Sting in the Tail: Suffer the little children (1996)

The Sting in the Tail column from the July 1996 issue of the Socialist Standard

Suffer the little children

Stephen Dorrell, the health secretary, is expected to order health regions to give more priority to paediatric intensive care beds after reports that numbers have fallen dangerously low.

In one of the worst cases, Nicholas Geldard, aged 10, died from a brain haemorrhage last December after being taken to four hospitals and across the Pennines in a snowstorm because no bed could be found for him.

Mr Dorrell’s action could be less than compassionate, however, for according to the Sunday Telegraph (19 May):

“He will also expect at least 33 of the beds to be opened by the winter, when demand is at its highest and to avoid any scandals in the run-up to the general election. ”

This is another example of the cynical contempt the Tory Party and its "Torygraph" supporters display towards the health care of the working class.

Ways of seeing

The 60th anniversary of the Spitfire, one of Britain’s World War Two aircraft, had one Jonathan Glancey rhapsodising over its “beauty” in the Independent (8 May).

He informed us that the Spitfire was “one of the most beautiful machines made”. It was “glamorous, romantic, balletic”, and in case we still hadn’t got the message:

“The spirit of the Spitfire is deeply embedded in our culture, a machine that somehow speaks of cricket, the sonnets of Keats . . ."

All this tripe about a machine designed to kill and destroy, a weapon in British capitalism’s struggle to hold onto its empire, markets and place as a world plunderer. Can something like this really be beautiful?

For us, a kidney machine or even the humble washing machine, which at least reduces drudgery, are far, far more beautiful than the Spitfire and every other instrument of death and destruction.

Utopian “Socialists”

The syllabus of the Socialist Scholars Conference held in New York City in April had 42 speakers listed to speak on 11 subjects under the general heading "Two Cheers for Utopia—Re-imagining Socialism".

This looked promising; after all, when scholars get together to talk about “socialism" they invariably mean schemes for patching-up capitalism through programmes of reforms. Could this really be a conference to discuss genuine socialism?

Even more promising was the statement in the syllabus that:

". . . we believe a little utopia is precisely what our society needs. "

Alas, further reading revealed that for these scholars “Re-imagining Socialism" amounted to such “outlandish” proposals as a guaranteed income, opposition to privatisation and welfare cuts, etc.

This is utopia? Compared to our vision of a classless, moneyless, worldwide society of production for use, the imagining of the SSC is very limited indeed.

Spot that tune

The terms of reference of the Hearing committee of inquiry into the future of further education in Britain spell out what the inquiry’s priorities will be.

The terms emphasise the need for universities to provide graduates with the skills required by industry, and although the need to be internationally competitive gets ten mentions, scholarship gets only four.

Anyone who is shocked by such priorities should remember that this is capitalism, and what is good for business will inevitably come first. This is why a committee dealing with education draws five of its sixteen members from business.

The fact is that the cost of education is borne by our masters, and isn’t it still true that who pays the piper calls the tune?

What Sid wasn’t told

Remember Sid? He was the creation of the ad-men in the Tories’ campaign to persuade your ordinary punter to buy shares in the privatised industries in the hope that ever-rising dividends and share prices would bring him to love the capitalist system.

Of course, Sid wasn’t told that owning shares in a company didn’t mean it would never sack him, and far from having a say in company policy he wouldn’t stand a chance against the big institutional investors. Now, the directors want shot of him altogether because he is a “costly pest” (Independent, 14 May).

Yes, lots of Sids did buy shares, about £ 1,000 worth on average, but mostly they flogged ’em, took the money and ran—in 1987 British Gas had 4.4 million shareholders but now has only 1.7 million.

Sid was only the front-man in yet another foolish attempt to achieve the impossible—making capitalism operate in the interest of the vast majority.

Hanson hits out

Lord Hanson, multi-millionaire turned social pundit has penned a blistering attack on “destructive journalism” in an article in the Spectator (16 May).

The noble lord writes “Destructive journalism fosters the believe that politicians routinely evade the truth and break their promises."

Politicians telling porkies? We are shocked at the suggestion. Broken promises? Tut, tut. What calumny.

But Hanson is really upset at what is written about businessmen: “They are castigated for seeking profit, damaging the environment and much else besides.”

As if businessmen would stoop so low, me lord!

Alternative voice (2006)

TV Review from the April 2006 issue of the Socialist Standard

Democracy Now! Pacifica Radio. http://www.democracynow.org/

“Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent.” Thus is the journalistic philosophy of Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of the New York–based radio/television news programme Democracy Now!, now in its tenth year. True to her vision, Goodman’s one-hour show covers the stories ignored or suppressed by the corporate-sponsored media, and provides a platform for the politically underrepresented to give their views and commentary on stories reported by the mainstream news. Artists, leftist academics, peace activists, whistleblowers, union representatives, and independent journalists make up the majority of those interviewed. In many respects, then, Democracy Now! is like a daily edition of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, reporting on the activities of various segments of the working class to resist political and economic oppression.

Each show begins with Amy Goodman delivering ten minutes of headline news; while there is a tendency to focus on American politics, the show is much more international in scope than most other American news programmes. The remaining fifty minutes explores one or two stories in further detail via interviews or a live debate between a prominent activist or academic and a government spokesperson. Past guests have included academics Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, and Howard Zinn; authors Alice Walker, Arundhati Roy, and Salman Rushdie; and spokespeople from civil rights and activist groups such as Greenpeace and the American Civil Liberties Union. The plethora of voices critical of the government and society is a welcome diversion from the business and government cronies featured on most corporate news programmes. (And unlike other so-called “independent” or “public” media outlets, Democracy Now! is funded entirely by listeners, viewers, and foundations; they run no advertising and do not accept donations from corporations or governments.)

If the show has one fault, it is that it sometimes assumes a particular political group or ideology must have merit simply because its views are in the minority. Such was the case with a February show commemorating the assassination of black nationalist leader Malcolm X. Guests were brought in to heap praises upon the man, and a long excerpt from his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” was played. No comment or criticism was made on his racist-separatist agenda, nor on his suggestion that the “black community” would be better off if blacks ran their own economy. Goodman, who is usually unafraid to pose hard-hitting questions, neglected to challenge the ludicrous implication that black workers would be any less exploited serving black masters than white ones.

Nonetheless, Democracy Now! serves a useful purpose in bringing underreported stories and views to the forefront. Until socialists can establish their own news programme, Goodman’s show is a good supplement or even outright replacement for the corporate nightly news.

Tristan Miller

Democracy Now! is broadcast in London on Resonance 104.4 FM Thursdays at 11:00; across Europe on Sky Digital channel 0122 Monday to Friday at 15:00; and on the Internet via RealAudio, RealVideo, MP3, or Ogg Vorbis at http://www.democracynow.org/ .