarries Act which presently regulates health and safety standards in mines. British Coal argue that the 1954 Act is anyway out of date and instead advocate new regulations which would have no statutory force but would only constitute a "code of practice". This would mean, for example, that existing regulations which set a minimum height for underground roadways would be scrapped; it would permit the use of roof bolts which, Nacods argues, are highly dangerous as the sole means of support; it would allow the use of free-steered vehicles in mines which American authorities have banned as too dangerous for use in pits because of their carcinogenic emissions.
So, in other words, "de-regulation" of the mining industry will not only mean fewer miners being forced to work harder to produce more coal more cheaply and so enhance the profits of British Coal, but they will be putting their health and their lives at risk in the process.
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