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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Minister joins Knife Crime blog criticism of arrogant bankers

Well, it's good to see some pretty senior people agree with me. In my business killers post below, I criticised the greed of bankers and business. Now, City minister Lord Myners has echoed this blog's thinking. His words also aptly describe the superior, lofty attitude of the out-of-touch banking and business elite: "arrogant", "greedy", "no sense of society", and describing their approach to life as "unpalatable".

Hope things change for the better. Tackling an inequitable work and life environment just might give some hope that knife crime, violent crime can be tackled at grass roots level, offering lifelines to the despairing and disenfranchised out there that it is worth working for a living. And I know this is idealism talking - imagine, some kind of heaven on earth. How daft am I...

Friday, January 23, 2009

Knife crime statistics - January 2009

Try this Google search for all recent information articles on the latest crime figures, including the increase in knife crime.

Latest crime and knife crime statistics

Business is killing security and happiness in our society

During summer last year I pointed out in this knife crime blog that greedy bankers and business would cause us major misery (see business killers post).

Well, then the whole world financial system crashed - which, despite my prophetic-type comments, surprised the heck out of me!

Now, as the mess caused by a greedy financial system and money-obsessed business machine starts to roll out, causing abject misery for millions, there are still business people out there saying, "Glad I'm not among those poor little people struggling on next to nothing. Imagine, no job. Must be their fault. They need to get on their bike. I worked to get where I am, I deserve to be in a safe, secure position."

You know, the kind of selfish rhetoric that bounces round those self-interested types.

Well, it just occurred to me that perhaps it really is time that the high salaries, bonus mentality etc and the capitalist gearing that ensures corporations hoover money out of society, country economies etc, even poor and sick people's homes, must stop.

What gives someone the right to earn more than the nurse, dustman or the toilet cleaner? Better use of brain power? I'm not saying the lazy and criminal etc should be rewarded - some pushing, penalty and punishment is surely required at times.

But who says law-abiding, honest people, hard-working families, deserve so much less than the business people who are obsessed with the luxuries of life, at the expense of others?

More equality is required. Love is missing in the economy. I don't mean elimination of reward for good work. But it is obscene for a few to be able to acquire the trappings of massive wealth while others barely get by, perhaps starving or near the breadline.

I refer back to what I said a while back - those in authority, societal leaders, especially those at or near the top of the financial or wealth tree, need to realise the reponsibility they have to ensure a moral, accessible economic system that allows those in the poorer sections of society to aspire to better lives, to be able to do worthwhile work. In the current recession, livelihoods, skills, decent lives are being shattered and it's going to get worse.

At the moment, we have a prime, terrible example, how the so-called cleverest, best and honoured in society just stripped the system to a shambolic state barely deserving the words 'human'. What a bunch of bankers. Remembering this is a knife crime blog, it's worth considering the analogy that they may not hold the knife but they are at least partly responsible for the reasons why misery is caused, why crime happens and blades are in people's pockets.

Mind you, after saying all that, you must all realise that it can be pretty easy to rant on in this vein, casting about for some people or something to blame. I don't pretend to be highly knowledgeable about all of this but I can't help feeling that, despite all those great brains out there, we seem to be in a situation where the blind are leading the blind - straight into some pretty crap ditches.

I suppose, at the end of the day, if life was easy, we'd all be millionaires.