Them & us

Them and us fishes, photo Suzanne Beishon (Click to enlarge)

Raise for uni boss...

The head of Bath University has had a raise - bringing her total compensation package to Ł468,000.

The vice chancellor's salary hike is Ł17,500. That's more than a full-time worker would earn in a year on the Living Wage Foundation's recommended Ł8.75 outside London.

And who awarded Glynis Breakwell this increase? The university's remuneration committee. Which included... Glynis Breakwell.

... wages won't recover

Pay will still not have recovered to pre-crisis levels by 2021. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reckons wages will be "nearly Ł1,400" lower than predicted just last year.

Its director Paul Johnson said "we are in danger of losing not just one but getting on for two decades of earnings growth."

No tax for Cadbury's...

Mondelez - the US owner of chocolate maker Cadbury's - made Ł2.1 billion profit last year, says the Sunday Times. How much did it pay in UK tax? Almost nothing.

Mondelez UK paid just Ł122,000 on profits of Ł22 million - that's 0.6% tax. Meanwhile fellow Mondelez subsidiary Vantas International paid Ł0 on its Ł442 million of income.

Christmas dinner could cost you nearly a fifth more this year, photo by Ruth Hartnup/CC (Click to enlarge)

... food prices up

The price of groceries is growing, though, as bloated bosses make us pay for high import costs.

Tea and coffee was 8.5% pricier this October than last. Meat was up 3.9%. Healthy eating's no good either - vegetable costs rose 5.7%.

And a separate survey by Good Housekeeping found ingredients for even the cheapest Christmas dinner are 18% dearer than 2016.

The general rate of price increases is 3% according to official 'CPI' inflation - or 4% according to the more comprehensive 'RPI' measure.

57-room mansion ...

Multimillionaire model Tamara Ecclestone lives in a Ł70 million, 57-room compound, the Evening Standard reports. It's in Kensington Palace Gardens - you know, round the back of Prince William's gaff.

The daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie also has a staff of 50 - a staff of 50 - to manage her life. But, she revealed, she does her shop at discount retailer Costco. Playing at budgeting seems to be a hobby.

... Ł1k homeless fine

Stoke City Council has proposed a novel solution to homelessness: fine people in tents Ł1,000.

Of course, trying to get a grand out of every tent dweller in the city centre makes perfect sense. Why are socialists always pointing to the wealth of the super-rich?

Obviously it's people who have to live in tents who have all the money.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

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