Whatever Happened to Thingamee?

What the weekend is all about.

Well, my slightly-yielding yeomen, There I was looking for a very particular picture to open up my blog when I came across that one. My mouth watered and I have to admit that I dribbled a little bit. Such was the way that my expression glazed over and I drooled into my keyboard, I thought that I was turning into Homer Simpson.

When I saw the URL of the link, I went an explored and I must admit that I got sidetracked. Here I am nearly an hour later, absolutely ravenous after exploring the site and recommending all of my sturdy yeomen who enjoy the odd bite to eat to visit the Food Pornographer. Don’t you just love the ring of that name?

Well, I have wandered off from my chosen path again. (Note 1) What I meant to do was open up with a nice punchy bit of prose to offer a kind of catch up to all the various bits and pieces that have appeared in my blog recently. If this were a TV show, this would be described as another chance to see – or more realistically a repeat.

For those of you who had a particularly heavy night and have yet to fully clear the fog clinging to your synapses’, I should warn you that I am going to be talking about Vulture Funds again – but if you are good, I might talk about other stuff as well. If I do forget though, I better say sorry in advance.

One of the most amazing things about my little foray into campaigning has been how little things happen that make nonsense of my cynicism. One major factor has been the reaction of so many of my 360 friends who have carried the story of Vulture Funds in their own blogs. There really are too many to mention individually, but one stood out both in terms of the research and the writing; that was Fabienne. Of course, I was going to post a link there, but somehow I managed to have misplaced it. (Note 2) Thankfully, I got some help and that got me to Fabienne’s wrap up on the subject.

You may also remember that I have been urging you all to sign petitions to register you displeasure at the way companies can use the law and put personal profit over matters of life and death in the developing world.

Then, you are a British resident (citizenship is not required), you can add your name to the petitions on the Number 10 website. Such is the delight of technology, there has ended up with more than one petition and you can find them here and here.

IMPORTANT : The number 10 website sends you an email to confirm your email address. Some junk mail filters treat this email as spam. If you don’t get a confirmation email with a link to confirm your signature – please check in your junk mail folder!

Anyone can sign the petition on has set up a petition on ipetitions.

At the time of writing, one of the petitions on the number 10 website had reached 115 signatures – enough to get a response from the government (eventually), while the ipetitions had reached 103.

Like others, I wrote to my (UK) elected representatives using the Write to Them website. (Note 3)

Unlike Ian, I haven’t yet had a response from my MP. I kope that my MP, Phil Hope, will join with Helen Southworth in supporting an Early Day Motion on the topic. Although as Phil Hope is currently undergoing treatment for Hodgkins Disease, I would think he has other things on his mind.

Hopefully, Phil Hope will make a full and speedy recovery and be pickling up the cudgel against Vulture Funds soon.

The exchanges I had with my MEPs didn’t start off all that well. Although it must be said that since that blog, I have exchanged a number of emails with Roger Helmer and these could constitute a dialogue or even a debate. I wouldn’t say that we have reached a meeting of minds, but he’s come out top in terms of engaging with his constituent.

My other MEPs have been a bit like the Curate’s egg.

Bill Newton Dunn Liberal Democrat), took the line that it was somebody else’s problem and didn’t respond to any follow up emails. Derek Clark (UKIP), took the view that this was all the fault of the EU. (Note 4)

A minor surprise came in the form of Robert Kilroy-Silk. Given his rather chequered career and recent falling out with UKIP, I hadn’t expected as much as a reply, but he has raised a written question in the European Parliament.

As yet, neither Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative Party) and Glenis Willmott (Labour Party) have yet to reply.

Some of my oak-hearted yeomen might be sat there scratching their heads at this point. At first glance, this doesn’t look like a rip-roaring success. The thing is that we are talking politics hear. Getting anything at all done is a bit like mating elephants. You need to create a lot of noise and kerfuffle then, if you are really lucky, many, many months later you will see results! So, I’m sticking with this and I shall keep plugging away and eventually something will be done! The fact that politicians know about the problem is a start!

From 14th June, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: I’m easily sidetracked by food. This time I found that I was totally unable to think about what I had intended to write until I had plied my growling stomach with something to keep the noise down. Even then, I began to wonder if I should have a little bowl of something next to the keyboard – just in case. Click to return

NOTE 2 : I’m sorry, I’ve had a cold. Click to return

NOTE 3: For any Merkins who wish to write to their elected representatives, you can write to your Senators and Representatives by following the links. If anyone still has outstanding urges to write, you can do no worse than write to different news organisations asking why thay aren’t giving the story more of a profile. Click to return

NOTE 4: Sadly, I’m forced to write Derek Clark off as a totally lost cause. Not only is he a retired Science Teacher, but he actually boasts that he goes on holiday around Western Europe by caravan. I should point out that I swing to the liberal view on caravan. I believe they should be banned from the roads in hours of daylight and that owners should pay exorbitant taxes on these hutches on wheels. Sadly, this hasn’t come about. Instead, when driving with the family, we do tend to boo and hiss any caravan we see on the road during daylight. Click to return

TECHNORATI TAGS : Vulture Funds ; Petition ; Roger Helmer ; Robert Kilroy-Silk ; Bill Newton Dunn; Christopher Heaton-Harris ; Glenis+Willmott ; Derek Clark ; red1hols.

A Tree Falls in the Forest

You are truly amazing!

You wonderful, fantastic yeomen have made the last few days an emotional journey for me. Thank you. Your responses to my blog on the rather nasty, tacky world of Vulture Funds has been incredible.

The response to the story has been huge and fantastic. I have received extra comments on my blog, there have been wonderful messages of support and so many of you have taken up the cudgel on this immoral practice. (Note 1).

As the weekend has gone on I have found more and more reading material, plus I have been blessed with support from friends and friends of friends on the subject – and it has been a really great experience. However, I should point out one misconception from the outset. I cannot claim any credit for starting anything. If anyone deserves credit for bringing this to public attention it is Greg Palast. You can also watch the original TV report from BBC Newsnight from his site.

In this rather emotional ramble, I am going to try and thank everyone who has responded to my call, give you a link to some of the people who have written their own articles or had their own ideas about the topic. I shall try to answer some of the questions I’ve had and respond to comments. I will also try to restore some balance by linking to some counter arguments. (Note 2)

The biggest problem is knowing where to start. The answer is with those who have made their own blog entries.

Sean produced an alternative slant on how to get your voice heard. As well as providing some useful links to how all you fine, concerned Merkins can contact your Senators and Representatives. He also provided some links to major news organisations and some standard letters to ‘cut & paste’ asking them to give the story some prominence. While I was waiting to fully come round this morning, I followed Sean’s lead and tried to email as many news organisations as I could think of. It is amazing how many hide away their contact details. Hidden in the comments section of this blog, Kerry suggested an email address for the White House of ‘comments@whitehouse.gov’. Visiting Sean’s blog also comes with the added bonus of some excellent photography and fine commentary – so you should check it out.

Another fine blog entry came from Fuzzy Slippers. As well as being well written (as are all her blogs – even if she does seem to have an unhealthy appetite for giant sprouts) there are some excellent links included both to learn more about the topic and to get your voice heard.

Despite being pipped in the contest for a Gold Star, (Note 3), Nikki D made a passionate plea for you all add your hoarse whisper to ours so that it becomes a roar. This plea being all the more heart warming because Nikki attended the “Make Poverty History” march back in 2005.

Kerry was one of the first to make her voice heard. She has set up a petition on ipetitions to highlight the problem. Anyone can sign this petition there are no exceptions – so if you haven’t already, please could you spare some time to add your name and comments?

There are others out there who have made the own contributions, updated blasts, signed petitions and fired off emails. All of which helps spread the word about this immoral practice – the more people who know about this the better!!! (Oh No!! I’ve taken to using multiple exclamation marks!!!! Someone pass the Dried Frog Pills, quick!!!!!).

Whatever your desiccated amphibian supplement of choice, the truth is that the powers will only take action if enough voices are heard. So the more people you can tell about this the better. So, please, spread the word.

If you haven’t already, please sign the ipetition - anyone can sign.

If you are a British resident or a British citizen living abroad, you can add your name to the petitions on the Number 10 website. Such is the delight of technology, there has ended up with more than one petition and you can find them here and here. If you can spare the time please sign both.

So where are we with all of this? Well, on the ipetition there are 53 signatures. On the Number 10 petitions there are 35 signatures on one petition and 24 on the other. In short – there is still more work to do! Hey, I even tried opening a question on Yahoo answers.

OK, I haven’t forgotten. I said I would offer you a counter argument on Vulture funds – well, here it is.

I shall end with a couple of other interesting links to the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a chance to email Donegal International to ask them not to collect the debt. Plus a chance to email Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor (and some believe the next UK Prime Minister), to ask him to do something about it. I know I must be sounding boring now, but if you can spare the time… yackety, yackety.

Sorry I keep banging on about this, but my blood is still boiling.

From 14th June 2006, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: This cudgel being a short heavy stick used to beat people rather Nightswerve’s Velvet Cudgel which has the effect of transporting you to idealised realities where it is highly unlikely that such things as Vulture Funds would ever get to see the light of day. Click to return

NOTE 2: Such is the response, I’m not sure I will ever be able to thank everyone individually for responding. Such is the amount of reading, I am not at all sure that I have seen all of the contributions to the debate. Such is the emotion, I doubt that I have been able to remain objective. Click to return

NOTE 3: Nikki should have been a shoo in for a Gold Star. Her stint as milk monitor saw one of the most efficient distributions of dairy products EVAR. Despite being on of the best pencil sharpeners in the 360 world, she still failed to get her reward. Even though she suffered this injustice she manages to think of others. Click to return

TECHNORATI TAGS : Vulture Funds ; petition ;debt ; Make Poverty History ; relief; Dracula.

Your Help Please

Will of the People versus Personal Profit.

Yesterday you got a very long rambling blog that talked about voting, democracy in action – and introduced you to the rather nasty, tacky world of Vulture Funds.

Well, my concerned yeomen, today I return to the topic. (Note 1)

You may not realise this, but when someone defaults on a debt, the person who is owed the money may decide that it is effectively lost and that they have no chance of seeing their money. Banks can call this bad debt and write it off against tax. (Note 2) Before they do this, the banks can pursue payment through various means including the courts and debt recovery agencies.

Another option is to sell the debt for pennies on the pound to another company who will then seek to recover the full amount of the debt plus expenses. These companies are forced to be more aggressive about collecting the debt.

The ‘Vulture Funds’ buy the really big debts from corporations and countries and then go after the debt very aggressively indeed using high powered lawyers and accountants.

The Make Poverty History campaign targeted the G8 Summit in Scotland when Tony Blair chaired the event. Bono and Bob Geldof managed to wring out some concessions from the leaders of the industrialized nations to provide debt relief for the poorest countries who were showing a commitment towards democracy and freedom.

Zambia was on nation that was identified as one of the beneficiaries of that Debt Relief – but that doesn’t worry the Vulture Funds.

The BBC Newsnight program broke the story how the Vulture Funds were putting all of that work at risk by going after the full amount of debts that were due to be written off. At the actual High Court Hearing, the judge found in favour of the Vulture Fund.

The ‘Vulture Funds effectively wiped out any of the benefits Zambia would feel from International debt Relief this year. Millions of Zambians would not see the benefits of improved infrastructure health care and education.

The owners of the Vulture Funds can rub their hands with glee as several millions dollars are added to the millions already in their bank accounts.

This is where I ask you nicely for your help (Pretty Please).

Kerry has set up a petition on ipetitions. Please could you spare some time to add your name and comments to the petition?

Stormscrossing left a comment in the original blog entry with some links to the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Among the interesting links he gave were a chance to email Donegal International to ask them not to collect the debt. Plus a chance to email Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor (and some believe the next UK Prime Minister), to ask him to do something about it. It would be great if you could spare the time to add your name to those campaigns.

Then, you are a British resident (citizenship is not required), you can add your name to the petitions on the Number 10 website. Such is the delight of technology, there has ended up with more than one petition and you can find them here and here (There maybe more yet – I’ll keep the list updated).

IMPORTANT : The number 10 website sends you an email to confirm your email address. Some junk mail filters treat this email as spam. If you don’t get a confirmation email with a link to confirm your signature – please check in your junk mail folder!

Sorry for taking up so much of your time, but I feel this is important. I hope you do too.

From 14th June 2006, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: You will be pleased to know that this does not take the form of a test as I threatened yesterday. This isn’t out of any misplaced goodwill on my part, but because I am going to ask you to pledge a little of your time and energy to try to get our leaders to take action. Click to return

NOTE 2: So if a bank does a really bad job of assessing risk on a loan or doesn’t check that the loan can be repaid properly, they end up paying less tax – which means that governments have to get tax revenue elsewhere. So when banks lend badly we end up paying more!. Click to return

TECHNORATI TAGS : Vulture Funds ; petition ;debt ; Make Poverty History ; relief; Dracula.

In Praise of Luddites and Battered Boxes

Vote Early – Vote often!

It is probably a sign of my rather warped and cynical sense of humour, but the phrase ”Vote early and vote often” brings a wry grin to my lips. (Note 1)

Having decided that I would use the phrase, I thought my curious yeomen would appreciate it if I could find the derivation. Imagine my surprise when I found the quotation attributed to Al Capone. I admit I had an inkling that it would be of Merkin origin, but I had thought it would be a lot earlier.

One of the great comforts to me is the wonderful simplicity of the British democratic system. The adult population are asked to register to vote. On polling day, you wander down to your local polling station. A rather bemused lady gently puts down her knitting next to a thermos flask and a Tupperware sandwich box and crosses your name off the list before handing you a ballot paper. You go off to a little booth, place your ‘X’, fold the paper and return to the desk to post into the sealed ballot box.

Polling stations stay open from early morning to late in the evening giving everyone plenty of opportunity to vote. At the end of voting the ballot boxes are taken to a hall where the votes are counted by hand

As the candidates and their chosen invigilators watch, all of the votes are bundled together and stacked up. As the count continues, you can see how the various candidates are doing. For all of the flaws and the expense of what is and old-fashioned process – it is open, transparent and very difficult to cheat.

Which is why I am a Luddite when considering new technology in democratic process. I’m not even comfortable about use of Postal Votes. Even if the postal voting system is 100% foolproof it is certainly not transparrent and therefore is always going to raise doubts when the ‘right’ candidate doesn’t win.

The falling turnout in elections appears to worry politicians who are forever trying to find new, rather gimmicky ways to engage the stay away voters. (Note 2) Sadly, this tends to worry me somewhat as I am a firm believer that the ballot box is one of those things that proves you get out of life what you put in. While people continue to vote based on who has the better smile, the lesser of the evils or because they have always voted that way the longer we will get politicians who rate style over substance.

In a sleight of hand jump of logic, I could suggest that it is our lack of real thought when casting our vote that means we get politicians determined not to be seen as weak by changing their mind. Yes, I know it is incredibly ridiculous, but the way modern politics plays out, if a politician listens to an argument and changes their stance on a topic opposition parties jump on it and portray it as a weakness.

Still, it doesn’t stop us from trying. There are traditions of protest within Britain. The snaking columns of marchers protesting against something or other move through the streets of London accompanied by bemused policemen. The marches are usually peaceful and end with a few speeches in Hyde Park or Trafalgar Square.(Note 3)

The petition is another method of trying to sway the government to act on an issue. The tradition is for activists to go out and collect signatures and then deliver the petition to Downing Street (Note 4)

Then, a couple of weeks ago, technology in the democratic process hit the news headlines. Almost two million Britons had exercised their right to petition the Prime Minister about road pricing using the electronic petitioning system on the Number 10 website. (Note 5)

Suddenly, I discovered a piece of technology that supported the democratic process. Off I went to explore the Number 10 website - and I admit, I was mightily impressed!

In one of those fantastic co-incidence moments, I had become incandescent with rage over a news item that very morning. A company has been buying up debt owed by Third World countries just before it is due to be written off and using the British Courts to reclaim up to ten times the amount they paid for the debt. (Note 6)

You really should read the story HERE. You really should read it. You will be as angry as I was.

Forgetting my nervousness about technology in the democratic process, I immediately went ahead and tried to start an electronic petition to complain.

Two weeks ago I tried to raise that petition and it still hasn’t appeared on the site! Still, let’s face it, all of this rambling on about voting may have lessened the impact of the story - you know the story I mean – the one you can find HERE.

It seems that I am right to distrust technology in the democratic process. For all of the fantastic intentions it seems that technology doesn’t improve on the tried and trusted methods. Someone pass me a pen and paper, I think I need to write a letter – if I can remember how!

So, I shall up now. Be warned though fair yeomen! I will be coming back to the topic of vulture funds. You really better go read the story because I might set a test!

From 14th June 2006, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: Totally ignoring the fact that the mere fact that you have to explain a joke destroys the humour I plough on regardless. In a true democracy, such a statement becomes ironic because democracy is ”one person – one vote” set up (in theory at least) and so this is actually a rallying cry of the dictator and the corrupt. Click to return

NOTE 2: While the politicians were up in arms over the recent Celebrity Big Brother, they seem to have this idea that they should copy the format for the House of Commons. Using mobile phone texts to evict MPs from the House just seems a very strange and disturbing concept. Click to return

NOTE 3: I would like to contribute this as part of the “What Constitutes Britishness” debate. Despite all of the cynicism over whether they can actually change anything, the tradition of peaceful protest is maintained. When protests do turn violent, I like to think that the reaction from the British is to turn against the cause being put forward rather than give in to an uncivilised rabble.

Yes, coming from me in such a cynical piece that seems incredibly optimistic, but I have this fervent belief that violence NEVER solves an issue. Solutions only come about by winning hearts and minds. Click to return

NOTE 4: I’ve always wondered what happens to the petition after it is delivered. I wondered if they employed someone to seek out duplicate signatures or those of Mr D. Duck or Ms M. Mouse. Whether the petition is stored away in some great democratic archive or whether it is sent away for recycling.. Click to return

NOTE 5: I don’t support the petition. Something needs to be done to make public transport more attractive and to reduce the congestion on the roads. Click to return

NOTE 6: Do you remember Live 8? How Bob Geldof and Bono cosied up to the G8 leaders in Scotland and wrung out all of those good intentions of cancelling the debt of developing countries who follow democratic principles. This single court case wipes out the debt relief that Zambia would have enjoyed for a year! Read the story HERE. Click to return

TECHNORATI TAGS : Democracy ; Voting ;Postal ; Technology ; Vulture Funds; Petition.