Britain

One NHS trust in five is in bad financial trouble – and Department of Health is failing to plan for bankruptcies

Only urgent, radical action will prevent failures, warns Public Accounts Committee

the Independent,

30 October, 2012

The spectre of hospitals going bankrupt is raised today in a damning report by MPs which suggests that one in five NHS trusts is in serious financial trouble and “there is a real concern that some will fail”.

The scale of the challenge facing the NHS is revealed in figures showing that 34 trusts ran up combined debts of £356m in 2011-12 and another 42 relied on handouts from local health authorities or the Department of Health (DoH) to keep them going – almost 19 per cent of the 411 NHS organisations in total, MPs say.

Although the NHS as a whole is in surplus, parts of it are facing bankruptcy. But the DoH has been unable to explain what will happen if a trust fails to pay its debts or how services to patients would be maintained.

The broadside from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) comes as administrators appointed to oversee the crisis-hit South London NHS Healthcare Trust recommended that it be broken up and run by neighbouring NHS trusts, or offered to private companies.

The trust, which runs three hospitals in south London – the Princess Royal in Bromley, the Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich and Queen Mary's in Sidcup – overspent by £65m last year, or more than £1m a week, and became the first in the country to be taken over by government-appointed administrators.

The same fate awaits other trusts unless they take radical action to cut budgets by closing departments and merging services with neighbouring organisations. Barking Havering and Redbridge received £55m in handouts from the DoH last year, Peterborough and Stamford got £41m and Mid-Staffordshire received £21m, according to the National Audit Office.

The DoH expects every trust to have to reconfigure services, but the PAC said there was an "alarming" lack of data to help them compare options.

Margaret Hodge, the PAC chair, said: "The DoH could not explain to us how it will deal with an NHS trust that goes bankrupt. Nor could it provide reassurance that financial problems would not damage the quality of care or equality of access to all citizens, wherever they live.

"The overall surplus of £2.1bn across all NHS bodies in 2011-12 masks the fact that a significant minority are in financial difficulty. In London, two trusts have a combined deficit of £115m, one of which, South London Healthcare NHS Trust, has been placed in special administration.

Ms Hodge added: "It very much looks like the department is inventing rules and processes on the hoof rather than anticipating problems and establishing risk protocols."

The committee is especially critical of the effect of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals, used to build or redevelop hospitals, which "inevitably distort priorities" and are "especially worrying at a time when resources are constrained".

Contracts agreed under the PFI scheme are covered by safeguards which guarantee that investors have first call on NHS cash. The DoH is already facing a bill of £1.5bn to bail out seven trusts with PFI problems – equivalent to £60m a year, the PAC says.

"We are particularly concerned that the financial viability of a number of trusts is being undermined by the fact that they are locked into unaffordable PFI contracts. It is unclear how the department will continue to underwrite payments once most of the money moves to the NHS Commissioning Board," Ms Hodge said.

Critical list: London hospitals facing uncertain future

A bankrupt NHS trust operating three hospitals that serve a million people in south London looks set to be carved up between the NHS and the private sector, according to controversial proposals to be revealed today.

South London NHS Healthcare Trust was declared bust and administrators called in three months ago after overspending about £1m a week to accumulate debts of £150m.

Its three hospitals, Queen Mary's in Sidcup, Princess Royal (PRU) in Bromley and Queen Elizabeth (QEH) in Woolwich – have struggled with patient satisfaction and spiralling debt since they were merged into a super-trust in 2009.

Matthew Kershaw was parachuted in as special administrator by Andrew Lansley, the former Health Secretary, after it became clear that its two hugely expensive private finance initiative (PFI) deals meant the status quo was impossible for the taxpayer to sustain.

Mr Kershaw's radical proposals would have a knock-on effect for neighbouring hospitals, including the merger of the PFI-built QEH with the neighbouring Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust, with the loss of one A&E department.

The PRU could be taken over by King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust or, more controversially, its services put out to tender – keeping alive several private companies' hopes for a slice of the franchise.

One of the biggest changes would see Queen Mary's taken over by a mental health foundation trust, Oxleas, and land sold off to pay the debts. The new "health campus" would no longer provide complex surgery but would concentrate on day cases, radiotherapy and endoscopy.

Mr Kershaw called on the Government to pay "the excess costs" of the two PFI hospitals until the 25-year contracts expire. He also recommends a comprehensive re-organisation of emergency, community, maternity and elective services across south-east London.

Thirty-nine organisations have expressed interest in running parts of the trust, including Circle, Care UK, Serco and Virgin Care.

The proposals will now go out to public consultation for 30 days, and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, is expected to make a decision early in February.

British banking jobs at risk as UBS announces plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide

More British banking jobs were at risk today after UBS said it is to cut up to 10,000 roles worldwide in moves to shrink its investment banking arm.

the Independent,

30 October, 2012

The Zurich-based bank plans to reduce its headcount from 64,000 to 54,000 by 2015, with some 75% of the losses made outside Switzerland.

UBS, which has around 6,500 staff in London, said the restructuring would deliver savings of 5.4 billion Swiss francs (£3.5 billion) by 2015.

The bank, which wants to shift focus away from investment banking operations, reported a 40% slide in pre-tax operating profits to 2.3 billion Swiss francs (£1.5 billion) in the six months to June 30.

UBS wants to concentrate on its traditional strengths in advisory, research, equities, foreign exchange and precious metals and exit other business lines, mainly in fixed income.

The bank said these divisions had been "rendered uneconomical by changes in regulation and market developments".

The job cuts will target "front-to-back processes" across the bank, UBS said, and simplify its product portfolio and production processes.

Group chief executive Sergio Ermotti said: "This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people.

"Some reductions will result from natural attrition and we will take whatever measures we can to mitigate the overall effect. Throughout the process we will ensure that our people will be supported and treated with care."

The bank announced the plans as part of its third-quarter results, which revealed a loss of 2.2 billion Swiss francs (£1.4 billion) in the three months to September, compared with a profit of 1 billion Swiss francs (£670 million) last year.

The loss was driven by a one-off charge of 3.1 billion Swiss francs (£2 billion) linked to the restructuring of its investment banking division and a debt-related charge of 863 million Swiss francs (£574 million), UBS said.

Unveiling its half-year losses in July, UBS claimed that the botched stock market listing of social networking giant Facebook cost it 349 million Swiss francs (£227 million).

It blamed the loss on the "gross mishandling" of the flotation by Nasdaq, which involved a series of technical errors that caused a delay in the start of trading of Facebook shares in May.

A former UBS banker, Kweku Adoboli, yesterday denied being a rogue trader when he lost the bank £1.4 billion.

The 32-year-old is currently on trial at London's Southwark Crown Court, accused of gambling away the money while working for UBS during the global financial crisis.

Occupy protesters were right, says Bank of England official

The anti-capitalist protesters who occupied St Paul’s Cathedral were both morally and intellectually right, a senior Bank of England official said last night.

the Telegraph,

30 October, 2012

Andrew Haldane, a member of the Bank’s financial policy committee, said the Occupy movement was correct in its attack on the international financial system.

The Occupy movement sprang up last year and staged significant demonstrations in both the City of London and New York, protesting about the unequal distribution of wealth and the influence of the financial services industry. Members of the movement occupied the grounds of St Paul’s and remained camped there for more than three months until police evicted them in February last year.

“Occupy has been successful in its efforts to popularise the problems of the global financial system for one very simple reason; they are right,” Mr Haldane said last night. Mr Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, was speaking to Occupy Economics, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, at an event in central London.

In a speech entitled Socially Useful Banking, he said the protesters had helped bring about a “reformation” in financial services and the way they are regulated.

Partly because of the protests, he suggested, both bank executives and policymakers were persuaded that banks must behave in a more moral way, and take greater account of inequality in wider society.

“Occupy’s voice has been both loud and persuasive and policymakers have listened and are acting,” he said. “In fact, I want to argue that we are in the early stages of a reformation of finance, a reformation which Occupy has helped stir.”

The protesters had been right about bankers’ behaviour and the consequences of extremely high salaries and bonuses in the financial sector and other industries, he said.

“I do not just mean right in a moral sense,” he added.

“It is the analytical, every bit as much as the moral, ground that Occupy has taken. For the hard-headed facts suggest that, at the heart of the global financial crisis, were — and are — problems of deep and rising inequality.”

Mr Haldane concluded by telling the activists that they had helped bring about nothing less than a new financial order.

“If I am right and a new leaf is being turned, then Occupy will have played a key role in this fledgling financial reformation,” he said.

“You have put the arguments. You have helped win the debate.”

In the text of his speech distributed by the Bank last night, Mr Haldane made no reference to the techniques employed by the Occupy protesters.

The occupation of St Paul’s last year was controversial, and led to claims that the protesters were despoiling the cathedral’s grounds.

The protest ended after the Corporation of London won a legal order allowing the activists to be evicted.

Earlier this month, members of the group marked the first anniversary of the St Paul’s protest by entering the cathedral during a service and chaining themselves to the pulpit.

Debt: The Third World War is an economic war

We are in Third World War - an economic war. And the weapon is debt’

The Occupy Wall Street movement staged a day of protests in the US on May Day. Meanwhile RT spoke to an Occupy London activist who said the group is only gaining momentum as more people understand they are being robbed by their governments.

RT,

2 May, 2012

The Occupy Wall Street movement staged a day of protests in the US on May Day. Meanwhile RT spoke to an Occupy London activist who said the group is only gaining momentum as more people understand they are being robbed by their governments.

Thousands took to the streets of American cities from coast to coast to mark May Day and call for a nationwide strike.

Between 50 and 100 people joined them in London by moving into Paternoster Square with tents and supplies on Tuesday night. However they were forced to leave by City of London officers just hours later.

The renewed activism comes more than six months after members of Occupy London were prevented from occupying the square in heart of the City of London. Many thought the movement appears to be on its last legs. Jamie Kelsey-Fry from the Occupy London convinces RT otherwise.

RT: You said yourself that this place [St. Paul’s Cathedral in London] is almost haunted – the tents used to be right here just where you are standing. Is the Occupy movement dead?

Jamie Kelsey-Fry: Absolutely not, obviously. One of the things of camp movement is that we are allowed to put more energy into the movement itself. It was actually becoming very difficult to sustain the camp because it became very large. If you bear in mind that five months ago none of us thought the camp would last this long, we are still developing our ideas and have them move forward, have to use outrage to escalate the movement, to generate solidarity and otherwise really of reaching the public consciousness to get across our very simple ideas of social, environmental and economic justice. So, we have really just begun in that sense really.

RT: It is no coincidence that we are here in one of the financial hearts of London – London Stock Exchange is not very far from here at all. Bankers are still being paid their bonuses, as we are hearing from newspapers every day. The 1 per cent appears very much to be still in charge. Have you had any impact at all?

JKF: Absolutely. I think there have been some measures by the government because they have such an influence on the public view on the financial system, that there has been a leading banker who has had to turn down his bonus. Sir Fred was made to turn back his knighthood. But I think these are just punitive measures. I think they show that the government realizes that there is a lot of public support for the issues we are raising awareness about. So they are taking some measures to make it look as if they are doing something.

You are absolutely right. In terms of 1 per cent remains the 1 per cent – that is completely untouched. Also, if you bear in mind the fact that last year of the hundred top Footsie (FTSE) the average pay raise is 49 per cent. Everything business is usual, but what is different is that people are now aware about this. People are now entering this dialog, and they are beginning to challenge the assumptions that have not been challenged for a very long period of time, which is that can we continue with such an unsustainable, undemocratic, unjust economic system.

RT: So far Occupy looks kind of a sort of open-air party for people who have something to lose. What are people in the movement willing to sacrifice in order to achieve those goals?

JKF: People are sacrificing their jobs, their relationships – not by intention. Many people have lost their homes. I have never been in a movement where people are that dedicated. The general portrayal of us is being people who are, you know, jobless, on the dole, losers is absolutely the opposite to the reality. The reality is that a whole span of people from across the general public have been motivated to dedicate themselves, a hundred per cent to this movement. This means that a very small proportion of us are actually experienced activists and by far the highest amount of us are people who are just from ordinary walks of life, who have gone “I wanna make a stance. We have to do something about this unsustainable system.” And this is a movement for us to do that in.

RT: It has been five months since you came to this area. Let’s talk about your goals. Lots of people seem to have very limited understanding of what you are actually trying to achieve. Just take me through it.

JKF: When we took this space on October 15th, over a period of 48 hours some about 3,500 people took part in generating what was called our initial statements. So really within 40 hours we made it very clear why we were here. We are questioning what we see as an unsustainable economic system, an undemocratic economic system, a political system that seems to be working with profits before people; it is intertwined with the corporations. We are also questioning the idea of regulated bodies being managed by the people they are meant to be regulating. We also question the idea that perpetual war for resources is something that is going to destroy the planet. So we made it very clear. We nailed our ideals to the wall within 48 hours. An economic system based on infinite growth, but which relies on found out resources, is flatly absolutely embarrassing.

RT: Let’s broaden it out a bit and talk a little bit about the global economic situation, if you like through the prism of your movement. The European project is constantly in the papers and it looks like it's on its last legs, how do you see it playing out?

JKF: What we see it as – and when I say we, I am speaking “I” as a member of Occupy – it’s very clear for the movement from the beginning that the global economic system is on its last legs. About nine months ago we had a leading trader on BBC news live who said very clearly that governments don’t rule the world, Goldman Sachs does. So it’s very clear to us that what’s happening in Europe, what’s happening in Greece, is just a symptom of this disease. And this disease is going to continue to get worse unless we as people, as a grassroots movement actually take control ourselves of this economic system which is being run by very few people, that has just run completely out of control.

What’s very frightening about this gentleman who was saying that Goldman Sachs rules the world is that he was reveling in it – he apologized, but he was reveling in it, because he said “If you understand this situation you will know how to make a huge amount of money out of the global collapse.” Now for any human being to be in a situation where they can benefit hugely, buy massive yachts from the suffering of millions and millions in the world – we should be embarrassed of being part of that same human race. And we should be embarrassed to stand by and do nothing about it.

RT: It seems as though a movement like Occupy would be in support of bailout of countries like Greece – for the sake of solidarity of workers, that kind of thing.

JKF: A very interesting question. I’m not the Occupy movement, I’m one person in it, but I am not sure that the movement would support bailing out. Exactly where we are standing at the moment was the famous tent city university and we had an evening of solidarity with Greece. And there was about 50 Greek people here and there was a fascinating noise. And they kept going back to a very interesting point – we are in Third World War and it’s an economic war and the weapon is debt. And it was a fascinating thing to say, a very revolutionary phrase.

I think the movement is moving more towards a revolutionary solution to the situation we are in rather than a reformist [one]. If you look at the revolutionary, it has much more to do with the idea of dispensing with the organizations like the IMF, dispensing with all organizations that have ruled and regulated the way that financing world is run because we believe them to be completely corrupt, completely in the pockets of people that are meant to be regulating and moving over. And the same with governments, they are completely intertwined with all these financial decisions. They have an ear for corporations, they have an ear for global financial institutions – much-much more than they have an ear for the people of the country they are meant to be looking after and supporting. So in the situation what is happening in Greece and then coming out with the statements “the Third World War is here, it’s an economic war and the weapon is debt,” that really rang a bell with a lot of people.

If you look at Iceland – now they are something that is quite inspiring in a sense that they absolutely ignored what they have been told to do. They didn’t go for being bailed out in any way. In fact at the moment they are crowdsourcing their constitution themselves. They dispense with all the leaders they believe to be corrupt and they were banging their saucepans just like in Argentina until they have a leader they believed in. And they are going much further. They are now actually chasing and wanting to bring to court those bankers that brought the country to debt in the first place. So they are taking control themselves and they are doing right.

RT: Can the crowdsourcing really work on the national and international scale though?

JKF: Yes. In terms of a national scale with Iceland they are simple crowdsourcing their constitution themselves and it is managing well. This new technology has absolutely revolutionized the speeches and it revolutionizes the way that we move towards radical change in activism. And it has only just started. The fact is – yes, I can see in the future, within a lifetime, a situation when there’s a form of global referendum. If we have that, I think very quickly the leaders and the people around financial institutions and corporations will be put to shame because when they would literally hear the voices of the 99.9 per cent of the planet – then they will be put to shame, they will be put into the shade, and ideally they’ll go.

RT: Governments in different countries are obviously opposed to you occupying places and you were evicted from here on a court order. The US has reportedly rolled out what it’s calling “a microwave weapon” to disperse crowds. Are you making plans for dealing with those kinds of technology?

JKF: This country last year bought large water cannons to dispense with demonstrators or activists. And I think that’s kind of a scare story – I know that it’s true that the military in the States may have bought this weapon that can use soundwaves to kind of disempower people that may be in the streets but I think that’s a symptom of something far worse that is coming. Occupy is the canary in the mine as we can see. But eventually the rest of this world will realize that they have been robbed and they have been put into subjugation by completely unjust undemocratic unsustainable financial systems. And they will all as one become furious eventually.

So I think those kind of weapons may well be something to take much more seriously in say six months’ time or eight months’ time. In this country the austerity measures haven’t really hit as hard as they are going to. It’s easy for people to just stay within their own “little pub” if you don’t mind the world. But when the austerity measures cut into their actual lives, come right on to their doorstep and enter their front door, and cut them away from a lot of what they are used to, there will be enormous growth in people who are trying to find this kind of economic justice that Occupy represent

Occupy movement

Occupy DC protesters in standoff with police as eviction deadline passes

Demonstrators in Washington refuse to comply after National Park Service orders the camp to be cleared on hygiene grounds

the Guardian,

30 January, 2012

Occupy demonstrators in Washington DC have chosen to stand their ground in the face of newly-enforced anti-camping regulations – but protesters worry the authorities could move in at any moment.

The National Park Service in Washington announced it would enforce existing anti-camping rules – which bar demonstrators from holding camping gear, bedding and cooking supplies – at two parks that have served as a home to Occupy DC protesters since the fall. In response, demonstrators have turned the central feature of McPherson Square, a statue of General James B McPherson, into a makeshift tent, and have refused to comply with the orders.

The regulations have largely gone unenforced since the occupation of McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza began in October, but from noon on Monday, the NPS said that would no longer be the case. Critics of the protest camps cite health concerns and an alleged rat infestation as grounds to remove the demonstrators, but some see the sudden vigour to enforce the regulations as a pretext for eviction. Legba Carrefour of Occupy DC described the renewed enforcement of the anti-camping rules as "death by a thousand bureaucratic cuts."

By noon, the confrontation that many expected had not come, and a standoff began. Protesters in McPherson Square had draped a so-called "tent of dreams" over the statue and people quickly gathered inside.

Protester Caty McClure said there were "at least 50" people gathered inside the giant tent. A speaker explained that the tent represents the protesters' dreams of a America where corporations could not guide the democratic process, and where housing existed for all. Gathered around the statue the protesters chanted: "Let us sleep so we can dream." Protesters have surrounded the statue with smaller personal tents.

The plan, McClure explained, is for some protesters to hold a "sleep-in", while others stage a "sleep strike." McClure said NPS authorities had not moved in the protesters. "They're holding off for now," she said. McClure said she believed the "insane amount of media" at the park was keeping officials at bay.

McClure said she hoped the media would stick around. "Once they leave, the police are probably gonna roll in.'

National Lawyers Guild observer and attorney Ann Wilcox agreed that the heavy media presence at the park seemed to have discouraged any effort to crack down on the protesters.

"I don't think the police really want to move in with so much media," Wilcox said. "They might not even enforce it until tonight [Monday night] or tomorrow [Tuesday]."

Wilcox estimated there were "a couple thousand" people gathered at McPherson Square. At Freedom Plaza, she said a "skeleton crew" of about "40 or 50" protesters remained. 

Demonstrators at Freedom Plaza have a permit allowing for their protest, though they are still subject to the same anti-camping rules and have received the same notification from the NSP. In attempt to hold on to the permit, Wilcox explained, many protesters had cleared their belongings from the plaza.

The two occupations have consistently differed in their tactics, with the encampment at McPherson Square tending to be more provocative.

"It's a totally different approach," Wilcox said.

Occupy London Moves Into Iraqi Rafidain Bank After UBS Eviction

Businessweek, 

29 January, 2012

Occupy London protesters took over a branch of the Iraqi Rafidain Bank in London’s main financial district days after being peacefully evicted from a vacant building across from UBS AG’s London headquarters.

More than 50 squatters moved into the Iraqi bank building before 6 a.m. today, Occupy spokesman Ronan McNern said by phone. The 8-story stone building on the corner of Leadenhall Street and Whittington Avenue is blackened with grime and an Occupy London banner is hanging outside the fourth floor. Iraqi Rafidain’s U.K. unit is in liquidation, according to a posting on the bank’s British website dated Aug. 11.

“Yet another building in the heart of the City of London is empty when there are so many people homeless and many people are suffering cuts,” McNern said. “It’s a travesty that all these buildings are lying empty when they could actually be put to good use.”

Six police vehicles, including three vans, were outside the property at 4:45 p.m. local time. The building has been vacant for more than 10 years and the bank was closed in 1990, McNern said.

Occupy will continue activities such as debates and lectures at the shuttered Iraqi bank, according to McNern. Some protesters are still in the first building, which is owned by UBS and housed the movement for more than two months before the Jan. 25 eviction, he said.

#Occupy London Stock Exchange

Protesters call end to occupation of St Paul's

Demonstrators decide to leave on their own terms before forced eviction begins

the Independant, 19 December, 2011

Occupy London protesters are ready to leave St Paul's early next year in exchange for a scaled-down presence outside the cathedral and a "symbolic tent" within. The end of a saga that polarised the Church of England, and saw the hundreds campaigning against corporate greed championed and vilified in equal measure, began last night when protesters started debating the issue.

While the shape and timing of any withdrawal still needs to be ironed out in a meeting with the cathedral this week, there was "widespread consensus" on the move, a source within the site in the City of London said.

It comes as a High Court challenge to evict the 150 or so camped demonstrators begins today, with protesters believing that an exit on their own terms will cement goodwill for a movement that has resonated with many. The source said: "There is widespread consensus that resources at the camp are stretched, and concerns about the long-term viability of the site. We are looking at restructuring and how best to use our other sites."

Any compromise would allow the Church to save face after a crisis which saw the cathedral close for the first time since the Blitz and the resignation of the Dean of St Paul's and its canon chancellor, Giles Fraser. It would allow demonstrators, who have been at the site since 15 October, to claim a moral victory in their fight with the City of London Corporation (CoLC).

Dr Fraser resigned when the cathedral's chapter voted to pursue a legal challenge that could have seen protesters dragged from the church's steps. His decision helped legitimise protesters in a debate that pitted God against Mammon and drew in the Prime Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The protesters began discussing the proposal to leave in working groups last night and a vote is expected within days. One sticking point that could still hamper any exit could be a refusal by the CoLC to allow any tent on its highways, including one stationed outside St Paul's with the cathedral's blessing.

The CoLC said while it welcomed any move to vacate the site, it was still looking for the court case to clarify issues of highways and planning. A spokesman said: "Obviously we welcome any news protesters are vacating the site. We do not want to stop them demonstrating but we object to the tents, which breach planning and highway laws."

Should the CoLC win, a special meeting of its planning committee on 30 December could set a date for eviction.

Occupy London, which has also taken possession of an unused UBS office in Hackney, still maintains a site at Finsbury Square, Islington, which is not under threat of eviction.

But it is at St Paul's where the group has attracted headlines, with campers accused of defecating in the cathedral grounds, leaving tents unoccupied and even causing an HIV scare.

However, demonstrators were encouraged by high-profile support from Jesse Jackson and Vivienne Westwood among others. Naomi Colvin, of Occupy London, said the group had succeeded in stirring debate following multibillion-pound payouts to failing banks. She said: "A lot of people here are working incredibly hard, and is it the best use of their time? St Paul's is an unbelievable location that has allowed us to talk to the Church of England. We want it to remain the headquarters of the movement and make it our embassy."

In a document, which The Independent has seen, the cathedral offered protesters a "limited presence with an information tent ... outside the cathedral". The cathedral is also understood to have offered to let the campers meet on the steps and have an art work or symbolic tent within the church.

Occupy London, which intends to remain at the site over the Christmas period, and the CoLC have been involved in an escalating war of words.

In court today, the CoLC will use highways and planning laws to argue protesters should be evicted. It claims the site has become a magnet for the vulnerable, poses a health risk and has affected trade – claims protesters deny.

A CoLC spokesman said that between 15 October and 10 November, the cost of policing and servicing the site was £475,000. Some £100,000 has been spent on legal costs, with another £100,000 set aside.

the London Wall

FIRST EVER 'PORTABLE BERLIN WALL' UNVEILED BY LONDON POLICE

On November 30 London Metropolitan Police unveiled a 'Protable Berlin Wall' style diving wall that shocked and appalled Londoners who were marching on occasion of a strike for public services, pensions and against austerity measures by UK government.

London police has been under pressure this year with a succession of social unrest riots, protests and occupy camps and it may have overdone the response as the march was peaceful.

Occupy London Stock Exchange

‘I predict a riot … again’ – trader Alessio Rastani speaks at Occupy London’s new Bank of Ideas

Hackney Citizen,

Speaking at the newly-open Bank of Ideas, Alessio Rastani the Bank of Ideas warns of more global protests and riots

Controversial trader Alessio Rastani told Occupy London this weekend that next year will see more riots as the gravity of the global economic crisis hits home.

Rastani became an internet sensation in September when he told BBC News he “dreamed of another recession” and urged people to join him in betting against the market.

Speaking at campaign group Occupy London’s Bank of Ideas on Saturday, Rastani said people would see their money disappear as banks collapsed and widespread disorder would follow.

He said: “My prediction is that in the next twelve months as well we’re going to see protests and riots.

“Not just in London, not just in Wall Street but in every major city in the world.

“Why? Because people will get pissed off when their money vanishes in front of their eyes. They’re going to see the true scale of this crisis.”

He urged people to join Occupy and stand against bankers’ greed and a world hes says is ruled by corporations.

Some may see Rastani’s support for the movement as surprising, but he insisted this is not about being anti-capitalism.

He said: “Let’s put it this way: capitalism only exists if there’s fair competition – where’s the competition?”

Instead, he argues, we have what corporatism or cartelism where global banks control markets and governments.

Rastani appeared during a day of talks as the ‘Bank of Ideas’ opened to the public. Other speakers included political author Nicholas Shaxson and spoken word artist Belinda Zhawi.

Occupy London announced they had entered and secured the UBS-owned building on Sun Street in a press conference on Friday.

Occupy spokespreson Jack Holburn said: “As banks repossess families’ homes, empty bank property needs to be repossessed by the public.

“Whilst over 9,000 families were kicked out of their homes in the last three months for failing to keep up mortgage payments – mostly due to the recession caused by the banks – UBS and others financial giants are sitting on massive abandoned properties.”

He added they hoped this was the first in a wave of ‘public repossessions’ of buildings belonging to companies responsible for the global crash.

The multi-million pound property was empty for several months before Thursday.

Occupy say the offices and meeting rooms will be available for those who have lost nurseries, community centres and youth clubs due to government cuts.

The building’s Hackney location is itself statement. On the edge of the city, the vast UBS building has spilled over into one of London’s most deprived boroughs.

Supporter Ryan Healy, 22, a recent graduate said: “Areas like this at the edge of the city are where the people who caused the recession and some of the people most affected by it meet head-on. I suppose you can see it in those terms.”

Q&A

Mike Ruppert responds to questions from #Occupy London Stock Exchange, 21 November, 2011

Q&A

How would you describe the current crisis? (As in, is it a crisis of finance, politics, energy...? or all of the above!)

MCR – This is a crisis of human industrial civilization. Everything is on the table and everything is collapsing, including our faith and beliefs in many venerable sacred cows. Addressing the issues of finance, politics or energy alone or separately will not solve the fundamental problem, which is that we live in a global civilization and culture predicated first and foremost on infinite growth, which is obviously no longer possible.

You have been charting problems in democracy, politics and society for decades. Is there anything *new* about what's going on today?

MCR – What's new is that there is no more room to focus on the false or half-measured "solutions" that we have been manipulated into pursuing until now. Those are all that every activist movement has focused on for decades, with amazingly predictable and terrible result. Humanity's back is against the wall (finally). We solve this problem completely or else many of us (many more than have to) are going to die and suffer that don’t have to. No sacred cows can be exempt from examination or challenge. In fact, it is our most=sacred cows that must be challenged first! Our revolution must be complete and total, resulting in the death of the infinite-growth paradigm. Nothing less will do.

The revolution -- as Jefferson might say -- must be complete and thorough. 

If you were President for the day, what's the first thing you'd do?

MCR – Tough question. My first instinct would be that I would resign, because the American presidency is a prisoner of the banking system, housed in a government with three branches that are all controlled by banks, not to mention the administrative machinery. I think the first and easiest thing to do would be (assuming I had powers the presidency currently does not possess) would be to implement the terms of a constitutional amendment just offered by Florida Representative Ted Deutch called “Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy” or OCCUPIED. This is something I believe that every #Occupy in the U.S. should jump on immediately and that every #Occupy around the world should adapt for their own country.

Though not a perfect or final solution, it would instantly cripple the powers that be. Assuming that I had dictatorial powers I would immediately scrub the airwaves clean of all commercial advertising paid for by lobbying groups, especially those connected to energy and banking interests.

Also, assuming I had dictatorial powers, I would immediately eliminate all corporate tax deductions for energy. This idea was originated by my colleague Colin Campbell in Ireland and it’s a brilliant way to incentivize conversion to renewable energy where possible.

In conjunction with that, I would issue an Executive Order directing all federal agencies to immediately prosecute banks and corporations for well-documented crimes and I would make it clear that failure to comply with those directions would result in immediate job loss, loss of civil service protections, and loss of all benefits for all federal employees failing to comply.

I would immediately fire almost everybody at the EPA and staff it with a clear mandate to do what its name implies, protect the environment. I would order immediate halts to fracking and then I would order a safe shutdown of every nuclear reactor in the United States within 120 days. These reactors must all be shut down before collapse and infrastructure failure make them impossible to control. Fukushima is far from contained and Japan is mortally wounded as a result. There are around 450 nuclear reactors in the world. Now that would cause enormous economic dislocation and hardship for many. But all those hardships and worse are coming (here) anyway. This would force an immediate, locally based conversion to other forms of energy, none of which can ever fully replace nuclear.

I would not be able to order an immediate crash program to (only partially workable) forms of renewable energy because under the infinite-growth, profit-based paradigm they don't stand a chance and we see alternative energies being crushed by the beast of infinite growth all over the world. People like Colin Campbell, Richard Heinberg and Matthew Simmons understood this and wrote about it for many years.

But that's only the barest beginning. Our fight will not be over until fractional reserve banking, compound interest and fiat currency have been forever removed from the human (and planetary) experience. Those three things constitute the heart of the beast and until and unless they are removed, the beast -- like cancer -- will always return like a Zombie.

I do not believe that anyone sitting in the Oval Office will be able to accomplish this alone because the American political system is so corrupt, with so many embedded rules favoring the banks, that it essentially has to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. If you leave the foundation intact and build a new house on top of the old foundation, the new house will look remarkably the same as the old one. I do not believe the United States can hold together as a single nation for more than two years at this point due to dwindling energy resources and collapse. Those plus the governing Thermodynamic Law of Entropy.

What's it like for you, as an ex-cop, to see the trillion-dollar frauds and theft that goes on?

MCR – It is still as aggravating, painful and frustrating as it was when I discovered CIA smuggling drugs into the country thirty-four years ago. I still take great satisfaction in seeing real bad guys go to jail.]

Are you optimistic about the future? Are there glimmers of hope...?

MCR – There are big glimmers of hope. I see an awakening I have waited a lifetime for taking place at almost the speed of thought. But certain things are unavoidable. There can be no return to growth. Prosperity (as we have conceived it) will not be returned, any more than any of the missing pension funds, benefits and services will. The streetlights that have been going off around the world for three years will not come back on again. Infinite Growth is over and demands expecting that (e.g. a restoration of wages, benefits, lower prices, better living conditions) cannot be achieved for seven billion people.

There are no entitlements in nature, except the right to struggle to stay alive. It is how we as

Post-Petroleum Humans choose to survive that will make all the difference. There must be a complete cultural transformation to a resource-based economy in harmony with the planet that we live on. I do see that awareness emerging fairly quickly throughout the #Occupy movement. Whether it will be enough or in time to prevent total extinction events is in question. We are all watching this movie to see how it ends.

As the crisis unfolds, do you have a support network around you in Sonoma County?

MCR – A huge one! I love it here. That's why I'm here. Sonoma County is perhaps one of the two or three leading regions in the world for leadership on sustainability, permaculture and making a transition to a post-petroleum way of life. Transition US is headquartered here. The Post Carbon Institute is here. I’m here. Some of the leading lights showing the way into a new human paradigm not only live but also walk the walk here. Plus, and this is extremely important, there is a broad base of experience in tribal culture and intentional community here. This is one of the best laboratories in the world for the creation of new lifestyles that, thus far, are proving to be much more satisfying that what is so obviously crumbling and dying all around us.

How do you see your own personal journey intersecting with the Occupy Movement?

MCR – Ha!... The short answer is that everything I have been through, endured, or done for the past 34 years has prepared me to be of service right here and right now, in this time and place. #Occupy is, in my opinion, humanity's last hope to achieve real change in a functional civilization. I truly believe at a core level that Spirit has forged me for this time and I remain in awe at the (to me) obvious superhuman intelligence I see manifesting now. It’s like Einstein said, “Once you know there’s a God, it makes no difference whether you believe in one.” And I witness spiritual power on a daily basis throughout the movement. Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come, especially when Mother Earth is backing it.  

What's been the most exciting thing for you about spending time at Occupy Santa Rosa?

MCR – Watching the speed with which learning/awareness occurs and seeing all of the things sprouting from the sacred space that #Occupy is holding open for all humans. In the space of maybe five weeks, I have met more kindred souls, more focused and more awake than I have in the last five years. I am also energized by the unwillingness of #Occupy to give up. The movement is like blades of grass forcing their way up through the concrete and plastic sidewalks of industrial civilization.

What worries you about Occupy?

MCR – What worries me most is its openly-stated openness to all comers without even the barest guidelines for community conduct aside from non-violence. In Santa Rosa, as in almost every one of the #Occupy locations I'm aware of, everybody is having serious problems with criminals, addicts and the mentally challenged. In many cases, authorities are telling these people to come to our camps and I think we are all suffering from the intended results.

The movement must mature and impose some adult conditions, backed up by teeth, to remove disrupters, for anyone who violates community agreements specifically tailored to the realities and needs of each location. Speaking for the 99% does not mandate sinking to the lowest common denominator found therein. Tribal models are by far, in my opinion, the best way to do this. After all, that what our species used for perhaps 40,000 years and they worked! We were all tribal once.

Does Occupy Santa Rosa have a message for OCCUPY LSX Stock Exchange?

MCR – I can only speak for myself in the belief that OSR would feel the same way. Get creative and be extremely sensitive to the unique qualities of your own location. At OSR, we are moving towards a Community Supported Occupations (CSOs), in partnership with Transition activists, permaculture food growers and local businesses and interest groups that are already politically well-respected within the community. There is real power in that. I know because with those liaisons working for us the Santa Rosa City Council realized that in a very short time period the only things left capable of maintaining order and achieving anything will be local governments and the resources of each particular community.

There is a tension between local & global in the Occupy Movement. Does a local community movement (like OSR) function well enough on its own, or does it have to be part of a 'global' system?

MCR – Setting and enforcing a global template beyond the barest standards is both unwise and foolish. Look at Europe. Any attempt to bind or make things bigger is doomed to fail. Things break down, not up. OSR, deeply imbued with the core beliefs of #Occupy does not need and is not asking for top-down hierarchical support. The possibility of useful solutions emerging decreases inversely with application of imposed global solutions. That is the antithesis of what this movement is about.

Place determines almost everything and I would be extremely suspicious of any group seeking to influence or manage the entire movement. And the truth is, I think, that most #Occupy camps would just rightly ignore anything that came down to them this way.

Are you in favour of the 'Tobin Tax' / Robin Hood tax? This is a bone of contention in OccupyLSX!

MCR – Doesn't excite me in the least. Until you change the way money works, you change nothing. It would never be passed or enacted in the infinite growth monetary paradigm and any efforts put towards that end would be a criminal waste of time and energy. I’m sure the bankers would like to lead #Occupy down into this cul de sac. What the Robin Hood tax says is, "Leave infinite growth in place. Leave the banks in power. Leave the politicians in power. Let them earn their greedy inexcusable profits and then just feed ourselves in a parasitic partnership with the criminals. Yuk! I will not be an accomplice to the way the system operates. All the Robin Hood tax does is essentially demand a bribe. It is also quite parasitic.

I think it's clear that there's an immensely powerful and insatiable global system of war & greed that peaceful, enlightened humans are up against. What are your tips for winning this thing?

MCR – Until you change the way money works, you change nothing.

Have you moved on from 9/11? And do you think the official story of 9/11 will hold forever?

The official story has actually been quite thoroughly disproven already. The question is not whether that will happen. The question is, will people stop believing in lies? That’s out of my control, isn’t it?

I have not been involved with 9-11 truth in any way shape or form since late 2004. It is a lost cause and it is now moot when our only concern must be survival. I refuse to discuss it or waste energy on 9-11. If, however, the collective consciousness chooses to acknowledge the crime it has also been complicit in concealing and deems the addressing of that crime as an essential step in saving lives as we move to a new paradigm, then I would assist in any way possible. That would begin by just handing them a copy of Crossing the Rubicon and shutting up. However, I will not listen to any of the fools who ask me to spend time discussing it now. They are good candidates for Darwinian deselection in my opinion.

What's life been like, post-Collapse? How are you enjoying your 'icon' status?

 MCR – “Icon"... Geez…  I'm the same guy, saying the same things I’ve been saying for three decades. I do enjoy the respect that's coming now and I endeavor to be worthy of the trust people place in me. It is immeasurably gratifying to see people truly grasping the message I have been carrying for so long, even though some of them were calling me a nutcase just a few years ago. Survival now is based upon change without punishment. I don't think I'd call this period "post-Collapse" yet. I'd call this "mid-collapse" with maybe five years more of that before we really see something resembling the shape of a steady state on which we can constructively build a new human paradigm.

The best part about all this for me is seeing people like Philadelphia Captain Ray Lewis and Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas come forward, along with the serious dialogue that is being forced by honorable people in various institutions. We are seeing official resignations as a matter of principle, in governments, churches and universities around the world now. That's something I have not seen since the 1970s. I believe that OCCUPY LSX's greatest achievements have been replacing violent UK riots with peaceful demonstrations, and through your moral courage, compelling the Church of England to examine itself and choose whether it serves God or Mammon. The entire movement is grateful to OccupyLSX for that because these are the places where something real and effective must be changed before any substantive and productive reform can take root and flourish elsewhere.

This is not about the existing system needing an oil change and a tune up. This is about rebuilding it from scratch where even the most basic assumptions are challenged, re-examined and overturned where appropriate.

What does the next 12 months hold? (for you & the planet)

MCR – We need to focus on the next 12 weeks. That may be all the time we have to press for change before chaos sets in. We are at a critical moment under a ticking clock. The global economic system will likely be totally dysfunctional by next February. And the possible outcomes range from complete extinction (in the event of nuclear war over economics or climate collapse) to the removal of infinite growth with a chance to rebuild on existing physical infrastructure while we still have energy and other resources to do that with.

For about eight years I have been saying that we would get to a point where it would be impossible to predict the future because of chaos and the obviously quickening speed of events. My focus and outlook is increasingly shifting to just where I live in Sonoma county. It is truly up to us to determine the outcome and there will be no other opportunities after #Occupy except on the immediate local level.

What slogan would be on your Occupy banner?

MCR – If I were to design a flag for #Occupy, our symbol would be the tent. Has anyone ever seen a mortgage on a tent? A two-car garage? A satellite dish? The tent is our symbol of our true freedom from The Matrix and it has been from the start. The tent symbolizes our inner and outer liberation from all the traps of industrial civilization. If Occupiers around the world began demonstrating that it is possible to live a happy and more fulfilling life free from all the crap of industrial civilization, we will have achieved victory. It was our tents that scared the bad guys more than anything and I don’t know if the movement ever really appreciated that.

Now we may have to give them up in some places and that's fine. But the power of that symbol is vastly underestimated within the movement.